Customer Reviews

Roadfood: Revised Edition

5 star:		(22)
4 star:		(6)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(6)
1 star:		(4)

 

 

I just bought this book and am really disappointed. I had expected something like the reviewers said, "a bible for motorists", "dining options along America's highways and back roads", "regional maps", etc. I checked out Wisconsin first, because that's where I live and what I know best. 18 places reviewed and 10 of them are in Milwaukee, with 3 more in the 'burbs. 2 in Green Bay, neither of which I would put in a book on great food - 'tis true, Krolls is good, but it's the East side Krolls (different owners, vastly better food), not the West side one, although of course with the West side, you do get to mention Lambeau Field, Green Bay's Mecca.

Racine, Sheboygan and Manitowoc get the other state listings. Recap: 18 in Wisconsin, 13 of which are in Milwaukee. Two of the places virtually every Wisconsinite will cite as great food options are Madison and Door County, neither of which get a mention.

OK, maybe I'm being too hard on the authors. Maybe I should forget about the ethnic smorgasbord in Madison and all the tasty home made ice creams and other places in Door County and just admit Milwaukee has all the great road food - but see folks, the problem is, I wasn't expecting listings like Watts Tea Room or Karl Ratzsch's ($79 Porterhouse for 2). Guess my roadfood budget is different than others roadfood budget.

So get over Wisconsin. How about Illinois? 24 listings, guess where 18 are? Yup, Chicago. So if you didn't fill up, or shoot your budget in Milwaukee, just drive south an hour or so, and cruise the highways and backroads of the Windy City.

Hey, get out of the Midwest. Let's go South. How about Kentucky? I'm fairly familiar with that state, mmm, not a lot of good food in Kentucky apparently, only 5 listings. OK, maybe Kentuckians are just bad cooks. Again, though, the good cooks are clustered together (is it the same air, I wonder?). 3 of the recommended restaurants are in Louisville, 1 in Henderson, 1 in Owensville. Knoxville? Uh-uh. Lexington? Nope.

As for those "regional maps", don't leave yours at home when you travel. The maps are regional all right - 5 or so states in a clump and the restaurant cities listed. So, at the beginning of the Midwest section, you can see the trip to find all this great road food nicely hugs the Lake Michigan shoreline and goes down in a straight line.

All of the chapters I looked at (maybe 1/3 of the book so far) are like that. It looks like someone took A Trip, from city to city and stopped and investigated some restaurants in those cities.

If you love to travel from big city to big city, eat your heart out while you're there and have money to burn, this is the book for you. Wanna buy my copy cheap?

We recently purchased the new edition of 'Roadfood' to take along with us on our recent road trip through the Southwest. In the course of the trip, we tried three places recommended in this guide. The first, the Nevada Dinner House, had been acquired by new owners and our dinners bore little resemblance to those described in the guide. The second meal, at Pasqual's in New Mexico, was excellent. Unfortunately, the total bill was not the $30-40 predicted by the guide, but rather $100 dollars for three diners (including tip). We ordered no alcohol, shared a dessert, and one of the diners was a child. Our final shot with the guide, at Old Smokey's Diner in Arizona was also a miss. The guide described the excellence of the five varieties of bread, along with a number of sweet breakfast bread options included with the breakfast or available for sale by the loaf. In actuality, the restaurant's bread was the standard store-bought bread, available at any Denny's and NOT for sale by the loaf.

While I'm sure that all of the places mentioned in the guide were at one time as wonderful as described, it appears that the authors may not be doing careful research on the continuing quality of some of their old favorites.

Despite this, I'm still giving the book two stars because it is excellent, mouth-watering reading. I wish the places they described actually existed, though!

Roadfood isn't exactly the American Michelin Guide to fine dining, but it fills perhaps an even more important niche, in the sense that it covers the types of places real people might actually find themselves eating at. As such, it aims at finding places serving food unique or typical of the region, joints that do the seemingly ordinary, extraordinarily well.

The book is organized by region and then by state within that region. New England, the Mid-Atlantic, and the Deep South are likely the best covered area, the Great Plains the least. The maps won't help you find a place, and directions are hardly ever included in the reviews, but phone numbers are listed and a reader with a cell phone can do the rest. The Sterns visit lobster shacks in Maine, ethnic delis in New York, barbecue and oyster joints in the south, and so on. Their taste runs very much to the real and indisputably authentic; good service, friendly people and atmosphere, and pride in cooking always win out over fancy decorations. I have been to over 40 of the establishments listed here over the years, and only very few fall into the `fine dining' category of any other guidebook. There are some pricey places listed, but they are far outnumbered by places where a meal and a soda or beer can be had for under $15.

