River & Rail · Charleston, W. Va.
Written Tuesday
The board
Everything here is good for about a week. Some of it is good for about a day — those lines come off as they run out, and we don't reprint. Read it like a departures board: when a dish is gone, it's gone.
Dinner only · Tue – Sat · From 5:00 PM
Small
Platform ITo start · Meant to be shared
Order two of these for the table and figure out the rest later. That's how most nights here go.
- Cornbread & sorghum butterVeg
- 7
- Pickle plateVegGF
- 9
- Chicken liver mousse
- 13
- Little gem saladVegGF
- 11
- Deviled eggs, three waysGF
- 8
- Fried green tomatoes
- 12
Baked to order in a cast iron pan, so give it ten minutes. Cultured butter whipped with sorghum from Bell's, up in Roane County.
Whatever came out of the crocks this week — dilly beans, corn relish, chow chow, sometimes green tomato.
Smooth as pudding. Apple butter, grilled sourdough, flaky salt. The single most-reordered thing we make.
Sunrise Farm lettuces, buttermilk dressing, black walnut, whatever herbs are ahead of us in the garden.
Classic, hot pepper jelly, and one with country ham that we should probably charge more for.
Cornmeal crust, comeback sauce, thin-sliced sweet onion. On the board through September.
Large
Platform IIMains · Plated, one per person
Sides come on the plate, not separate. If you want more of something, ask — we're not precious about it.
- Skillet troutGF
- 29
- Half chicken, hot honeyHeat
- 26
- Buffalo Creek ribeyeGF
- 44
- Soup beans & greensVeg
- 19
- Pork shoulder, apple & mustard
- 28
- Cast iron trout for twoGF
- 58
Elk River trout, skin crisped hard in brown butter, pickled ramps from the spring dig, potatoes cooked in the drippings. Twelve plates a night.
Brined two days, roasted at high heat until the skin gives up. Collards underneath catch everything that runs off.
Fourteen ounces, bone in, dry-aged thirty days in our cooler, finished over coals. Cooked medium rare unless you tell us otherwise.
Smoked tomato broth, cornmeal dumpling, a lot of black pepper. Nobody expects this to be the best thing they eat. It often is.
Nine hours in the oven, pulled into big pieces, sharp mustard sauce to cut it. Hominy on the side.
The whole fish, brought out in the pan. Order it when you sit down — it takes thirty-five minutes and it's worth the wait.
Sweet
Platform IIITo finish
- Stack cakeVeg
- 10
- Buttermilk pieVeg
- 9
- Sorghum ice creamVegGF
- 7
Seven thin layers with dried apple between them, built the day before so it softens. Deb's grandmother's, unchanged.
Burnt sugar on top, blackberries on the side, cold cream if you want it.
Two scoops, salted pecans. Also the right thing to put on the stack cake.
The bar
Platform IVTimetable of pours · Until close
Eight wines open every night, written on the chalk wall because the list moves faster than a printer can keep up. These are the ones that stay.
Cocktails
Wine by the glass
Beer
Reading the board
- VegNo meat
- GFNo gluten in the dish as written
- HeatActually spicy
Tell your server about an allergy and we'll cook around it — the kitchen is small enough that this is easy, not a favor. Shared fryer, so we can't promise a fully gluten-free ticket. Prices don't include tax. There's no service charge; tips go to the people who earned them.
1412 Washington St E · Charleston, WV · Set in the valley, printed nowhere
Last departure
Still hungry? Come eat.
Six bar seats are held for walk-ins every night. The rest we'll hold for you — request a table online and we confirm by text. No phone call, ever.