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Post by imec on Jun 25, 2009 18:40:31 GMT
There seems to be plenty of interest in this topic at the moment. The guy who runs this site: www.roadfood.com/ has had a column in Gourmet for many years. This show: www.foodnetwork.com/diners-drive-ins-and-dives/index.html has been running for several seasons now. Road Food generally refers to casual places (joints?) that serve casual food. Local eateries as opposed to national chains. Diners, pizzerias, burger joints and so on. Do you eat at these places? Do have any favorites? Let us know (please note: this is not "street food" - I'll start another thread for that)When I'm in Chicago, I HAVE to eat "Italian Beef". It's slowly roasted beef shaved, piled on an Italian roll, topped with giardiniera (pickled celery, onions and hot peppers) and then dipped in the cooking juice. Heaven on a bun!   |
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Post by Deleted on Jun 25, 2009 19:13:52 GMT
Road food is one of the great joys of life, because it is a true discovery. When you have been driving hundreds of kilometers and stop to eat road food, you generally eat what is available without prissy fussiness. This allows you to discover things that you never had any intention of eating. In North America, the very last thing that I discovered on a menu and had to order just to discover exactly what it was was Snickers pie.  |
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Post by bixaorellana on Jun 25, 2009 22:31:55 GMT
I'm not totally sure what Snickers pie is, but I want it.
My former husband used to run every trip as though it were D-Day. Finally I put my foot down and said a) we weren't leaving the house until we'd both "gone" that morning, and b) no more fast food! We would stop at a normal hour and sit down and eat a balance meal at a normal pace.
Except for some really good barbeque moments, I can't think of anything stellar I've ever had on the road, with one exception: the boudin to be had off the interstate near Lafayette, La. That calls for screeching off the highway, racing up the wooden step & buying a hot link, then back outside to sit on the step and moan with pleasure while gobbling the steamy treat. Then it's back inside to buy a bunch to take home and freeze.
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Post by Deleted on Jun 25, 2009 22:34:59 GMT
I think you have to go to Texas to get a Snickers pie. I had mine in Dallas.
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Post by Deleted on Jun 25, 2009 22:39:45 GMT
Mr. C has discovered all the best Boudin and hogs head cheese places. Had the best Boudin last week from Breaux Bridge.
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Post by lagatta on Jun 26, 2009 1:28:06 GMT
I don't drive, so very little experience with road food in recent decades. Train food?
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Post by imec on Jun 26, 2009 1:34:05 GMT
I don't drive, so very little experience with road food in recent decades. Train food? lagatta, you don't have to drive to appreciate it. Remember - there are places near you where other people drive out of their way because it's so good. BTW, one of my favorite things in the world is all the little burger joints in the back roads of rural Quebec - not for the food (although I'm sure much of it is great), but for the painted pictures of burgers, dogs and fries etc. that they have on their signs! One day I'd like to get out on the road there with a camera and put together a cool Quebecois road food picture essay. |
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Post by traveler63 on Jun 26, 2009 1:48:59 GMT
  Pats Drive In -1202 W. Niagara St. Best Chili Cheese dogs and fries ever. Here in Tucson since 1955!!! |
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Post by imec on Jun 26, 2009 2:31:37 GMT
I'm starting to wish I didn't start these road and street food threads. This is killing me! Them chili dogs look fantastic!
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Post by bixaorellana on Jun 26, 2009 4:03:17 GMT
That's how I feel about the evil C's litany of all my favorites!
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Post by traveler63 on Jun 26, 2009 11:40:09 GMT
Imec:
Oh, they are !!!!!! and I couldn't find a picture of the french fries, which are almost as good!!!
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Post by auntieannie on Jul 2, 2009 21:17:35 GMT
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Post by Deleted on Jul 2, 2009 21:27:05 GMT
Road food Belgique  |
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Post by lagatta on Jan 8, 2010 2:34:27 GMT
And it ends with La Frite Belge! I think I've eaten at one of those.
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Post by Deleted on Jan 8, 2010 6:02:14 GMT
I most definitely have. There's nothing like a lunch in a Belgian friterie.
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Post by bazfaz on Jan 8, 2010 9:05:54 GMT
First class sleeper Bangkok-Chiang Mai. Thai Railways keeps changing its caterers and we have had a couple of disappointing journeys. But we had one good one. We had a little first class compartment. The steward brought ice and water to go with the Mekong whisky we had packed. Then a meal of pancake rolls, duck curry and a fruit plate. It was dark outside the window except for passing slowly through stations - Hey look, there's Ayuthaya - and little villages.
