The line keeps moving, your tray’s in hand, and the person ahead of you already knows exactly what to say. Tennesseans who eat at meat-and-threes, especially around Nashville, seem to know the unwritten rules. Here’s what the regulars do, so you can order like one too. 1. Picking Three Vegetables Michael Stern wrote in Gourmet…
Game day in Alabama is about more than the score. Many fans have a barbecue spot they won’t skip, and where you eat can matter almost as much as where you sit. Here are the barbecue names fans keep coming back to. 1. Dreamland Bar-B-Que Dreamland sells its products at Bryant-Denny Stadium, the University of…
Some food and drink favorites feel like they’ve always been around, and you don’t necessarily assume they were born in your home turf. Floridians may be surprised how close to home a few of them actually started. Here are the everyday foods and drinks with Florida roots. 1. Burger King’s Whopper If you’ve ever ordered…
Flavor Hills opened its Durham restaurant in December 2025. Then in mid-August 2026, the brand shut that restaurant and its Downtown Raleigh location, effective immediately. That’s short notice. Here are the restaurant chains that have already closed or are closing North Carolina locations in 2026. 1. Hickory Tavern Hickory Tavern, the Charlotte-born sports bar and…
Everybody has a go-to order, and everybody thinks theirs is the right one. At Portillo’s, Illinoisans can get downright protective about what they order at the counter. Here are the picks that tend to start the debate. 1. Chocolate Cake Shake A 2017 DNAinfo Chicago guide describes Portillo’s Chocolate Cake Shake as a whole slice…
Turkey may be the star of your Thanksgiving dinner, but side dishes are where the arguments start. Georgians have strong opinions about what belongs on the table. A few of those debates may never be settled, if you ask us. Here are some of the sides that spark all-in-good-fun fights at Thanksgiving. 1. Dressing or…
A sit-down meal costs more than it used to, regardless of the restaurant. Cracker Barrel calls Tennessee home, so Tennesseans may want to know how its latest prices stack up. Here’s how the chain’s prices compare to the past and with national averages. Average Check, Then and Now Cracker Barrel, headquartered in Lebanon, Tennessee, reported…
Every Louisiana kitchen seems to make gumbo a little differently, and everyone has opinions about it. Here are the gumbo debates that get the loudest. 1. Potato Salad in the Bowl Some Acadiana cooks put potato salad in the gumbo, and others keep it on the side. The Advocate reports that a front-of-house manager at…
Say a friend from out of state is visiting you in Wisconsin. They want to know where to eat, and start poking fun at your suggestions. Here are the restaurant chains many Wisconsinites will defend to anyone from out of state. 1. Culver’s If you trace Culver’s back far enough, you reach 1961 and an…
Georgians knew Zaxby’s long before it started popping up in other states. For a lot of locals, it’s tied to college towns, game days and hometown pride. Here’s the backstory that the rest of the country is just catching up on. 1. A Bulldog and an Eagle Zaxby’s started with two founders from two different…
