I’m still on the road on my way to Nicole’s, so you’re going to have to generate some content on your own in my absence. Here you may fight amongst yourselves as to the best food available off of major American highways. The rules are as follows: national or at least multi-state chains only (Taco Time counts, Portillo’s does not), nothing you can pack and take with you, no name-calling, fight to the death.
Arby’s
I would not like to crap my pants on the highway.
Arby’s is the first thing I eat whenever I go home to visit my parents in Michigan. There’s no Arby’s in Boston (and definitely not any in Scotland or my current Russian location). Mmmm, beef and cheddar with curly fries.
You know, I have never actually been to an Arby’s because for every family road trip they were the running gag, last place, never-in-a-million-years non-option. I think it started as a Simpson’s joke? Being the youngest child with a large age gap means that a lot of things got entrenched in family lore that I never quite understood the origins of. The point is, through my formative years I was convinced that Arby’s was one of the circles of hell.
Denny’s! I think I’ve eaten at every Denny’s between Denver and LA. Time tends to pass a little funny on road trips anyway, stretching here and shrinking there. Denny’s fits into this dynamic very well.
Being from the northeast, I take every opportunity I get to eat at one of the following establishments:
+ Hardee’s/Carl’s Jr. (my favorite)
+ Zaxby’s
+ Bojangles
+ Shoney’s BUT ONLY THE BREAKFAST BUFFET (does Shoney’s even exist anymore)
I also have a deep longing in my heart for Johnny Carino’s but they closed all the ones in NJ and now the closest is in North friggin Carolina. I know we have “real” Italian food here but that does nothing to satisfy my craving for the goddamn bowtie festival.
BOJANGLES BOJANGLES BOJANGLES BOJANGLES! Me and a fellow Brit from uni did a year at Chapel Hill, NC for undergraduate and our American friends would take us to Bojangles and I miss it still, though it was more than a decade ago now.
There’s a Shoney’s somewhere in West Virginia (Clarksville?) that we used to drive by on long road trips. I’ve never once been inside/
Did you go to Time Out and get 24 hour greasy-ass biscuit sandwiches? That was probably my favorite part of Chapel Hill and always felt like peak NC.
Haha yep! I’d never had a biscuit before and so the first one I had blew my mind, and then woah, 24hr ones.
Shoney’s! Most of my childhood family road trips were to Pennsylvania/western MD so we’d stop at the Shoney’s in Frederick where I-270 ends, and was like the sign that we were definitely On The Road. Pretty sure the suburban sprawl has just consumed Frederick now so it doesn’t even feel like “getting out of town” anymore.
Oh man – Shoney’s…I haven’t been to one in ages! Agree ONLY the breakfast buffet there. I was obsessed with those tiny blueberry muffins.
BISCUITVILLE!!!!! After eating there, I can never return to Bojangles and their inferior, over-browned biscuits. Also, it’s a restaurant chain called Biscuitville, what more is there to say?
Carl’s JR is somehow way better than Hardee’s though (even though they are ostensibly the same).
Shoney’s!! My favorite restaurant when I was four years old. (We moved from NC to Germany after that and I haven’t been to once since.)
Shoney’s is still alive and thrivin’ in Cookeville, Tennessee.
Beef Jerky from any gas station. Wendy’s nuggets by the armful.
Dip the Wendy’s nuggets into the cheese sauce from the baked potatoes. SO GOOD.
Then again, that cheese sauce on nearly everything they serve at Wendy’s.
I was once on an 8 hour drive by myself and I bought a bag of jerky 4 hours in and ate the entire thing and drank a diet coke and the next day I was swollen up like a balloon from the sodium. 100% worth it.
I would add a bag of pork rinds and a big bottle of IBC root beer to go with the jerky (this works best if you’re not the one driving).
Sonic. Cherry limeaides forever.
I am also a big fan of buying regional potato chips in any gas station. I once had some in Western Kansas that were life-changingly good. I only saw them once.
Sonic Cherry limeaids <3
also ocean water, vanilla coke, cheesy tots, grilled cheese, chili dogs, and their hamburgers are pretty good, too.
Strawberry Dr Pepper and chili cheese tots or GTFO. Just kidding, you can stay, we don’t have to order the same thing.
Soooooonic.
Regional potato chips are a great road trip idea! And would go perfectly with regional sodas (lookin’ at you, Cheerwine and Peach Nehi!)
Sonic also has the advantage of providing tasty fried cheese bits, tater tots, and other terrible-for-you delicacies.
also the carhop thing is great if you’re traveling with a pet
Ahh! Thanks to Google I have discovered that the mystery Chips are Art’s and Mary’s. I had Salt and Vinegar. They are SO GOOD! Kansans, why don’t you greet people with these at the airport like they do in Hawaii with the Leis?
Supersonic breakfast burrito is served all day long. Eggs, pork, tater tots, onions, and jalapenos in a tortilla. Yum!