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Post by tillystar on Jan 8, 2010 9:58:32 GMT
I want to eat in La Frite Belge, all we have is Little Chefs.  we recently drove through Wales and I was most impressed at the amount of roadside stalls they had. on the A roads it seemed you couldn't go a couple of miles without seeing one of these beauties:  This teahut, close to where i live, is famous locally. It is open 24 hours a day, 365 days a year.  On a main road from London to the South Coast it is always busy. There are always crowds of bikers, lorry drivers, emergency service workers and at 5am bedraggled people on the way home from parties. I have partaken in its "Monster Burger" many times on the way home from a night out. It even has had a film made about it, you can view the trailer here: www.teatimemovie.com/trailer.htm |
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Post by Deleted on Jan 8, 2010 10:35:27 GMT
It is disappointing in France that we don't have any 24h greasy spoons along the main roads. At the service areas on the autoroute, the snack bars and such are always closed by midnight, and you have to rely on the items in the service station superette, all cold. Some of the automatic machines will spit some instant soup into a plastic goblet, just enough to make you regret that no real soup is available.
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Post by lagatta on Jan 8, 2010 14:32:03 GMT
Yes, I've experienced those, kerouac. Dreadful. There are some spectacular service areas though.
Tilly's stalls are lovely.
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Post by Deleted on Feb 19, 2010 12:05:53 GMT
I came across this Romanian road food item that looks interesting and a bit mysterious.  |
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Post by auntieannie on Feb 19, 2010 13:31:00 GMT
there are stalls like that speckled around the various industrial estates here. I ate a few really really good burgers in some of them. Others are a nightmare, though.
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Post by existentialcrisis on Feb 21, 2010 14:09:56 GMT
Have to say, ever since I watched "Herald and Krumar go to White Castle" I really want to try those little burgers on a road trip sometime.. perhaps when I go to Chicago this fall! When I was in Maine, I really enjoyed what they just call "Italians" which are basic white bread subs with ham and onions and olives and green peppers and oil and vinegar I think... will have to check the recipe. I find pleasure in the simple things. Oh, found a pic... I guess these are for real, they are actually called "Maine Italians":  ericsfood.blogspot.com/2007/07/maine-italian.html |
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Post by Deleted on Feb 22, 2010 6:43:53 GMT
I first encountered White Castle on a school trip to Jackson, MS. The basic burger was priced at 12 1/2 cents. They were such tiny crumpled things (even smaller than a basic McDonald's burger, assuming that item still exists) that there was no way you could order fewer than 2 for a quarter.
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Post by gertie on Mar 6, 2010 10:08:18 GMT
I'm not sure it counts as road food, but on our old main street (which oddly is not main street, it's the parallel street one over, but hey, we Texans are a wild bunch!) we have an old dime store turned into an Italian bistro. People come from all over, they make the most delish chicken fetticini alfredo but what I really love is the eggplant parmesan followed by tiramisu which they make from absolute scratch.
We also have a good bbq place, but everyone here drives over to Buck Snort BBQ in Van Alstyne. I have been told the reason is BBQ simply isn't good unless you have to take a drive to get it.
Another favorite of mine is if you can find a good tamale stand. Good tamale stands here are sort of like a speak easy. Finding them when you move to a new area is rather like the French "Tu" - when they tell you where to buy good tamales, you are in. The best are usually run by a family with Grandma calling the shots. Where I used to live, an older couple parked on the berm of a local black top road every day at lunch except Mondays and sold them bagged by the dozen until the sold out. Here it is a converted school bus on blocks at a crossroads of local highways, you can buy them bagged by the dozen or they serve up platters with home made condiments that includes a light-your-fire salsa verde we love.
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Post by bixaorellana on Mar 6, 2010 15:20:37 GMT
"Buck Snort" BBQ?! I'd go there just for the name!
I used to take that looooong drive from Port Isabel to Louisiana and back. Those small-town Texas BBQ places can save your sanity. A real jewel of Texas road food is finding the tiny joints that make their own jerky -- road food of the gods, and you can eat it in the car.
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Post by Deleted on Mar 6, 2010 17:28:40 GMT
What's funny is the thought of the drives that we would do in the middle of the night in Los Angeles to go to Tommy's (wasn't there a post about Tommy's?), the bagel factory, and quite a few other places. Even though we never left the city, I suppose that some of these 30 mile drives were quite similar to the ones of small town people going to the next county for something.
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Post by bixaorellana on Mar 6, 2010 22:34:50 GMT
Ha ~~ that reminds me of the time my mother took me to bunches of small Oklahoma towns because we were on a quest for "fries' (not potatoes, folks, not potatoes). We followed one false lead after another to no avail, and finally stopped to eat at a place that advertised a smorgasbord. We stopped there because my mother has a strongly developed sense of humor and had to find out what a "smorgasbord" was in tinytown, Oklahoma. Yes, reader -- it was a steam table. It stands out in my mind because we were ushered to our table through water -- there had been a freak rainstorm and flood. The tired lady mopping took quite a while to lean on her mop and regale us with the drama of it all.
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Post by Don Cuevas on Mar 7, 2010 0:07:04 GMT
"Ha ~~ that reminds me of the time my mother took me to bunches of small Oklahoma towns because we were on a quest for "fries' (not potatoes, folks, not potatoes)."
Calf nuggets?
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Post by bixaorellana on Mar 7, 2010 2:16:40 GMT
Calf, lamb, turkey ~~ who knows what else.
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Post by gertie on Mar 7, 2010 3:56:17 GMT
You can keep the "fries", bixaorellana, but I'll take the jerky.  |
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