Two for the Road: Our Love Affair with American Food (Hardcover)

~ (Author), (Author) "Our first date was over a white clam pizza at Pepe's Pizzeria on Wooster Square in New Haven, Connecticut, and it was instantly apparent as..." (more)
Key Phrases: hoppel poppel, stuffed ham, chicken croquettes, New York, New England, Rhode Island (more...)

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

The authors of Roadfood are crazy for American local food, that often informal, inexpensive cuisine that's not especially healthy but sure is tasty. The husband-and-wife team has traveled the country since the 1970s, seeking out the sort of food found in "unlikely restaurants in small towns and off two-lane highways," which, naturally, leads to all manner of fish-out-of-water scenarios, which they relate in this endearing chronicle. The Sterns' adventures are funny, if not quite perilous; the car breaks down in Enigma, Ga.; six jugs of iced tea bought at a South Carolina restaurant leak all over the car's floor, which the Sterns don't realize until days later, when they're nearing the Mojave Desert and could really use a refreshment. Their enthusiasm is inspiring; they regularly consume 100 meals in 10 days or less, but that only makes them more passionate for road food. Their descriptions of their grail are the book's highlights: baby back ribs at Carson's, in Skokie, Ill., for instance, are "sensuously sticky with a baked-on sauce that [is] striated red-gold as if it had been painted by an artist of the Hudson River School"; caramel rolls at North Dakota's Havana Cafe are "light and fluffy, swirled with veins of caramel frosting." (May)
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Review

I love Jane and Michael Stern... they [deserve] a room of their own in the Smithsonian, next to Julia Child's The New York Times Book Review

An effervescent memoir that leaves you craving barbecue, Coca-cola and (maybe) chitlins.
Entertainment Weekly

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 304 pages
• Publisher: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt (May 4, 2006)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0618329633
• ISBN-13: 978-0618329632
• Product Dimensions: 8.2 x 5.9 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 15.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (15 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #446,891 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

16 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Road Hogs, June 23, 2006

By	takingadayoff "takingadayoff" (Las Vegas, Nevada) - See all my reviews (TOP 500 REVIEWER)

Jane and Michael Stern love those little hole-in-the-wall diners that always seem to have either the best food you've had in ages, or the worst. They have asbestos-lined stomachs and aren't easily scared. These traits serve them well in their chosen career as low-end restaurant reviewers and kitsch collectors. Two for the Road is their story, or at least an entertaining collection of stories from their thirty-some years on the road together.

For a book that's about finding great food, there are an awful lot of gross-out episodes here. But that's only to be expected from people who eat twelve meals a day when on the road, and whose criteria for which eateries to try include whether there is a smiling cow or pig statue on the roof. And let's face it, who doesn't love a good gross-out story?

In addition to stories about great diners and really awful ones, there's the occasional detour to pursue their interest in kitschy pop culture. It seems they love to visit prison gift shops. (How did they discover that prisons even have gift shops?) Jane and Michael tell how they stumbled into the inmate-filled exercise yard of Leavenworth Federal Penitentiary while searching for the gift shop. As the inmates ponder this unexpected development, Jane asks a group of prisoners where the gift shop is. Quickly determining that there is no gift shop (or guards), they scoot out through the unlocked doors and resume their journey.

Unbelievable? Sure, but they've got a million of 'em, and whether you envy their career or find it as appealing as being force-fed lard through a tube, you can't help but enjoy their enthusiasm and humor.

13 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars On the Road and On the Money, June 11, 2006

By	Peter Brown (Houston, Texas) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

We've used Roadfood, Roadfood Goodfood and all other Jane and Michael Stern books for years. Two for the Road is the behind the scenes of all the wonderful reviews and all the terrific places that the Sterns have traveled to and eaten at for the past three decades. And the story behind the great food is as good as the food itself: it's all sumptuous, homey, loving, funny, feisty, unpretentious - a look at America that is open and gracious and filled with appetite and wit. I love this book and after reading it over the weekend with family in Kennedale, we drove back to Houston and stopped for lunch in the small town of Calvert, Texas - and all that I had read and fantasized about popped into a very happy reality at The Otherplace Cafe where the lunch consisted of the best chicken fried steak I've ever had, a salad with home grown tomatoes; fried corn, sweet potatoes, a "thirteen vegetable stir fry", Mexican green beans, home baked rolls (the kind that break into thirds) and chocolate cake with nuts - plus iced tea. All for eight bucks. The only choice on the menu apart from the meat, was the kind of potato to get and I'm not touting the place which was certainly very good, I'm touting the book and the Sterns, who have helped all of us stop and try new things and new places, meet new people (the cook worked in the Navy for eight years teaching high pressure welding) - and to experience and explore America in all of its beauty, strangeness, friendliness, hopefulness and culinary genius.

13 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Delightful, June 1, 2006

By	Margaret Dybala "too many books, too little time" (Pearland, Texas United States) - See all my reviews (TOP 1000 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)

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This book is a delightful narrative of the adventures of Jane and Michael Stern as they travel the USA in search of interesting roadside food. Starting in the early 1970s, with an original goal of eating and reviewing every restaurant in America, they quickly realize that they need to narrow their focus. Henceforth, they travel the byways, staying at mom and pop motels (some downright scary - but mostly just good fun), and eating at the kind of cafe that the locals enjoy. In a sense, this book isn't just about food, but also about the kind of smalltown goodness (with a bit of eccentricity thrown in) that one often finds in the USA. The descriptions of the food are sheer poetry of yumminess. I wouldn't think that something like "stuffed ham" (boiled ham with greens and spices stuffing it, that is then "shocked" cold and served) would sound aluring, yet they manage to make it sound like the food of the Gods. I recommend this book for anyone that enjoys food books, travel books, or welldone memoirs.