When Food & History Intersect

Lately dates have been hard to come by for Justin and I. A night shift schedule for me along with Justin's regularly scheduled shifts at the gym, plus the addition of personal training sessions, make it nearly impossible. Friday gave us some rare time to get out of town and be together so we headed west, finding ourselves in West Virginia in an area rich with the remnants of the Civil War, one of my favorite time periods in American history. My interest has been piqued recently while reading a work of nonfiction called Liar, Temptress, Solider, Spy: Four Women Undercover in the Civil War by Karen Abbott. It chronicles the adventures of four women who risked everything to serve their respective causes and takes a look at the darker side of the war. I've learned about a lot of things that I had no clue even happened! I know this entire paragraph cements my status as a huge nerd but seriously, if this time period is something you're really interested in I highly recommend the book and taking a trip to the Harpers Ferry, WV, area and the surrounding towns.

Now before you think today's post is merely a history lesson it's not! There is always food involved in any adventure we go on. While looking up things to do in the area I stumbled across Bloomery Plantation Distillery near Charles Town, WV, a distillery specializing in moonshine-based fruit cordials, located in a restored 1840s log cabin. Umm yes please. After traveling up a pretty sketchy looking driveway with hilarious signs along the lines of "our banjos are friendly" and "the gas pedal is your friend" on a particularly steep hill, we arrived to find quite a few cars already present. We entered the log cabin tasting room to find that a tasting had just started and were very warmly welcomed by the staff, a rousing bunch who don't take themselves too seriously and truly seem passionate about the work they do.

The tasting included approximately 7 of their products along with a few concoctions they dreamed up like Sex on the Peach and No Jack No Coke to demonstrate how to make your own drinks at home. Everything was delicious and had they not been $24 a bottle we probably would've walked away with more than just the Raspberry Lemon and Ginger. What was also cool about this place was that everything is made on the premises. These people hand zest 3000 lemons every week alone for their Limoncello and Cremma Lemma! Oh and did I mention that tastings are free?

They even came complete with recipe cards. 

This place is on our list to come back to seasonally to purchase different varieties, like Black Walnut for Christmas.

After the distillery we headed north to Shepherdstown, WV, a small town that sits along the Potomac River filled with beautiful homes from the 1800s or later. We sat in a memorial park for a little while looking out over the water and a huge train bridge, then wandered around the town checking out the houses and its small main street. The town is home to Shepherd University and thus has your requisite pizza and Chinese food places, but we were surprised to find it does have a little bit of a culinary scene.

For dinner we visited Domestic, a small place specializing in classic American food with a modern twist and also an emphasis on local brews. Justin chose a Milk Stout from Antietam Brewing Company and I picked the Hefeweizen from Flying Dog.

Some of the decor inside Domestic 

To start we tried the beer battered fried mushrooms, served with an herbed dressing. Biting into anything beer battered is like biting into a cloud. First there's a satisfying crunch, then it dissolves in your mouth without leaving a greasy coating like so many fried foods. It's light and airy and doesn't overpower the mushroom underneath, who's earthy flavor went well with the tangy, ranch-based dressing.

My entree was the Cajun Shrimp and Grits, served with wilted spinach. The shrimp were jumbo, juicy, and just a little bit spicy but not overpowering, which is how I prefer anything Cajun. If it's too spicy you completely take away the taste of the food and all you can focus on is how hot your mouth is, which doesn't make for a pleasant eating experience. The grits were cheesy and mixed with Andouille sausage and chives. The flavor was there but the outer edges were a little cold and I think I prefer my grits with a creamier texture. I have no other way to describe these other than that they were gritty grits. It wasn't enough to deter me though and I ate most of them.

Justin had the Bacon-wrapped Pork Loin with cranberry-cornbread stuffing with seasonal veggies and a tamarind-date chutney. He and I agree that you can't go wrong with anything wrapped in bacon and a pork loin wrapped in its savory, fatty, fantastic counterpoint is almost sinful. The contrast of the sweet fruit with the savory pork was very good and the cornbread wasn't soggy. He remarked at the end that he thoroughly enjoyed his meal.

If we ever find ourselves in Shepherdstown again this would be somewhere that we would go back to eat. The quality of the food was good and the prices were very reasonable.