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UNIQUELY WEST VIRGINIA HIGHLIGHTS WINE. FOOD AND REDBUD BERKELEY SPRINGS, WV -- FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE -- 4/2/08
2008 UNIQUELY WEST VIRGINIA VENDORS Including awards and other interesting information WINERIES JONES CABIN
RUN VINEYARDS-Alan & Elaine Wolfe. 2007 Gold, Silver & Bronze State
& International award winners. LAMBERT'S VINTAGE WINES - Weston - Jim & Debbie Lambert 304-269-4903. TARI'S
PREMIER CAFÉ - Berkeley Springs
- Tari Hampe 304-258-1196. Baked goods, West Virginia trout cakes,
pepperoni braids. Wild Woman
salsas and fruit butters.
HEALTHBERRY
FARM - Dryfork- Ben McKean 304-227-4414 Honey and beeswax products and
handmade chocolates
Special to Travel Berkeley Springs - April 2000 ART ON THE MENU Proving that her taste extends further than the specials board in her dining room, Tari Hampe Deneen has turned her newly expanded, namesake restaurant into a centerpiece of West Virginia art as well as edibles. "There are so many local artists and so much art, my dining room walls weren't enough to hold it all, " says Tari of her new venture. "I wanted to integrate it into one space." The result is a series of areas for art ranging from the discrete Wild Women Fine Art shop which features local female talent to the newly created gallery dining room. "I have twenty-five local artists in here and more are on the way," says Tari of her new offerings. In mid-April, Tari will complete ten years as the premier, award-winning restauranteur in the region. To celebrate, she bought the building next door and nearly doubled the square footage of her operation. "I was tired of turning people away who came specifically to eat at Tari's," she says. The expansion is as dazzling a piece of contemporary art as the paintings, photographs, jewelry and other work she's now dealing. "People should be able to eat in special surroundings," Tari explains. "It's as important to make good art available to them as good food." The three white storefronts, decorated with green awnings and entablatures, look like a collection of individual shops but really are Tari's complete West Virginia universe. They dominate the main block of Berkeley Springs and act as a magnet for countless visitors who come for the first time saying: "everyone in town tells us this is the best place to eat." After their first visit, they don't need anyone to tell them. Now Tari's goal is to sell them more of West Virginia to take home. The art she offers is an eclectic mix of prize-winning prints and paintings from Jan and Jonathan Heath to anodized metal mobiles, bold silk clothing, sparkling jewelry, whimsical pottery, handknit hats, twig furniture and a variety of photographs. There's even a few token males in the Wild Women Fine Art shop. The restaurant's original dining room has a new feel with fewer tables and a paint job of robust red and a greenish-gray known as wooden ore. The subdued colors are an ideal backdrop for art as are the restored brick walls of the new dining gallery. Folks wandering through the gallery to look at the art do not disturb the diners. By design, tables are arranged along the front wall of windows and in the center of the room, and patrons sit in private pools of light while track lighting illuminates the art hanging on the walls. Cushioned wood floors underscore Tari's intent to create a room for comfort as well as style. The facade and smart interior look of the new space are the brainstorm of two local builders -- Phil Maggio and Fred Orr. The new dining gallery also allows the possibility of private parties and will be used to reintroduce Tabletalk --a group eating and thinking experience. An evening of goddess talk is scheduled for June supported by a topical gallery show. Although she has turned her sales genius to the world of local art, Tari has not given up doing most of the cooking. Much of the newly acquired building was renovated into kitchen to house a char-broiler promising an explosion of tasty grilled food on the menu ranging from steaks and chops to fish. A tiny space outback is a kitchen garden for herbs and garnishes. Tari's committment to great, original food as well as local art will be showcased at the 7th annual Uniquely West Virginia celebration held the weekend of April 28-30. Friday night, she's hosting a sample tasting of her own West Virginia specials along with the products of West Virginia Fruit and Berries and the pasta sauce and new Muffuletta olive bread of local producers, La Fonte. Saturday she's set up at the Ice House for the wine and food show selling her original West Virginia smoked trout cakes and other products. All weekend long the restaurant features West Virginia original specials including her Wild Wonderful steak stew and smoked trout chowder along with a gallery show of traditional West Virginia art. One of the hottest products at Uniquely West Virginia promises to be Tari's West Virginia Wild Woman salsa. "I started bottling it because people were always buying the fresh-made salsa I served with sandwiches to take home," says Tari. She uses the minimal processing allowed by law to keep the taste fresh and spices it to medium-kick, extra thick as well as Screaming Hot. The latter can only be purchased in the bottle. "We never serve the hot stuff," she said. "It's too much for most unsuspecting people." The West Virginia Wild Woman cartoon-like figure with big hair was created by another notable local artist, Doug Mattingly, who is also a bartender in the tavern room. "She looks like me on a busy night in the kitchen," says Tari of her signature label. Gearing up for what promises to be another record summer here in the center of the universe, Tari drapes her arm around the hulking shoulders of her husband Lou and insists on the final word. "I couldn't do it without Lovey," she says. "He's my hero." |
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"Way
Out in West Virginia"
a book by a local author offers over 20 Berkeley Springs related
topics. Please
contact us
with comments, questions, or suggestions about our site. If you are
planning a visit to Berkeley Springs and cannot find the information
you need, please call us at 1-800-447-8797 or use our guestbook.
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Berkeley
Springs ~ What's
New ~ Lodging
~ Dining
~ Spas
& Baths ~ Shopping
~ 1997-2004,
Travel Berkeley Springs, Inc.
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Travel
Berkeley Springs
event
organizers. "We have the yellow food group represented by beeswax
and honey from newcomer Healthberry Farm, the green food group with
pickles from Uncle Bunk's, and the red food group with Flamin' Reds
barbecue sauces and many of the wines." Mozier went on with
her color analysis mentioning the blazing pinks of roadsides decked
out for Redbud Weekend.
driving maps for a redbud
tour are also available. Mother Nature even has a place at the wine
and food show. "Our favorite shiitake mushroom guy will be back
with his logs and growing kits," said Mozier.
Balancing the wine tastings, there are edible products to sample.
Healthberry Farm has handmade chocolates. Tari's Premier Cafe satisfies
with an assortment of baked goods, salsa and fruit butters as well
as Tari's very own West Virginia trout cakes and pepperoni braids.
Lot 12 is serving both ramp soup and morels at both the festival
and all weekend long at the restaurant. Lot 12's owner-chef, Damien
Heath, is the only West Virginian on the James Beard best chef
regional finalist list.
Park
include a birdsong expert speaking on Friday at 7pm and black snake
touching
and box turtle touching on Saturday. Sleepy Creek Children's Choir
performs "Voices from the Earth" at Union Chapel at 7pm
on Saturday.