Road Trip

[jogoode]

This summer I took a long road trip around the US. (Thank you to eGullet for all your help in planning!) My girlfriend and I were on the road for seven weeks, and in that time put about 12,000 miles on her old Camry. Our route was often determined by commitments to sights and friends. If it had been up to me, I’m not sure we would have seen any of either – except, perhaps, the sights in Lockhart, Texas, and my friend Peach at San Francisco’s Ferry Plaza farmers market. But in retrospect, I’m glad the entire trip wasn’t spent eating – the Badlands, for instance, was worth the awful meals I endured in its vicinity.

The first stop was Chicago, where we planned to stay the next and the next day. We ended up spending three days there. There was no Trotter, no Trio, no Topolobambo – I’m 23 with a light wallet.

Pennsylvania, Ohio and Illinois: All three states looked the same from the road. Sadly, we didn’t stop for chili in Cincinnati.

First stop was Lem’s Bar B Q in Chicago’s South Side, a recommendation from R.W Apple’s New York Times article.

These are center cut ribs…

…and chopped hot links, eaten on the Camry’s trunk, since Lem’s has no tables or counter. Both were served with white bread and fries drowned in excellent hot sauce.

I’m a sucker for a bird’s eye view.

What they put on a Chicago dog at Portillo’s.

The dog.

After a soggy Italian beef at Portillo’s, I went to Mr. Beef.

Then later to Weiner’s Circle. Onward…

We spent five days in Madison, WI, which would have been far too many if we hadn’t been visiting a good friend there. My first day there was spent at the fine farmers market, which wraps around the capitol building. (R.W. on the market.)

Damn right I bought some curds. Yes, they were squeaky.

We bought the raw materials for dinner, and I cooked in the kitchen of my friend’s vegetarian, Kosher co-op.

Mars, I mean, Badlands National Park, South Dakota. This state was the sleeper hit of our trip. After two days of hiking and climbing these otherwordly rock formations, we drove several hours to the Black Hills, a lush area of national forest, the very opposite of the Badlands.

We hit Devil’s Tower on our way to Yellowstone. Since we left Wisconsin, we noticed a dearth of good food; actually, a dearth of edible food. I had ordered a burrito in SD, for instance, in an attempt to play it safe after I’d seen the restaurant’s salad bar. In the burrito I found cubes of cold-cut ham.

A slice of excellent strawberry-rhubarb broke the monotony.

One of many examples of America’s open space, Wisconsin.

Before we reached Yellowstone, we stopped in Story, WY, a tiny town of 650 people. We had read on Roadfood about Waldorf A’Story, a quirky restaurant with a reportedly great breakfast sandwich. The “Moose Samich,” as it was called, was a marvel: scrambled eggs, bacon, cheese, onion and tomato on thick, expertly buttered bread.

The Grand Canyon of Yellowstone.

We had planned to camp in Yellowstone for two nights, though we soon revised this plan after realizing that during summer nights in Yellowstone the temperature can dip below freezing. With our Kmart tent and sleep-over-party sleeping bags, we were not properly equipped and had a miserable night. The next day we saw more of the park, but then left and spent an extra day exploring the Tetons, based in a hostel in Jackson Hole.

Reaching Portand was exciting for many reasons. Most thrilling among them was that we would finally get to stay somewhere other than a motel or a hostel. (I don’t count the five nights spent in the claustrophobic, dirty room at the vegetarian, Kosher co-op.) Our good friends from college were putting us up. One of these friends is a native of Portland (and is eGulleteer Jim Dixon’s stepson) so we got a good sense of the city. We had excellent two excellent dinners out: one at Mi Cahn, a Vietnamese restaurant in northwest Portland, and another at clarklewis, which serves greenmarket Italian of the highest order and where my friend, the native Portlander, works. We also ate at the house of Jim Dixon, who showered us with hospitality.

But what really captured my heart was the Portland farmers market, and more specifically, this box of 25 dozen oysters I purchased for $35. In New York City, where I live, I rarely eat oysters because they are expensive. In restaurants they cost over $2 each, in good seafood shops at least $.50 each. Here I had more oysters than I knew what to do with – always a dream of mine – and it had cost me less than $.15 per oyster. At Jim’s we shucked, steamed and grilled oysters until, over two afternoons, we had finished them all.

From Portland, we drove west until we found a beach and braved cold ocean gusts to dip our feet in the Pacific. No champagne around, so to celebrate our reaching the West Coast we stopped at this roadside tuna truck.

I got great fish and chips.

We drove through Sonoma and Napa, stopping several times to taste wine.

