“No one was doing seafood, so I decided I'd do seafood, and here we are, 22 years later, still doing seafood.”

Ron and Rella Cvetican are the owners of the Golden Anchor Restaurant, a treasure in the deep wilderness of Canaan Valley.

“I think the seafood here in the middle of the mountains that makes us unique,” said Ron, who moved to the area as a ski instructor in the mid- to late-80s. “We pride ourselves on good quality food, and service that we ourselves would like to experience if we were out to eat.”

Rumor has it that Cvetican used to fly to get the fresh fish, shrimp, and scallops himself.

Today, he has a trusty delivery service that keeps him in delicious seafood year round.

“We've learned over the years how to handle seafood and how to keep it fresh here in the middle of the mountains,” shared Cvetican.

Chef Ruby Huffman has served up some of the most succulent seafood dishes this area has ever seen, including Parmesan-Crusted Trout.

“I know people drive by and they see the sign and they really do laugh, you know,” Huffman rolls her eyes, “Until they eat here.”

I decided to try the Chef's specialty – Salmon Imperial. “It's fresh salmon, fresh crab cake, and then you bake it, and put it on the top of it, with homemade hollandaise sauce,” explained Huffman.

We’re not the only one with rave reviews for the Golden Anchor.

“It's absolutely the best food in the entire area,” said Charles Heller. “The staff is terrific, the owners are great, and the atmosphere is fantastic.”

Charles and Sue Heller come to their vacation home in the Canaan Valley often, and have frequented this restaurant for more than 20 years.

“Yeah, I think this is really terrific because we come from Annapolis, we consider that the Seafood Capitol of the World,” said Heller, “And to be here in the Mountains is fantastic.”

“It was good!” said Brian and Laurie Burbank, who took advantage of the beautiful luxury honeymoon cabins. “Of course, being from Connecticut, we're used to fresh seafood, and we found it interesting on the menu how they basically brag about the freshness of their seafood, and it was excellent.”

“I'm very, very proud of what we've accomplished here,” said Cvetican. “I am extremely proud of the staff that we have. Many of them, as you met, Miss Ruby in the kitchen, have been here for 15, 16 years, there are waitresses who have been here for that long, and when you get a staff and a nucleus like that, it makes my life so easy, and it makes me proud to be around them.”

A beautiful view of Dolly Sods, delicious, fresh seafood, and some of West Virginia's most luxurious log cabins: just a few more reasons to take one of our Restaurant Road Trips.