LATEST REVIEWS
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Star Hill Provisions
Loretto, KentuckyIn the old distiller’s house on the Maker’s Mark campus, Star Hill is a contemporary farm-to-table cafe featuring unique Kentucky eats and bourbon drinks.
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Jordan’s
Norwalk, ConnecticutJordan’s is a one-menu-fits-all restaurant/diner/pizzeria with Italian and Greek specialties including Greek-style pizza with a yeasty, crisp crust.
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Dino’s Bar
Nashville, TennesseeDino’s is a shot-and-beer dive, but its burgers are a Nashville treasure, and its short, simple, smart bar menu doesn’t miss.
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Merichka’s
Crest Hill, IllinoisSaturday-night splurge meals are Merichka’s specialty, but the Roadfood lure is Poor Boy Steak — an under-$10 sandwich sopped with margarine & garlic.
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Heid’s
Liverpool, New YorkGerman franks, Texas hots (red wieners), and white hots made of beef, pork and veal are stars of Heid’s menu: a vintage upstate New York treasure.
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Vandy’s Bar-B-Q
Statesboro, GeorgiaClassic deep south BBQ (since ’29) has made Vandy’s downtown Statesboro restaurant a legend. Complex, creamy mustard sauce that crowns pork is magnificent.
GUIDES
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Pizza Nation
Is there another dish as malleable as pizza? It can be an utterly simple tomato pie – nothing but sauce on crust – or it can be a multi-meat bomb, a veggie special, an Hawaiian pie topped with pineapple and Spam, deep dish or thin crust, skimpy or swanky. Traveling around the USA, a devoted pizzaphile…
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Roadfood’s Richmond Favorites
Aside from a couple of irresistible bakeries that make beautiful buttermilk biscuits – plain as well as dressed to a fare-thee-well – Richmond’s Roadfood treasures include stylish modern restaurants that reconfigure classics from Southern shrimp & grits to Jewish bagels & lox. Good eating around the capital city also includes superior hot dogs, artisan ice cream,…
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Roadfood Eats Omaha
When writing our Roadfood guide book, which divides the nation into regions, Nebraska is a problem. Is it the Midwest or the West? Culinarily, it’s some of each, but Omaha, its biggest city, goes way beyond such labels. Yes you can find a big, expensive hunk of aged beef (at Johnny’s Cafe, the cattlemen’s choice since…
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Roadfood Adventures: Scottsdale to Bisbee, Arizona
7 STOPS |
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1 min
Scottsdale to Bisbee, Arizona
Roadfood Adventures are not just quests for great food wherever the road leads, but an invitation for travelers to connect that memorable…
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Best Eats in Pigeon Forge, Tennessee
Anybody visiting Dollywood, Pigeon Forge, and Great Smoky Mountains National Park will have no trouble finding a place to eat – there are hundreds. The trick is to find a good one. These “bests” are Roadfood’s choices to enjoy a unique eating experience that is delicious and memorable, served with genuine hospitality.
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Hidden Gems: Key West
12 STOPS |
12 MILES
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1 hr 1 min
Key West likes to call itself The Conch Republic, meaning its culture is unique, like a nation unto itself. Foodwise, that means a wonderful, crazy mix of restaurants that reflect the Caribbean and the Deep South with flavors that range from traditional to off-the-map creative. Here are a dozen Roadfood favorites that offer a memorable tastes…
DISHES
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Dixie Dog
Hot dog historians believe that the Dixie dog first was configured in Huntington, West Virginia, where it remains immensely popular, at Stewart’s root beer stand, which opened in 1932. The next year, proprietor Gertrude Mandt developed a chili sauce and started serving hot dogs. Exactly when slaw became part of the formula is lost in the…
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Sweet Potato Biscuit
The sweet potato biscuit, warm and painfully tender, its soft orange earthiness a perfect foil for chewy pink ham, is a specialty of Virginia’s Eastern Shore, where at least a half-dozen varieties of heirloom sweet potato thrive.
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Jonnycakes
Jonnycakes are cornmeal pancakes made with flint corn meal. East of Narragansett Bay, they are plate-wide and flannel-thin with a lacy edge. West of the Bay in South County, extra-thick batter is poured onto the griddle in discs no wider than a coaster. These little cylinders cook long enough to develop a crunchy crust and earthy…
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Poutine
One way to refer to yukky leftovers in colloquial Quebecoise is to call them poutine. At its worst, poutine can indeed be awful. But made right, it is transcendent. It must start with excellent French fries (twice fried), which are a staple at roadside snack bars throughout the province. Top the hot spuds with squeaky-fresh cheese…
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Carne Adovada
Carne adovada, marinated meat, is hugely popular in New Mexico, where it is pork chunks or chops sopped in a puree of red chile and baked slowly enough to become dramatically tender and, in serious chile-growing country, even more dramatically hot. Served in all levels of restaurant, it can be a substantial and quite elegant main…
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Smith Island Cake
Not every state has an official dessert. Named for one of the two inhabited islands in the Chesapeake Bay, Maryland’s Smith Island Cake is a 10-layer tour de force of fluffy cake and creamy icing in all the colors of the flavor rainbow. It’s well worth trying to eat it on Smith Island, where the locals…
FEATURES
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Cle Elum Bakery
Cake donuts and maple bars are at their best in this long-standing town bakery, which also is known for its cookies and bread. Good coffee, too.
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Roadfood Adventures: Winter Park to Miami, Florida
From Orlando and Winter Park down the east coast of Florida to Miami is a journey of never-ending adventure. Here you encounter brilliant sunshine, exotic wildlife, and bright urban energy, as well as an array of spectacular seafood, Latin-spiced specialties, and farm-fresh fruit. Must-eats include rock shrimp, El Cubanos, porky chicharones, and spectacular grilled cheese sandwiches….
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Roadfood Adventures: Selma to Montgomery, Alabama
Sweet Home Alabama! … from Selma – Queen City of the Blackbelt – to Montgomery — the Heart of Dixie — is an inspiring journey through the Deep South. Selma is all about the birth of the 20th century Civil Rights movement as well as home to some of the best BBQ in the nation. Montgomery,…
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Roadfood Adventures: San Luis Obisbo to Ventura, California
Memorable food stops with meals that are California’s alone … sophisticated wineries and wine-tasting rooms: these are the pleasures of an oceanside drive through SLO CAL, named for its easy-going pace, part of California that retains Golden State allure. Much of it is still wide-open country, with a legacy of cattle ranches as well as restaurants…
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Two For the Road
By Jane and Michael Stern
Originally Published 2006 Gourmet Magazine
OUR FIRST DATE WAS OVER A WHITE-CLAM PIZZA at Pepe’ s Pizzeria on Wooster Street in New Haven, Connecticut, and it was instantly apparent as we gazed into each other’s eyes across the thin-crusted Neapolitan pie speckled with tiny, tender…
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Jane’s Diary: The Bar Sinister
Paris, London, Rome, Butte. Yes, Butte, Montana! This may seem a weird line-up of favorite cities, but it’s true. I have traveled the world a fair amount and have gone to places exotic enough that I worried about strange bugs biting me, but few have been as memorable as Butte.
I am not an authority on…