Regional potato chips 4ever. For a time I lived close enough to our northern border to be able to find strange and wonderful flavors bleeding over from Canada, like ketchup and the mythical, rarely-seen “all dressed”
Also, the regional flavors that big brands like Lays or Pringles put out in different countries are incredible. Ham and cheese! Thai basil! Steak! Every possible combination of fish/shellfish/crustacean/water-dwelling creature! Aaaahhhhhhh, snacks.
I used to live near the Dutch-German border. Lays makes a Joppiesaus (basically onion-honey-mustard) flavored chip for the Holland market. They had it at the bodega across the street from my house. SO GOOD. http://www.dutchshoponline.com/food/snacks/lay-s-…
From my time in Arizona, I intensely miss Poore Brother’s chips, especially the maui onion.
Arizona! Poore Brothers! I am from there and love those! I miss the dill pickle flavor. Saguaro brand had equally wonderful flavors but more of weird tongue-coating effect.
oh man, the pickle chips….
:deep nostalgic sigh:
I still miss the Edam flavoured potato chips I found in the UK…. chips that taste like baby bels, guys. GUYS.
If you get over to the Midwestern bits of highway: CULVER’S. FRIED CHEESE CURDS and a decent facsimile of REAL WISCONSIN CUSTARD and CORN DOGS
(Bonus dad story! On road trips growing up, my dad classified our roadside fast food stops into either “McDonalds” or “MacDougals.” McDonalds were McDonalds. MacDougals looked like McDonalds, but they had disgusting bathrooms, got your order wrong, and would basically perform slapstick routines with your fries and sodas. We were warned not to be fooled.)
ETA: I checked and Culver’s exists as far west as Utah/Idaho!!
Yes, I love Culver’s! I used to live and work right near the very first Culver’s location and one time Mr. Culver held the door for me while I went into his restaurant.
There was a real Mr. Culver?
Oh yeah, the Culver family is big in Sauk City/Prairie Du Sac WI. They also built a little cafe called the Blue Spoon on the river, it made the most amazing grilled cheese sandwich. MmMMMmmmm.
The Blue Spoon is delicious! And in nice weather you can sit on the balcony and watch the bald eagles soar over the river.
Are you from there? Do they still have weird metal sculptures made out of utensils on the back terrace?
I’m not from here, but I live here. 🙂 And yeah, those sculptures are still there – I’ll have to get a good look at them, though, because I never noticed what they were made of. I was just like, “…oh. Weird.”
Culverrrrrrr’s. Eat your meal and then get a shake for the road.
Culver’s used to have the most amazing hot fudge shake. Like a portable hot fudge sundae. Perfection.
AH I WAS COMING HERE TO SAY THIS. #1 stop for my family growing up in Wisconsin taking trips in our station wagon. I took my ex-boyfriend, who is Australian, to a Culver’s on the way back from a hiking trip in the Porcupine Mountains. He found the frozen custard overwhelming and when we later passed a Culver’s billboard declaring “Get Culverized!” he mumbled, “No thanks.”
“He found the frozen custard overwhelming” WEAK, frozen custard is the best frozen dessert!! Although SE Wisconsin offers many better options for frozen custard than Culver’s.
Gilles Frozen Custard! Toucan Custard! I need to visit my parents this summer.
Oh hell yes. I am partial to Leon’s in Milwaukee. It’s also supposedly the inspiration for the drive-in in Happy Days, which, whatever Happy Days.
I’ve never actually eaten at a Culver’s because those tv ads from the late 90’s were so thoroughly creepy. Those little blonde kids unnerved me. I am still unsure exactly what a butter burger is…
A butter burger is EXACTLY WHAT IT SOUNDS LIKE, which is, a hamburger with butter slathered on top. In its purest form, there’s no cheese, just butter and maybe a couple pickle chips. It’s so good. It is SO GOOD.
I’m a vegetarian these days, but I recently got a pretty damn good veggie butter burger at Tasty Burger in Boston, of all places…
Clearly Taco John’s. Two words: potato oles. Friends have dared to tell me they aren’t amazing and they learned to regret that choice.
Every time I visit my husband’s hometown in Iowa I DEMAND we go to Taco John’s for a six-pack and a pound.
I can’t believe I forgot to mention six-pack and a pound! The best way to spend $8 in the Midwest.
Do they still have that thing that’s like a casserole made of Oles? It simultaneously the nastiest and most satisfying thing I have ever eaten.
SONIC. Grilled cheese. Cherry limeade. Tots.
Cookout is a recent discovery (South-East, why have you been hiding Cookout from the rest of us all these years?????), and I always describe it to people as a slightly trashier Sonic (In the best way possible). It’s pretty much the penultimate bad-good food.
Even the South is hiding Cookout from itself! I grew up in South Carolina, ate it often, and we JUST got Cookout in Atlanta this year.
Two! We have two now! It is very exciting.
um Cookout is SIGNIFICANTLY classier than Sonic.
Also, the people at the cookout window are universally friendly and nonjudgmental of the circumstances which have led to one arriving at cookout at 2 am.
maybe it depends on the franchise. All I know is that the first Cookout I ever went to looked like a good place to get food poisoning, but I ate it anyway, and it enriched my life.
