LATEST REVIEWS
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Jocko’s Steakhouse
Nipomo, CaliforniaJocko’s is an historic, rough and tumble steak house where choice cuts are grilled over live red oak, Santa Maria BBQ style.
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White Cottage
Woodstock, VermontWhite Cottage’s breezy tables are right for made-to-order hamburgers and foot-long hot dogs longs served Yankee-style in grilled rolls. A summer-in-Vermont treat.
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Taco Town
Scottsbluff, NebraskaThe taco at this Nebraska restaurant comes in a crisp corn shell pliable enough that it doesn’t shatter, loaded with ground beef that is cream rich and peppery.
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Sue’s Grill
Wagener, South CarolinaAn ingenuous little diner at the edge of town, Sue’s goes the extra mile to serve good burgers, sandwiches, and square meals. Pleasant staff, decent prices.
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Spud Fish and Chips
Kirkland, WashingtonA humble eat-in-the-rough Seattle area seafood restaurant, Spud serves some of the best fried cod and halibut anywhere, sided by superb French fries.
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Sion’s Mexican Restaurant
Manhattan Beach, CaliforniaSion’s is a casual coffee shop in a motel parking lot that surprises with regional Mexican breakfast specialties.
GUIDES
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12 Best Places to Eat a Burger Outside this Summer
Hamburgers are good year-around, but there’s special pleasure in having one en plein air on a summer day. Check out these dozen Roadfood favorite restaurants serving the best burgers with open-sky ambiance.
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First Stop: Roadfood Eateries Near Airports
Food in airports is better than it used to be, but when we arrive by plane, we can’t get out of the terminal fast enough. By rental car, or even cab or Uber, we head for the nearest Roadfood eatery. These are two dozen favorites just minutes from the airport. They make great first stops … Continue reading First Stop: Roadfood Eateries Near Airports
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The Best Things to Eat in Connecticut
Having recently moved south from Connecticut after living and eating there for 40+ years, I am loving shrimp and grits, local peaches, and, of course, barbecue; but there are dishes I am sad to have left behind. Some of the best things to eat in Connecticut are a steamed cheeseburger at The Lunch Box and freshly-shucked … Continue reading The Best Things to Eat in Connecticut
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Northeast Seafood Crawl
For a mouthwatering summer road trip to sleeves-up joints surrounded by magnificent scenery, you can’t beat a seafood-eating expedition along New England’s coast. At waterside picnic tables and roadside drive-ins, in diner booths and vintage shore dinner halls, the good eats include whole lobsters, lobster rolls, and lobster pie, chowders both briny-thin and cream-sweet, and clams either crisp-fried or … Continue reading Northeast Seafood Crawl
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Route 66: Arizona & California Edition
While magnificent scenery along Route 66 in Arizona and California is abundant, good meals can be scarce. But it isn’t necessary to take a major detour down to Sedona or Palm Springs to eat well; here are a handful of restaurants on or close to the old Will Rogers Highway that provide excellent food and … Continue reading Route 66: Arizona & California Edition
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Pittsburgh’s Strip
There’s no neighborhood in America more appetite-friendly than Pittsburgh’s Strip. Groceries of every sort, restaurants of every continent, stand-up snacks and sit-down meals abound. It’s all within a few blocks, so park the car and take this walking tour of Roadfood classics that begins with outlandish pancakes at DeLuca’s or strawberry hotcakes at Pamela’s Diner … Continue reading Pittsburgh’s Strip
DISHES
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Chislic
A dish unique to South Dakota, chislic is beef (sometimes bison) that is well-marinated, then deep-fried to crusty-edged succulence. Its origins are Russian, where pork was the favored meat. In fact, it has become a favorite way to prepare just about any wild game in the Mount Rushmore State.
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Horseshoe
Created in Springfield, Illinois, in the 1920s, the horseshoe is a giant plate of food that has gone far beyond its original resemblance to equine footwear. Local taverns and diners pile shoes with hamburgers, pork tenderloins, fried chicken, whitefish or just vegetables along with about a kilo of French fries and a flood of cheese … Continue reading Horseshoe
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Italian Beef Sandwich
A shaft of muscular bread filled with thin-sliced beef in garlicky natural gravy, Italian Beef is the king of street food in Chicago. Optional garnishes include “sweet” (roasted peppers), “hot” (giardiniera relish), or a length of char-cooked sausage.
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Steamed Cheeseburger
A special steam cabinet is used to cook individual portions of ground beef and blocks of Vermont cheddar cheese, the latter transformed by steam into a pearlescent mass just viscous enough to seep into every crevice of the meat below, but not so runny that it escapes the sandwich. The soft hamburger (no crust on … Continue reading Steamed Cheeseburger
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Sonoran Hot Dog
Tucson’s favorite street food is a dizzying package. An all-beef frank, wrapped in bacon and grilled, gets garnished with pinto beans, chopped tomatoes, onions, mustard, hot jalapeno sauce, and a squiggle of mayonnaise, then planted in a big soft bun and sided by a mercilessly hot roasted pepper.
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Banana Pudding
Of all the South’s soothing desserts, none is quite so palliative as banana pudding or, as true aficionados of comfort food know it, ‘naner pudding. It is a dandy finish for any meal of meat and threes, especially welcome as the denouement following salty country ham, spicy barbecue, or highly seasoned fried chicken.
FEATURES
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Jane’s Diary: The Worst Meal I Ever Ate
People always ask Michael and me what was the best meal we ever ate. This is a hard question to answer, as it changes day to day and often is keyed into what we are craving at the moment. Nobody ever asks about the worst meal we ever ate. This is an easier question to … Continue reading Jane’s Diary: The Worst Meal I Ever Ate
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The Best Local Restaurants in and around Palm Springs
Palm Springs is an eater’s oasis in the desert. If you come on I-10 from the west, stop in Cabazon at Hadley’s Fruit Orchards (where trail mix was invented) and at Crazy Coyote Tacos for hotter-than-hot sauce. From the east, visit Shields Date Gardens in Indio for a date shake, date pancakes, and date ice … Continue reading The Best Local Restaurants in and around Palm Springs
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Yellow Church Cafe
Expertly crafted artisan fare, including house-baked breads and world-class cakes, make meals in Ellensburg’s adorable former church restaurant truly heavenly.
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Model Pharmacy
A vintage lunch counter serving true New-Mex green chile stew, warm fruit cobblers, and soda fountain specialties, Model Pharmacy is a taste of old Route 66.
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Route 66 through Albuquerque
Route 66 did not bypass cities. It ran straight through their hearts. In Albuquerque the old highway is called Central Avenue, and it takes travelers right past or very near a bevy of excellent downtown eat places — some new, some dating back to the heyday of the Mother Road.
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Jane’s Diary: The Thing is…
For those of you who may not have committed to memory the complete works of Jane and Michael Stern, here is an interesting factoid. At the same time we wrote the original edition of Roadfood, published in 1978, we also wrote a companion book called Amazing America. It is a lame title for a book … Continue reading Jane’s Diary: The Thing is…