It warmed the cockles of my heart to see so many people out enjoying themselves - along with delicious food and tasty libations - at several Charleston restaurants that opened for Sunday brunch for the first time this past weekend.
There was so much activity downtown, in fact, that I kept forgetting what day it was. With more businesses open and more people milling about, it seemed much more like a Saturday than a (previously) sleepy Sunday morning.
Time will tell whether the new "brunch bill" allowing earlier alcohol sales on Sundays will bring the economic boom its supporters have long predicted it would. But if the energy I felt is any indication, Charleston's new boozy brunch options will mean big business in the city.
How did The Food Guy mark such a momentous day? By enjoying not one brunch, but three! Complete with live jazz and a trolley whisking my group of 40 from place to place.
We enjoyed homemade English muffins stuffed with bacon, local eggs and cheese, plus fresh-baked muffins, fruit and mimosas at Starlings Coffee & Provisions. Then we ventured across town for creamy shrimp and grits with bacon, cremini mushrooms and dash of hot sauce with Bloody Marys, mimosas and poinsettias at Black Sheep Burrito & Brews.
Finally, we rode up the hill to Lola's in South Hills for out-of-this-world breakfast pizza with bacon, eggs, mozzarella, scallions, tomatoes and chives, served with peach bellinis and the restaurant's addictive white and red sangria.
That celebratory culinary feast was organized by Mountain State Food Tours, a new company in town hosting twice-weekly downtown walking tours that offer entertaining and informative city history, along with stops for food and drink samples at five local restaurants along the way.
In the interest of full disclosure, this new company just happens to be owned by my "boss" here at the newspaper, Lifestyles Editor Maria Young, and her husband, Michael. So, I'd be a fool not to give them glowing reviews, right?
But in all seriousness, their new tours are a great addition to city's food scene. Folks have been raving about them so much that I know you'll want to hear more about them as well. So I'm taking a tour or two in the coming weeks and will share all the step-by-step, bite-by-bite details.
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So, I finally found something to get y'alls minds off of hot dogs: pizza!
After sharing reader Nancy Breed's plea for any memories of a circa-1970s pizza place called Angela's, where she remembers loving their pizzas that featured cheese underneath (not over) other toppings, a few of you chimed in with similar recollections.
"The mere mention of Angela's Pizza had my mouth watering," says Terry O'Fiesh. "You missed out on a gem! Best Pizza Ever!"
She remembers frequenting the one located in Kanawha City in the 3700 block of MacCorkle Avenue, where Rite Aid once was and Party Palace is now.
"I've tasted none like it since. The pizza was uniquely cut into squares, making a perfect piece for everyone. Even now I request my pizzas be cut that way, but most of the time people forget - out of habit, I suppose. Thanks to reader Nancy Breed for a delicious trip down memory lane!"
Jeanann Leone, she who started the A&W hot dog avalanche earlier this year, recalls a location in Dunbar, too.
"I remember that they used dried rosemary in their sauce because, at the time, I didn't like the taste and would say it tasted like pine needles," she said. "I have changed my mind about the taste since those days, and I do remember that they also cut their pizzas into squares, which was unusual. It was on 16th Street in Dunbar, across the street and catty-cornered from where GoMart is now."
Susan Short Sooz also remembers those perfect pizza squares.
"I lived in the flats of Charleston's West Side from 1973 to 1979. Back then, there was an Angela's Pizza on Delaware Avenue, directly behind Five Corners Sports Bar. It was just a hole-in-the-wall, take-out only pizza joint. I don't know if they put cheese on the bottom, but I remember their pizzas being very cheesy - in a good way. And they cut it into squares, rather than wedges."
She thinks Angela's may have closed in the early 1980s, not long after she moved to Kanawha City.
"That's where the Anchor was our pizza source for a number of years, but that's a story for another day."
Indeed. While I'm really bummed to have missed Angela's, I ate more than my fair share of Anchor pizzas when I first moved to town in the early 1990s. Good stuff.
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In the absence of Angela's, two more readers sent along their recommendations for good places to get your pizza fix.
"I'm biased," tweeted Ann Ali, but this Angela's crispy pizza sounds a bit like DiCarlo's - they flash bake with cheese on the bottom, then pile on more."
Long famous in the Wheeling area in northern West Virginia, DiCarlo's now has locations as far south as Parkersburg.
And West Virginia House Delegate Gary Howell added: "My favorite pizza in the Charleston area is Barone Brothers at the Mink Shoals exit."
Can't say I've been there, so that's yet another spot on my growing restaurant hit list.
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In other restaurant news, two local chain managers have joined Darden Restaurants' prestigious Diamond Club for being among the company's best performers nationwide when it comes to delivering high-level customer service and enriching the lives of their employees and communities.
Steve Wilkes, managing partner of LongHorn Steakhouse, and David Sparks, general manager of Olive Garden, join an elite group of just 86 Darden managers recognized this year out of more than 1,500 throughout North America.
I had the pleasure of spending a little time with Steve at his restaurant earlier this year, so it was no surprise to me to hear about his honor. He's a warm, likable leader with a true commitment to offering a top-notch experience to all who walk through LongHorn's door.
Steven Keith writes a weekly food column for the Charleston Gazette-Mail and an occasional food blog at blogs.wvgazettemail.com/foodguy. He can be reached at 304-380-6096 or by email at wvfoodguy@aol.com. You can also follow him on Facebook as "WV Food Guy" and on Twitter, Instagram and Pinterest as "WVFoodGuy."