There are cities that are more thoroughly covered than others; but let's face it, Chicago and New York have a lot more and better places that fit the Roadfood mission than Billings, Montana might. It's not a guide to your neighborhood eateries, it's a guide to funky places around the country, wherever they may be. Someone looking for cheap and good grub in their hometown should consult their local phone book.

I take this book with me on every road trip. It invites the reader to explore the side roads, talk to new people, and connect with America. It is a delight to browse through, well written and with a love for the sheer pleasure of finding a place still true to itself. It is the antidote to a dull set of drive-through meals along the interstate.

As usual the Sterns have published another delicious book. They list eating places all over the 48 states. These are those road food diners and joints where you might not stop, sometimes because you wonder what might lie in wait for you behind that door. This even includes new ideas for places you might not have known about in your own area. With this book you can have confidence that here is real food, not that processed, frozen brought to the building and warmed up stuff that passes for most food you get when traveling or even eating locally; but food like your mother - if she was a fantastic cook would have made you. It is true you can get this information and more on their web site, but this is so wonderful to carry in the car. I have never been to a place that they recommended and been sorry. In fact sometimes the places we have stopped have led to the highlights of a trip. We have met locals, gone down roads and stopped at spots we would not have traveled to. It has been our experience that when we enter these mostly beloved local eateries, we are welcomed and we know we are visiting the real America.
With this edition some much needed corrections have been done; there were a couple eating places that had been closed for a long time before their previous edition.
I do wish that more of an effort was made to review and include places that are nearer well traveled tourist sites, so we can avoid the chains and the same restaurants we could eat at while at home. There is a huge lack of information for central Florida and that would have been very welcome. There is almost nothing for traveling along the east coastline in ocean areas and the Outer Banks area with the exception of along the Maine coast; and some western states especially have very little listed. I know it would add to the effort and bulk of the book, but some more directions from interstates would really be nice.

Whenever we travel, we consult Jane and Michael Stern's excellent "Road Food" a guide to some great eats. They have steered us to some wonderful barbecue in the South, incredible lobster rolls in Maine, outstanding burgers in the Midwest, and some of the best desserts we have ever had. Over the years their tips and insights have helped keep many small, mom-and-pop operations alive.

If you are sick of the mainstreamed, homogenized, corporate food of the national chains, this guide will help you find the true dining gems.

Long live slow food!


Three Guys From Miami -- authors of "Three Guys From Miami Cook Cuban," and Three Guys From Miami Celebrate Cuban."

I'm travelling the US by car and this book has made the trip a lot of fun. We have eaten at restaurants that we never would have tried based on the "look" from the outside. We have had fabulous regional fare based on the write-ups in the book. Not only does it help you find great local restaurants but it recommends what to try at each. Only one warning for readers - do call the restaurant first - we have been disappointed by one that decided to close and another that happened to be closed on Sundays when we arrived. Thank you to the authors for a great and fun book!

I tested the roadfood book by Jane Stern on my last trip to Oregon and I was not disapointed! The razor clams (for breakfast)as recommended at Camp 18 in Elsie were delicious,and the cinnamon roll that we got to go was humungous.The little seafood restaurant Dan and Louies tucked away in the heart of Portland is not to be missed! Roadfood will not lead you down the wrong road, Enjoy!

My wife and I have been using this guide and it's predecessor for about 4 years now. This guide still is our first reference when taking a trip. The first 3 years, eateries were very good and mostly as advertised. Lately, and especially on a recent trip through Nevada, Colorado and Arizona it was hit and miss. Some of the reviews in the book are not up to date regarding the prices and food. We missed on 2 out of the three that we visited. We also figure that we are batting about .500 in our home area, San Francisco. We will continue to use the guide as we really enjoy finding good food on the road and there is little else to help us decide. Maybe a little more personal followup is needed before putting a restaurant in this guide.

Although I am a serious home cook I tend to eat out a lot due to my busy travel schedule. I am always looking for the out-of-the-way places that only the locals know about. This book is my inside guide to those hidden treasures.

First I checked out the cities that I know best and was amazed at how many of the small, jewel-like restaurants that I have visited in the past were included in this book. However, some cities get a lot of coverage and some equally deserving cities got little or no reports. I live in San Antonio and although some of the surrounding cities have restaurants that are included in this book, San Antonio, one of the largest and most unique cities in Texas, gets nothing. Same can be said for many other cities, especially in the Northeast. I understand that no book can adequately cover a subject as broad as this and still please everyone, but I would pay three times as much for a more extensive tome.

I have this book in the Kindle version and though I wish I could get to specific cities quicker, I am not as unhappy as other Kindle version reviewers.

My only complaint about this book (and their other books) is too much space is devoted to the East and the South. I would like to see more entries in the West, and South West. I am a foodie and love to read about food.