Luigi’s is a family-friendly Italian restaurant in Milton, known for classic Italian fare at reasonable prices. It’s a casual dine-in or takeout spot where locals go for hearty pastas, pizzas, subs and more. This is the first Luigi's location I have visited, though there are now 2 additional ones in Huntington. There was a simple, but clean, dining area. I was just passing through, so I chose to place a takeout order. I started with a small house salad with French dressing - my favorite. it had a healthy base of lettuce, and was topped with green pepper, banana pepper, red onion, carrots, cucumbers, tomatoes, tons of mozzarella cheese and croutons. it was a really solid start to the meal. For my entrée, I chose stuffed shells with marinara sauce. This dish was good - it was baked so there was a layer of melted mozzarella cheese over everything. The stuffed shells did get a bit dried out, but they were swimming in a pool of sauce, which helped balance it a bit. Some more seasoning in the filling would've taken this over the top. Grade: B

Charleston Restaurant Week is one of my favorite times of year. Twenty-one restaurants this year served 3 courses ranging from $25 to $62. I couldn't help myself from trying a new place every night, so here are my adventures from the week. Where did you go? BRICKS & BARRELS
$45 | 1214 Smith St. | 681-265-9222 First Course
Lasagna noodle soup with a creamy marinara base, lasagna noodles, ground beef, Italian herbs, ricotta and mozzarella Main Course
CAB Prime filet medallions topped with cowboy butter and served with creamy four-cheese mashed potatoes and broccolini Dessert
Butter pecan cake featuring rich vanilla butter cake with toasted pecans, layered with silky buttercream frosting and finished with a rich caramel drip

Other options included: Appetizer - Jumbo jerk shrimp served with our housemade signature sauce; Entree - Chicken carbonara with Parmesan-encrusted chicken over angel hair pasta tossed in a house-made Parmesan cream sauce, finished with bacon crumbles; Dessert - Classic New York-style cheesecake topped with your choice of chocolate, caramel or strawberry drizzle PAULIE'S FINE ITALIAN
$40 | 915 Bridge Rd. | 681-205-2210 First Course
Meatballs with polenta and tomato gravy Main Course
Sunday Ribbons with beef gravy, pappardelle pasta and Parmesan Dessert
Cannoli chips and dip with sweet ricotta and chocolate chips

Other options included: Appetizer - Paulie’s Caesar with parmesan, tomato and pangrattato; Entree - Lobster and bowties pasta with sherry cream, tarragon and breadcrumbs; Dessert - Tiramisu cheesecake with espresso, mascarpone and ladyfingers FAZIO'S
$45 | 1008 Bullitt St. | 304-344-3071 First Course
Lasagna bites featuring signature lasagna, breaded and deep-fried and served with homemade marinara Main Course
Combination of baked manicotti and cannelloni topped with fresh meat sauce and mozzarella cheese, served with Italian house salad Dessert
Traditional Italian tiramisu topped with housemade berry compote

Other options included: Appetizer - Italian sausage-stuffed banana peppers smothered in fresh meat sauce and mozzarella cheese; Entree - Cheese-stuffed tortellini with choice of meat sauce, marinara or cream sauce, served with Italian house salad; Dessert - Cannolis made fresh in house with traditional Italian ingredients THE BUCKET AT EAGLE VIEW
$30 | 530 Silver Maple Ridge | 304-935-5717 First Course
Classic WV-style pepperoni roll, halved and served warm with marinara for dipping Main Course
The Bucket Burger, featuring a juicy house-ground beef patty topped with your choice of fixings, served with chips Dessert
Sweet Bucket Balls, featuring deep-fried dough balls coated in powdered sugar

Other options included: Appetizer - Burning couch bites, featuring stuffed, crispy, fiery bite-sized stuffed jalapenos; Entree - 12 crispy wings tossed in your choice of sauce; Dessert - Sweet Gauley Fries, featuring crispy sweet potato fries dusted with cinnamon sugar and served with a side of warm caramel dipping sauce RISTORANTE ABRUZZI
$45 | 601 Morris St. | 681-265-3756 First Course
Braised short rib raviolo with Hernshaw Farms mushroom demi-glace and salt-cured egg yolk Main Course
Veal Milanese with olive oil potatoes, broccolini and San Marzano tomatoes Dessert
Blood orange panna cotta with almond and candied blood orange

Other options included: Appetizer - Cesare Sulla Neve with kale, Caesar dressing, Pecorino Romano and pangrattato; Entree - Rainbow trout with lemon dill linguine and asparagus; Dessert - Chocolate olive oil cake with espresso and Chantilly SOHO'S AT CAPITOL MARKET
$49 | 800 Smith St. | 304-720-7646 First Course
Gnocchi stuffed with creamy truffle Main Course
Airline chicken breast stuffed with spinach, sundried tomatoes and Boursin cheese, topped with a chicken demi and served with green beans, tomatoes and whipped potatoes Dessert
Limoncello Tartufo, a frozen dessert with a heart of limoncello covered with lemon meringue cream

