Something New (and Fattening!) in Huntington!

Just a quick post to broadcast Huntington's latest new business.  It's the River and Rail Bakery located in the old C&O Railroad Station at Heritage Station.  They had their grand opening while I was out of town but I finally got there this past Saturday and oh, my...it's my kind of bakery!  To heck with cakes and pies...Kim, the owner, is concentrating on mostly bread products.  She does have some ginormous cookies, but other than that, it's scones (wonderful), muffins (tried the banana nut - wonderful), and BREAD!!!  And by bread, I mean BREAD!!!  She is open six days a week and each day she will have a lovely round loaf of whole wheat  and French baguettes along with a different specialty bread for each day of the week  When I was there Saturday, I waited until the baguettes came out of the oven (she also serves tea and coffee), then waited til mine had cooled enough to tear off a hunk and taste and I truly mean it when I say it was the best bread I've had here in the states.  Now for folks living in New York or California or all those fantastic food places, this might not be too exciting.  But to come across a loaf of bread like this here in West Virginia???  Unbelievable!  I gave one little hunk to Kim's husband there at the bakery, gave another little hunk to a neighbor, and then "forced" myself to finish off the rest before it got stale. :)

Kim gave me a list of some of the specialty breads, stipulating that it is subject to change and that she has other breads she plans to try, but that essentially, each day one of these will be available in addition to the whole wheat and baguettes:  olive bread with black olives, rosemary/pecan, sun dried tomato with parmesan, focaccio, Challah (this will be the traditional braided bread), and jalapeno/cheddar.

NOTE:  I was just there again this afternoon (Wednesday) and she's already added several more specialty breads to the list she'll choose from each day, including a rye, sourdough, a Pullman (which comes by it's name because of the perfectly cornered oblong shape of the loaf), and probably a couple of more that I'm forgetting.  And...when I was there on Saturday, I had mentioned that single people like myself might really appreciate a demi-baguette and those have now been added to the list also.  And the whole time we were there today, people were coming in for bread and the few remaining cookies.  While we were there, she brought out a pan of blueberry croissants and chocolate croissants (3 each) and I thought "oh no, I'm going to end up getting a chocolate!", but by the time my friend Brenda and I had taken a peek into the gift shop and come back out, all three chocolates were gone.  So I think the bakery is already very much appreciated.

Here are a couple of pictures.  Can't get any of the bread cause it's always sold out!

As you can see, the building itself is delightful - I love the brick walls...

And while I was there, I also went into the little gift shop next door that has been there for a while now.  But they've really fine-tuned it into a delightful gathering of West Virginia artisans' work - photos, paintings, jewelry, textiles, woodwork, etc.  And I took a couple of pictures of that also.

Both of these businesses are in the actual station, along with the Huntington Visitors' Center.  These, along with the already established business in the buildings behind the station (Crumpets and Tea Shop, Jenks Framing, a delightful antique store that I can't remember the name right now, a spa and art gallery on the lower level) all make Heritage Station a very pleasant place to visit on a pretty Saturday afternoon.

See some previous photos of the Heritage Station area at this previous post:

A final piece of advice - if you live anywhere near Huntington, come visit this bakery!