FALL IN LOVE WITH MORGANTOWN

challenge we’ll have to face next time. This time we plan to indulge in Spa Roma, where we had gift certificates for massages. The spa is very popular with guests and last-minute appointments are definitely not recommended. My Swedish massage was one hour of pure bliss, while Bridget tried the back, neck and shoulder massage.
www.lakeviewresort.com

If Morgantown is beginning to sound wonderful, it is. A fabulous introduction to gourmet dining in Morgantown is Café Bacchus located in an early 20^th century house on High Street.  It’s an American culinary treat with an Asian, Italian and French flair. The menu is created weekly and on this occasion there were 10 starters and salads and 13 dishes offered for the main course, many of them vegetarian.

We selected the heirloom tomato and Buffalo mozzarella with basil drizzled with extra virgin olive oil, sourdough crostini with drunken goat cheese, oven-roasted tomatoes and pesto and French brie baked in filo pastry and served with a kumquat marmalade sauce. I wish we had room for the shrimp and papaya rice paper rolls with sweet chili dipping sauce and the crispy duck confit with barbecue lentils or the jumbo lump crab cakes with a saffron Vermouth aioli.

The main course variety was so tempting we were glad most of the crowd had left for the night and we could dawdle over our selections. Finally we narrowed it down to jumbo sea scallops with coconut Thai green curry sauce and jasmine rice, marinated Pennsylvania free range chicken grilled and drizzled with lemon extra virgin oil and filet mignon topped with blue cheese and spinach baked in puff pastry and served with a creamy green peppercorn sauce.

Other features included charbroiled striploin steak, baked salmon, honey and soy glazed duck, pork schnitzel, braised lamb shank, mascarpone and lemon risotto, pan-seared mahi-mahi, sashimi grade tuna and teriyaki-marinated tofu. All main course selections are served with a café salad (mixed leaves tossed with homey lemon oil dressing with green onions and tomatoes.

In Morgantown a day’s outing can include a visit to a local studio for an in-depth tour and other centers around the city that have become showplaces for multi-talented artisans. Brown’s Creations In Clay on Bull Run Road is Anna Brown’s pottery enclave that we enjoyed exploring with the lady herself. (Read ANNA BROWN, THE POTTER FROM MORGANTOWN in our Spotlight section)

Morgantown’s Seneca Center is the restored factory of the Seneca Glass Company that houses a museum, restaurant, retail shops and the visitor’s center within its brick-lined walls and well-trodden wooden floors.

For nearly a century (1896-1983) the Seneca Glass Company, Morgantown’s premier glass factory, was renowned across the nation and around the world for producing fine lead crystal. Its origin can be traced back to immigrant glassworkers from the Black Forest region in Germany who operated a factory in Ohio five years before moving to Morgantown. The turn-of-the-century building with the 100-foot glass furnace chimney and red water tower still towering prominently overhead, has retained much of its identity.

Seneca produced tumblers, bar bottles, candy jars, decanters, finger bowls, nappies, sugars and creamers, vases and stemware in the early years. The tumblers were a runaway bestseller, used in bars and to promote anything from whiskey to banks. Seneca designs were created by sandblasting, handcutting, and acid, plate and needle etching their glassware. If the rich cutting technique was employed, it took a mammoth twelve hours to complete a single item.

As the years went by, glassware became fashionable and designs changed, crackle in the 1920’s, colored in 1924, opal in 1931, followed by a new depression era line. These included colorless glass, cobalt and transparent colors such as light green and topaz. A total of more than 1000 patterns were known to have been produced by Seneca.

The demand for Seneca crystal soared as special orders came from First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt, Vice-President Lyndon Johnson and 30 American embassies and consulates around the world. Other upscale clientele included the Ritz-Carlton Hotel, Boston, Pinnacle Club, New York, Sheraton Palace Hotel, San Francisco, Marshall Field and Company, Chicago, B. Altman Company, New York, Tiffany’s, New York, Rich’s, Atlanta and Neiman-Marcus, Dallas. No one could rival Seneca for top quality nor their ability to supply crystal in patterns that were originally produced by the company.

By the 1970s popular colors included Accent Red, Amber, Buttercup, Cinnamon, Delphine Blue, Ritz Blue, Sahara, Gray, Moss Green, Lime Green, Peacock Blue, Black and Plum. But it is the Driftwood pattern that became the company’s most recognized line ever produced. The “informal dining” design first appeared in four shapes and colors: iced tea, highball, water tumbler and juice – Honey, Bottle Green, Amethyst, Smoke and Clearwater Crystal. Eventually the patter was available on plates, pitchers, covered candy dishes, vases and almost a dozen beverage glasses in many different colors.

As the market waned for more “informal” settings, the company was sold in 1982 and a year later the new owners filed for bankruptcy and all the assets were auctioned. Three links to the past exist today at Seneca Center, Antiques Walk (where you can find many Seneca glass collectibles), the Riverfront Museums ( free, but only open on weekend afternoons) and the Glasshouse Grille Restaurant.

www.senecacenter.com

Jamie and Drew Kiszka, owners of the restaurant, pride themselves in producing world-class cuisine made from fresh ingredients daily. The restaurant’s wine list has received the Wine Spectator Magazine’s Award of Excellence. A selection of over 100 bottles from wineries around the world is available, including fine American wines.

Jamie Kiszka is also the chef who grows his own herb garden and cooks from “scratch.” Twelve appetizers and four salads start the dinner menu. For seafood lovers, Jamie’s “tickle your taste buds” features include seared sea scallops, New Orleans barbeque shrimp, West Virginia smoked troup, soft shell crab, spicy seafood gumbo, French onion soup au gratin.

Nine entrees offer a fine selection of chicken or duck breast, rack of lamb, chicken Veneto, grilled salmon filet, West Virginia rainbow trout, roast loin of pork and filet mignon. The chef also offers four pasta dishes: chicken fettucine, seafood penne, shrimp cappelini and pasta primavera, that also include the Glasshouse salad. Desserts are prepared daily in the restaurant kitchen and brought to the table for guests to make their selection.

www.theglasshousegrille.com

Another delightful place to visit is Arthurdale, the community that was nurtured by First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt when it became the first New Deal project in the 1930’s. (Please read ELEANOR’S LITTLE VILLAGE in our Out of This World section)

Tamarack is the place to find “The Art and Soul of the Mountains.” The huge shopping area is under one roof and it is perfect to discover that special souvenir you might want to bring home. There are festivals, special events, craft demonstrations as well as gallery exhibitions and a food court managed by the upscale Greenbrier Resort.

We saw some of the finest handcrafted items displayed throughout Tamarack. Colorfully painted leather shoes, glassware, pottery and quilts were most appealing, but we were heading to the airport and had no room left in our luggage. We did sample the food and mailed our postcards at the post office. 

www.tamarackwv.com