A friend visiting Arkansas from Texas laughs at the drive-thru line wrapped around a building many other states have never heard of. The joke doesn’t land the way he expects. Arkansas doesn’t have many restaurant chains that started there, so when one grows past the state line, people guard it, flaws and all. These are…
St. Louis and Kansas City rarely agree on barbecue. Don’t expect either area to settle which Missouri city does barbecue right. These are the Missouri barbecue arguments that never end. 1. Sweet Sauce or Tangy? Kansas City’s classic barbecue sauce is thick, sweet, and dark with molasses, the kind that clings to a rib and…
Spencer’s Clay County Fair wrapped up its nine-day run on September 20. Many of the foods attendees ate that week won’t turn up at an Iowa restaurant or grocery store between now and next September. These are the Iowa county fair foods that vanish the rest of the year. 1. Pigtail Sundae Clay County Fair,…
Downtown Erwin fills with vendor tents this Friday and Saturday, when the Unicoi County Apple Festival packs in more than 400 stalls. Almost none of them sell a written recipe. Grandmothers taught much of Tennessee’s home cooking standing at a stove, by feel, and the knowledge never left the room where it started. These are…
Order hash browns at Waffle House, and the cook expects you to speak a language nobody teaches you at home. One wrong word puts a topping on your plate that you never asked for, and the ticket’s already on the grill before anyone can catch it. These are the hash brown orders South Carolinians get…
The best food in Kentucky rarely comes with a corporate logo bolted to the roof. Some of the state’s most memorable plates come from a walk-up window that never got remodeled, or a family that has run the same counter for generations. These are the Kentucky roadside foods worth pulling over for. Windy Corner Market…
You’ve got a short Utah trip and a list of places you want to try. Then you arrive and find a line out the door. To a local, that same stop might be an ordinary Tuesday lunch. The difference has a lot to do with what brought you there. These are the Utah restaurant chains…
Table 529 sits on Main Street in WaKeeney, a block off Interstate 70, and it doesn’t keep the hours a typical small-town cafe does. It’s not the only one. These are the Kansas highway diners that only open on certain days. 1. Guy & Mae’s Tavern Guy & Mae’s Tavern sits right off Interstate 35…
Point Pleasant Beach’s Jenkinson’s Boardwalk posts a day-by-day schedule online, and from Labor Day through Columbus Day weekend on October 12, most weeks repeat the same way. The rides, games, and food stands go dark Monday through Thursday, then come alive again Friday night through Sunday. That’s not a slow week. These are the New…
A first-time visitor at a Kansas City barbecue counter hasn’t even found the menu board before someone behind the register calls out to them, expecting an answer back. Their pause gives them away every time. These are the Missouri chain orders that give away an out-of-stater. 1. Imo’s Pizza Imo’s Pizza cuts every pie into…