Other options included: Appetizer - Cucumber salad in an edible bowl made of sliced cucumbers served with fresh tender greens, toasted almonds, watermelon, goat cheese and tomatoes; Entree - Seared rack of lamb served with mushroom risotto, green beans and tomatoes; Dessert - Chocolate mousse cake on top of a buttery Oreo cookie crumb crust SAM'S UPTOWN CAFE
$45 | 28 Capitol St. | 304-346-6222 First Course
- Crab salad nachos with pineapple-papaya pico, avocado crema, frisee slaw and smoked butter snow
- Duck sausage on bone marrow crostini with brie, caramelized onion and balsamic glaze Main Course
- Chicken thigh and corn cake with shitake spinach beurre blanc, whipped rutabega, honey-glazed baby carrots and corn brittle
- Surf and turf with a proprietary blend of elk meatball, Kobe beef and Berkshire pork cheek served with a potato cake, fried oyster and eggplant croutons, all on a bed of rich vodka sauce
Dessert
- Maple crème brulee with stewed apples, candied pecan granola and cinnamon Chantilly
- Milk chocolate terrine with Grand Marnier sauce, buttercream, shortbread crumble and toasted coconut flakes

The Bucket is a bar & grill, originally located in Dunbar, that opened a new location at Eagle View, the luxury apartments and townhomes perched above the City of Charleston. The bar & grill is locally famous for its deep-fried pepperoni rolls (which has won a number of local contests!) and other bar fare, like wings, nachos and burgers. My friend Beth and I went to check out this new location as part of Charleston Restaurant Week. Like the other restaurants in this space before it, The Bucket has a wonderful view of the city. It's a bit of a funny juxtaposition between sports bar and high-end accommodations. But, everyone loves wings and beer. The space reflects both the high-end finishes with sports-themed menus. I had the pepperoni roll as an appetizer. It's deep-fried and served with marinara and dusted with parmesan. It was a bit over-fried - the outer layers cracked off, But it's hard to overstate how good the oozy cheese is. I had the Bucket Burger, which was seasoned very well. Chips were OK, but their ranch helped. The dessert - the Bucket Balls - were just deep-fried dough with no filling. The cinnamon ice cream was fine, but I'd skip these next time. Grade: B

Cattlemen’s Roadhouse is a casual steakhouse restaurant the Nitro area; it is not affiliated with the CattlemAn's Roadhouse chain based in Kentucky. It features a large wooden bar area encircled with high-back red chairs. The dining area has booths and tables, wood-tone finishes and classic American steakhouse décor. I started with "Roadhouse Rolls" and cinnamon butter. Wonderful and warm. I ordered the "Roadhouse filet" medium - "our most tender and flavorful cut. seasoned and grilled to order." Plus sides of green beans and macaroni & cheese.

The steak is mild, with a simple seasoning that lets the meat’s natural flavor come through; cooked medium, it’s tender with a soft, pink center and a lightly charred exterior. The green beans are straightforward and savory. The macaroni & cheese is creamy and comforting, leaning more toward classic diner-style than sharp or complex. Grade: B

Here's my latest column for the Charleston Gazette-Mail:

As January’s New Year’s resolutions of moderation dwindle, February ushers in the season of indulgence — mainly in the form of paczki.

Paczki — dense, yeast-raised doughnuts filled with jam or custard — begin filling bakery windows across the northern part of Appalachia in the weeks leading up to Lent.

Richer than standard American doughnuts and historically fried in lard, paczki originated in Polish Catholic households as a way to use up eggs, sugar, butter and fat before the Lenten fast.

Paczki followed the Eastern European immigration into the Ohio Valley in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. That’s when Polish, Slovak, Hungarian and Croatian workers arrived to fill jobs in steel mills, coal mines, glass factories and river-based industries — bringing with them food traditions from their home lands.

Paczki were not designed as everyday sweets but as practical, seasonal foods. Their traditional fillings — prune butter, apricot jam and other preserved fruits — reflect Old World preservation methods that are not unlike those in Appalachia. Both foodways developed under similar constraints: long winters, limited access to fresh ingredients and an emphasis on using what was available before spoilage or fasting periods.

Over time, paczki consumption extended beyond Polish American households. In some Northern Panhandle communities, paczki became a regional marker of late winter rather than an ethnic specialty, appearing alongside fish fries, pierogi sales and other Lenten traditions.

Similar pastries appear in Germany as “Berliners,” in Italy as “chiacchiere” or “bomboloni,” in France as “beignets,” and in the United Kingdom as Shrove Tuesday pancakes. In each case, the foods serve the same functional purpose: using perishable, calorie-dense ingredients before the Lenten fast.

The recurrence of these pastries across cultures underscores that paczki are part of a shared culinary response to religious observance rather than an isolated ethnic tradition.

Paczki have also evolved as they found their way through church dinners, community picnics and neighborhood gatherings — at least in name.

In Polish, the word is pronounced roughly POHNCH-kee, with the “cz” producing a soft “ch” sound and the “ki” ending clearly articulated. In much of the Upper Ohio Valley, anglicized versions — such as PAUNCH-kee or PUNCH-kee — became common as the pastry moved from small, Polish bakeries into mainstream grocery stores.

Paczki persist not as a trend, but as evidence of how the northern edge of Appalachia has long functioned as a cultural crossroads. Unlike other parts of Appalachia where paczki remain relatively unfamiliar, this region absorbed the tradition early, folding it into an already hybrid food identity shaped by migration and industry.

What looks like a donut with a Polish accent is, in this region, a reminder that Appalachia’s table has always been set by many hands.