I stocked up for my five-day stay in San Francisco at Frog Hollow at the Ferry Plaza Market.

After days of eating in the Mission, I had first-rate brisket at Memphis Minnie’s.

Then I splurged at Oliveto, in Berkeley, on Paul Bertolli’s salumi, about which Jeffrey Steingarten raves.

After San Fran, we took Rt. 1 towards LA.

In Santa Barbara, I had my first Animal Burger at In-N-Out.

And ate twice at the famous La Super Rica. To my girlfriend’s mortification, I went through almost everything on the menu, trying hard to love it. But I was ultimately disappointed.

I have no pictures of the food in LA. I lost my will to take pictures and my will to explore. I ate almost every meal at the restaurant around the corner from where I stayed; we were, though, staying with friends who lived in Thai Town, so this restaurant happened to be an excellent little Thai restaurant called Sapp Coffee Shop. Whenever I was hungry I walked a minute to a restaurant with better Thai food than the restaurant I take a train 45 minutes to reach in New York. Gold on Sapp.

The Chinos’s farm stand exceeded my expectations. It pains me now to see all this beautiful summer produce.

I wanted to buy a small box of mara de bois strawberries; a small box of peas; a few tomatoes; and an ear or two of sweet corn. I tried to do this, but made the mistake of passing along a "Hello" from a friend who knows Tom Chino well. This was the result: a lot of free food. We nibbled raw sweet corn in the car, and I stuffed my face when we reached our Las Vegas hotel. We stayed in Vegas for a night, and I ate the next day at Lotus of Siam, said by many to be the best Thai restaurant in the US.

It’s a gorgeous restaurant, as you can see. I had done only cursory research about the food at Lotus of Siam; I remembered reading that “almost everyone came for the $5.99 buffet,” and I mistakenly took that as an endorsement. Luckily, I took a look at the buffet before ordering, and decided against trying the generic Thai food. (Though the waiter brought me a free cup of a Chinese-style hot and sour soup from the buffet, and it was very good.) The real menu focuses on the food of northern Thailand. I wish I could have tried more than just these two dishes, but I was eating alone. My girlfriend was at an art exhibition.

Nam kao tod: cubes of Thai sausage, puffed rice, red onion, roasted peanuts, dried chiles, cilantro and mint. (Can anyone help me identify these green leaves to the right of the salad?)

Here’s a great nam prik of green chiles. I was very impressed with both dishes, though I should say that I haven’t eaten much northern Thai food.

The Grand Canyon.

We spent a night in Albequerque, and I spotted a smoked turkey truck as we headed toward a reportedly good barbecue place. I chose to try the turkey truck.

Excellent smoked legs. Our trip, after California, sped up considerably, as we were trying to make it home to search for a new apartment in New York. We stayed in Austin, and had a couple of brisket-and-hot-link breakfasts in Lockhart.

Black’s.

I ordered fatty brisket at Smitty’s; thank God for white bread.

I didn’t go to Kreuz Market, which I’ve heard was a mistake. But two out of three is fine with me. I finally understand why people go wild over Texas brisket. (Austin, by the way, was beautiful. We spent a hot day walking around the city and then the rest of the afternoon at Barton Springs, an enormous public pool (3 acres) that is a sectioned-off portion of a natural spring.) On to Louisiana.

Black’s oyster bar, in Abbeville.

Crawfish etouffee.

Boudin at Poche’s. On to New Orleans, which was hot enough to debilitate us. We retreated at one point to a Casino to cool off. Ultimately, we persevered.

Muffaletta at Central Grocery.

Café du Monde. Beignet and café au lait.

Shrimp boil at Galley Seafood.

Soft shell crab po’ boy.

Oyster stew at Wintzell’s Oyster House, Mobile, Alabama.

A few years ago, I drove through the Carolinas, the eastern part, and loved the barbecue I had. So I wanted to be sure that I ate well this time as I drove through western North Carolina. (Because of the route we took, I-85, we were in South Carolina for less than an hour.) I called my buddy Varmint for some advice. He recommended three spots, each representing a different type of North Carolina barbecue. We didn’t plan to stay in NC and were, in fact, rushing home. So I needed to pack in my three meals into a few hours.

Look at these beautiful hunks of pork served at Backcountry Barbeque. I ordered the coarse chopped tray, as Varmint recommended. Backcountry’s sauce was my least favorite sauce – a little too sweet. But the meat was the most impressive – tender, mildly smoky, very porky. I thought of Fat Guy’s criticism of finely chopped pork barbecue – let me know if I’ve botched this, Steven -- why take the time and effort to smoke pork to such impressive effect is you’re just going to chop it up and obscure its flavor with sauce. It would have been a shame to destroy the texture of this pork.

