This week’s food review comes to you all a wee bit early, as the family and I are off to the wonderful world of Cleveland for our families’ annual Christmas celebration.
Saturday, I’ll bring you a detailed report for one of the top places in Cleveland for a variety of food items, the Westside Market. If you’ve never been, you’ll soon discover why it’s worth a stop.
But first and foremost, we worry about Ohio Valley locally owned eateries. Monday midafternoon, we were heading home from picking up the gf from her new job and decided to stop in Wheeling before heading west back across the bridge to Ohio.
We wanted something worthy of a first-day celebration without being too fancy, as neither of us was dressed for the occasion. So, we decided to head to the Centre Market section of Wheeling to try out Market Vines.
Located at 2251 Market St. and directly across from the west side of Centre Market, I’ve gone to the Vines in the past, primarily for a post-work drink as it does boast an extensive beer and beverage menu.
It was nice to see that hasn’t changed as the bottled beer menu featured a number of a favorites, and plenty more I was interested in trying.
I settled on a Hefeweizen from German brewer Weihenstephaner, a classic German-style wheat beer. It did not disappoint. Then again, rarely does a German beer fail to meet my lofty expectations.
That was far from the only beer I wanted to try, but given I was driving, it was the only one I drank. The body eliminates one beer per hour, on average. Not two. Safety first. I’ll say this, any self-professed enjoyer of imported and quality domestic beer will appreciate Market Vines’ beer list.
And now, onto the food.
Fried pickle chips 
A build-a-burger with bacon, cheese, ketchup, and pickles, plus hand-cut fries.
A pound of Jack Daniels flavored wings 
Waffle fries
The Food
An appetizer was needed but because I wasn’t overly hungry, so she opted to get the fried pickles. The Vines’ fried pickles come in chip form and not straw shape. She didn’t mind the change and commented on how tasty they were.
I’ll take her word for it. Pickles are not, nor have they ever been, my thing. I’ll pass. But for those that do enjoy fried pickles, these come recommended.
For her meal, she decided to go with the build-a-burger features, sticking with the classics, namely meat, bacon, and cheese, along with some pickles. She went with the side of fries to go with it, gong for the added flavoring of a bottle of malt vinegar for seasoning.
I had heard good things about the wings at the Vines and figured it was time to try them. I ordered a pound of wings with the Jack Daniels sauce, along with an order of waffle fries.
I asked our server for a side of BBQ sauce to dip my fries into, but it wound up being unnecessary. The extra sauce from the wings that dripped into the basket was perfect for dipping. And let me say, that sauce is incredible. Actually, it may be better on the fries.
The wings were a good size and tasted quite well. But the sauce, while great, was only a subtle amount of flavor on the wings. The taste was good, but I wanted the flavoring to be more prominent. I’d order them again though. Besides, it was worth it to have the sauce to dip the waffle fries in.
The fries themselves? Good and ample in quality; an excellent pairing. The burger, I was told, was good, bordering on great, but not enough to crack her Top 5 and, in turn, most likely not mine either. I still plan to make the rounds and see if I can find a place that can top 360 Burger. Had a couple of close calls, but no one yet has taken the throne.
That being said, if you’re at the Vines and desire a burger, this is a worthwhile option. Also, our hats off to the friendly and helpful wait staff. We wanted for nothing throughout our early dinner. Happy eating and, soon enough, feasting. Enjoy.
