JANUARY 2012 Getting Acquainted


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STORE NAME STORE HOURS: Monday-Friday 00AM-00PM . *Subject to credit approval. See store for details.


123 S. MAIN STREET, ANYTOWN ST 123-456-7890 | www.carpetone.com Saturday 00AM-00PM


Sunday 00AM-00PM


At participating stores only, not all products at all locations. Photos for illustrative purposes only. Not responsible for typographical errors. Offers cannot be combined with other discounts or promotional offers and are not valid on previous purchases. †See actual warranty at store for details. ©Carpet One Floor & Home®


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Keeping It Local At dish By Claire Stuart Sometimes the simplest


things bring the greatest plea- sure but are hard to find—like a really great burger. Doug Vaira knows this and serves up an amazing burger (made of grass-fed beef from Tudor Hall Farm) at dish American Bistro in downtown Charles Town. Whether it’s a sandwich, a


steak or a vegetarian dish, Vai- ra prides himself on providing fresh, locally produced ingredi- ents. “I created the kind of res- taurant I wanted to go to,” he says. “We don’t serve tomatoes in February because we don’t want to get them from Costa Rica or other places.” A Pittsburgh native, Vaira


has lived in Charles Town for 15 years. Previously, he and his wife were in Denver, where he was a sportswriter for the Den- ver Post. “Our families were on the east coast, and we wanted to return east,” he says. “My wife’s family had moved from central West Virginia to Charles Town, so that brought us here.” Vaira found work writing for


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trade and professional orga- nizations in Washington, D.C., but he had always wanted to be in business for himself. Despite having no experience in the food business, Vaira decided to open a restaurant. He explains, “Something like a book store or a consignment shop would be just that. But a restaurant could serve as an anchor in a town that would attract other


businesses. Charles Town really needed this.” In October three years ago,


dish opened for business. Look- ing back, Vaira realizes that his timing was bad. The economy was in extremely poor shape, and the other new businesses that he had hoped would follow his lead and renew downtown Charles Town did not material- ize.


The proximity to the casino


did not bring dish and down- town any appreciable business, “People who go to the casino, stay in the casino,” he says, but he does get customers from nearby inns and B&Bs. He also brings in crowds for events, including beer sampling, wine tastings and coffee dinners. Vaira believes his persever-


ance is starting to pay off at last, noting the opening of a pub, an ice cream shop, an Ital- ian take-out, and an art gallery in Charles Town. The restaurant has contin-


ued to be a learning experience. He tried serving breakfast, with a bakery in the front of the restaurant, but discovered that people found supermarket bakeries more convenient. The menu itself has changed a few times. Some of his menu items were too unfamiliar to local clientele, so “I made the menu more accessible,” he says. Now dish no longer serves breakfast but does have a Sun- day brunch. They open for


lunch daily at 11:30am, with the last lunch seating at 2:30, and close at 9pm on weekdays and 10pm on weekends. Dinner begins at 5pm. All soup stocks, dressings, and desserts are made in-house, with desserts like sweet potato pie and Dutch apple crème brulee reflecting the season’s bounty. From the beginning, Vaira’s


plan was to serve local food and, he says, “We haven’t wa- vered from that. But you can see why the big food suppliers are so successful. You can make bulk orders and fill the freezers and shelves, but I have to call various people to get different foods. It’s very time-consum- ing, but it’s worth it.” Vaira loves “simple, flavor-


ful food,” and likes to cook. He says that he cooks a lot at home but cooks in the restaurant only when he must. He enjoys ethnic foods of all sorts, but coming from an Italian background, he is, of course, fond of pasta dish- es and other Italian favorites. Vaira believes that dining


should be more than just eating; it should be an experience. He says, “It drives me crazy when servers just take an order, drop a dish and come back to drop the check! Our servers take time to explain the sources of the food. People appreciate and enjoy that.” Vaira lives in Charles Town,


about four blocks from the business. He is surprised that more people don’t walk around downtown because it is a very walkable town. “In other places we’ve been,” he says, “even if it was snowing and people did not want to drive, they would still walk downtown to have dinner or a drink.” That is the downtown Charles Town he hopes will be created.


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