Here’s a tray at the famous Lexington Barbecue, which Varmint said I should try to get a sense of a different type of barbecue that, I think, he appreciates but doesn't love. I thought it tasted great, but thought it would’ve been better if it hadn’t been chopped so finely.

I wonder if Allen & Son Barbeque pulls their pork, as opposed to chopping it. Either way, it was delicious, notably spicier than the other two.

Can’t say no to fried okra.

Coming home was strange; standing still was strange. It was exciting to think that we could spend another seven weeks, or even another seven months, driving around the country, and never retrace our steps.

[Pan]

Wow, that was fantastic! Looks like you had a great time, and thank you so much for sharing!

[Dr. Funk]

Should've got the tips at the barbecue joint. Always the best deal- what do you think the pit-man eats?

[Holly Moore]

Should've got the tips at the barbecue joint. Always the best deal- what do you think the pit-man eats?

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Well eaten. Looks like the start of a summer tradition. See how many miles the Camry can amass.

[bigbear]

Now..... that's a road trip. Thanks for sharing.

[Carrot Top]

That was rather sickeningly marvellous. I say sickeningly not because of anything you posted but for goodness sake. I am totally jealous.

What's up for next summer...Europe by mini-bike?

[Carolyn Tillie]

Fantastic! What an endeavor to not only take the pictures, but obviously take notes to be able to recount to us what you ate and where! Congratulations and thank you!

Now I really want some authentic BBQ!

[Hest88]

Oh great pictures!!! Thanks so much for the travelogue.

BTW, may I ask what camera you used?

[Jake]

What a great trip, and your pictures were beautiful. Thank you so much for sharing it with us.

[jogoode]

Thanks, everybody!

Oh great pictures!!! Thanks so much for the travelogue.

BTW, may I ask what camera you used?

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I brought with me my brand new Olympus digital with 3.2 megapixels. Every night I emptied my pictures on to my laptop, which I brought with me for that purpose. (I refused to buy an $80 memory card.) I went through them and erased the terrible pictures and touched up the good ones using iPhoto. I took about 15 bad pictures for every good one! Buying a digital for this trip -- and for my subsequent trip to Japan -- was a great decision.

[naguere]

What a grand post/mini blog. bookmarked it will be looked at again.

Thanks

[NulloModo]

Looks awesome. You might inspire me to take my own road-trip this summer.

[docsconz]

Great job! Nice pics and commentary. True Americana.

[phifly04]

Very nice job,pictures are truly worth a thousand words,

Dave s

[Al_Dente]

Beautiful.

[slbunge]

We bought the raw materials for dinner, and I cooked in the kitchen of my friend’s vegetarian, Kosher co-op.

<snip>

(I don’t count the five nights spent in the claustrophobic, dirty room at the vegetarian, Kosher co-op.)

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I love my hometown and the quirky college campus where I spent more years than I should have, but you are better man than me for surviving 5 days in that coop.

Great report.

[jhlurie]

{Wiping tear} JJ, you are our hero. It's been a long time since we've had a such a wonderful travelogue posted here.

[alacarte]

JJ, this travelogue rocks. I love that you interspersed the food porn with breathtakingly beautiful views of the scenery.

When will you be posting the Japan blog?

[bleudauvergne]

One fabulous roadtrip.

[Jeffy Boy]

Gorgeous pictures! You lived my dream! Hey, that was my dream!!

[jogoode]

We bought the raw materials for dinner, and I cooked in the kitchen of my friend’s vegetarian, Kosher co-op.

<snip>

(I don’t count the five nights spent in the claustrophobic, dirty room at the vegetarian, Kosher co-op.)

←

I love my hometown and the quirky college campus where I spent more years than I should have, but you are better man than me for surviving 5 days in that coop.

Great report.

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Did you mean to write coop or co-op -- not that there was much of a distinction in this particular co-op?

[johnnyd]

A remarkable post! I really, really, really love it when people post their pix. A very special treat to peek in on a journey like yours, and the places you visited for a meal. That oyster deal was awesome. Now I'm famished...

[phaelon56]

Great travelogue, wonderful photos. Being who he is... JJ probably lost weight doing all that eating. Now I need a road trip.

[bergerka]

JJ, you've made my week with this. Thank you so much for the descriptions and the beautiful pictures! I'm having a rotten day and I needed that!

K

[franktex]

After all that, I wouldn't be too bummed about missing Kreutz's in Lockhart! Looks like you did pretty well on the bbq circuit! Glad you made it thru our fine town!