LATEST REVIEWS
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Dukes
Aiken, South CarolinaDukes is an Aiken, South Carolina all-you-can-eat BBQ buffet, featuring pulled pork plus terrific fried chicken and a couple dozen exemplary side dishes.
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Sehnert’s Bakery and Bieroc Cafe
McCook, NebraskaSehnert’s is a true taste of the Nebraska Midlands: great sweet rolls and baked goods, bierocks, and loosemeats sandwiches, plus occasional live music.
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Frosty Chalet
Lone Pine, CaliforniaLone Pine’s Frosty Chalet is an updated Frosty stand serving some of the best little burgers in California.
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Round Rock Donuts
Round Rock, TexasTexas’ legendary Round Rock Donuts are more substantial than evaporative Krispy Kremes, yet not the least bit heavy like the more dunkable cake donuts.
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Loncheria Otro Rollo
Bakersfield, CaliforniaLoncheria Otro Rollo is a tiny red trailer in a gas station parking lot that serves authentic Guadalajaran sandwiches drowned in fiery sauce.
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North Shore Hawaiian Plate Lunch
Klamath Falls, OregonFor a taste of Hawaii in Klamath Falls, Oregon, all you need is $9 for a sampler platter of four tasty meats, sticky rice, and cold mac salad.
GUIDES
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California Casual Beach Eats from Malibu to Los Angeles
The Pacific Coast Highway never strays too far from the Beaches of Los Angeles County. Starting in Malibu, you can see the ocean throughout your drive. While Malibu is an upscale place, there are still opportunities to experience casual California beach eats at their best. Try some breakfast burritos from The Country Kitchen and fresh … Continue reading California Casual Beach Eats from Malibu to Los Angeles
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Connecticut: Hot Dog Heaven
Along with New Jersey, New York, and Chicago, Connecticut is one of the nation’s most elite hot dog hunting grounds — home of dozens of joints that make the cooking and dressing of wieners into a fine culinary art. There is no one style unique to the state — although deep-frying, as at Blackie’s and … Continue reading Connecticut: Hot Dog Heaven
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9 Places to Go For Great Soft-Serve
There is so much inferior soft-serve ice cream (aerated, chemically-flavored), that soft-serve in general has a bad reputation among ice cream lovers. But there are exceptions, soft-serve can be great! Whether authentic custard (containing egg yolks) or not, the soft-serve at these colorful Roadfood favorites is worth a detour.
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Seafood and Sea Views: Road Trip Down the Oregon Coast
A Road Trip down the Oregon Coast Scenic Byway is one of the most beautiful stretches of roads anywhere, and also happens to be one of the most delicious. The drive from Astoria south to Brookings offers endless only-in-Oregon seafood stops, dripping with local charm and character. Aside from the good eats along the way, … Continue reading Seafood and Sea Views: Road Trip Down the Oregon Coast
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America’s Byways: Michigan’s Copper Country Trail
America’s Byways® are a collection of 150 National Scenic Byways and All-American Roads designated by the U.S. Secretary of Transportation. Some take you through beauty so remote that there’s nothing to eat along the way, but several also happen to lead to great regional Roadfood specialties. Michigan’s Copper Country Trail, up through the Keweenaw Peninsula, … Continue reading America’s Byways: Michigan’s Copper Country Trail
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Route 66: Illinois & Missouri Edition
In 1946, when Bobby and Cynthia Troup drove their Buick convertible from the East to the West coast in hopes of finding a future writing songs, Cynthia suggested to Bobby that he write one about Route 40. But Bobby found Route 40 boring. When they got to Illinois and hit Route 66, something clicked. Bobby … Continue reading Route 66: Illinois & Missouri Edition
DISHES
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Chicken Fried Steak
It seems logical that the southwest’s favorite comfort food, chicken-fried steak, traces its heritage back to central European immigrant cooks who found themselves without the fixin’s for a fine, tender cut of veal to make wiener schnitzel. Instead, they took a hunk of cow and beat the chaw out of it, then fried it up … Continue reading Chicken Fried Steak
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Five Way Chili
Nothing like Texas chili, Cincinnati Five-Way is a layered dish of spaghetti noodles, spicy sweet (but not four-alarm) ground beef sauce with a distinct Greek accent, kidney beans, raw onions, and shredded yellow cheese. Every Cincinnatian has a favorite among the city’s dozens of chili parlors.
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Lexington Barbecue
There are literally dozens of styles of barbecue across the wide state of North Carolina. Lexington-style is king: pork shoulders cooked over wood coals until fallapart tender, dressed with minimal vinegar-based red sauce. Have a platter or sandwich, sliced or chopped, and ask for extra pieces of crunchy skin.
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Beef on Weck
Beyond perfectly cooked and expertly sliced roast beef, the “weck” aspect of Buffalo’s favorite sandwich is essential. From the German word Kummel, meaning caraway seed, a kummelweck looks vaguely like an ordinary hard roll spangled with caraway seeds and coarse salt. But it is not ordinary. A correct weck is delicate, its freshness evanescent. Lightness … Continue reading Beef on Weck
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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 … Continue reading Smith Island Cake
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Boudin
A specialty of butchers throughout Cajun country, boudin is a sausage of pork, rice, onions, and spice. It is not firm like an Italian sausage. Once cut, it tends to spill, tumble, or gets squeezed out depending on the link’s consistency. It comes in shades of beige, hot ones tinged pepper red, some speckled with … Continue reading Boudin
FEATURES
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Jane’s Diary: On Books and Babies
Michael and I never had kids. It was not a formal decision, it was more like that classic cartoon that shows a woman looking in the mirror exclaiming, “Oh my God, I’m forty and I forgot to have children!” The funny thing is that when I review my life, I feel like I have had … Continue reading Jane’s Diary: On Books and Babies
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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.