I moved to North Carolina last year and Cook Out CHANGED MY LIFE. I spent so long complaining there were no In and Outs here and then I discovered the beautiful, magical glory that is a western-style burger plate with fries and slaw. Or maybe hushpuppies. Or maybe Slaw and a quesadilla. Or maybe some chili. THE OPTIONS ARE ENDLESS.
Edit: Aw, I missed the rules. NEVER MIND.
If you’re ever driving up the west coast, stop in Eureka, CA at Bless My Soul Cafe. Eat everything on the menu, of course, but especially the jerk chicken with the caramelized bananas with some sweet tea to drink. Honestly, even the house dressing on the salad is quite possibly the best you’ll ever have. Weep at the unspeakable beauty of it all. Try to ignore any references to Guy Fieri because I DISCOVERED IT FIRST, YOU HACK. YOU DON’T EVEN KNOW HOW TO APPRECIATE MAMA JANISSE’S GENIUS.
Tip well.
Midwest Regional: Culver’s
Guys, the obvious answer is Roy Rogers.
Oh god, yes. There is like, one free-standing Roy Rogers left here in Jersey and it is a fucking DELIGHT. So much better than Arby’s.
WAIT. They still exist? What?
Time for a road trip. Point me in the proper direction.
You’re welcome.
I distinctly remember there being one on the PA Turnpike between NJ and Harrisburg, but it’s been many years since I made that trip, so perhaps it’s gone…
MOTHA FUCKIN CURLY FRIES
Here’s something you SHOULDN’T do: get a hot dog with cheese sauce and sauerkraut and onions at 8 in the morning on a bus layover in Detroit when you still have to make it to Chicago. #thingsilearnedinmy20s
Arby’s! A roast beef and cheddar is something that is meh at any other time and delightful during an eight-hour drive.
“Feels like an Arby’s night.”
They also have the best selection of condiments out there for the traveling diner’s perusal by a long shot.
I’m a fan of anywhere I can get coffee and burger king. Driving through Indiana, there’s a bunch of exits with BK and Starbucks, which is really just the ultimate. I usually get cheeseburges, fries, coke icee, and weather dependent Starbucks.
Also, combos and coke/tea at the gas station. Perhaps a doughnut if they look good. SO MUCH JUNK.
Oh, and I posted this in the fruit thread: it’s seasonal, but if you can buy a huge bag of cherries and eat them all and spit the pits out the window and it’s sunny you are doing roadtripping right. Listen to Sublime and some Dixie Chicks.
This plan will also help you not get road-trip constipated.
“nothing you can pack and take with you”
But does it count if you buy them from a roadside stand and eat two pounds and make yourself sick?
That’s the ticket!
Grocery store cherries don’t count.
Yes yes yes roadside stand fruit is the best, especially if you/your driver are Prepared People with a car stocked with wet-naps.
(Also, apparently I don’t like to read or follow rules)
You’re a rebel and you’ll nevernever be any good! You’re a rebel cuz you nevernever do what you should!
Also, if you are in certain roads in Ohio/Pennsylvania/Maryland, there will be a roadside Amish stand. Buy yourself some whoopie pies, fresh fruit, and a whole shoo-fly or cherry pie to eat bit by bit with a grubby glove-box spork. You will never love yourself more.
I have always swallowed cherry pits. Am I going to die?
Only if you chew them.
QuikTrip, the finest of all gas station chains. So many flavors of frozen beverage! So many varieties of cylindrical food on the roller grill! They even have their own brand of cigarettes!
Aah QT!! My brother worked at a QT when he was a young’un. He’s now a fancy-ass lawyer, and will honestly say that QT was the best job he ever had, because they treated him so well.
I’ve heard that they’re a great employer! A friend of mine put herself through college working there.
QT!
Especially in the summer, when you can get a gigantic drink for less than a dollar. I lived on 32 oz. refills of tea/lemonade from QT one Kansas summer.
Roller meats!!
WAFFLE HOUSE WAFFLE HOUSE WAFFLE HOUSE! Fully loaded hash browns with chilli AND gravy plz. Losing regular Waffle House access was the worst thing about moving back north of the Mason-Dixon.
As a northerner I’m always delighted to visit a Waffle House. It’s the perfect balance between trashy and delicious. I think my bill came to like $4.75 last time I was there.
Yessss Waffle House. Waffles and a side of grits, always.
YES WAFFLE HOUSE. Man, how did it take this far down the thread for someone to bring this up? Cherry coke, hashbrowns scattered well, bacon egg and cheese sandwich or a patty melt if you’re feeling fancy.
Also: Waffle House is even better at 3am. I’m not sure why, but it is.
I always presumed it was because I was eating it drunk and/or stoned, but maybe you make better life choices than I do.
Fave Waffle House road story time! Was riding with some friends from Houston to New Orleans, and we stopped at a middle-of-nowhere WH and were waited on by a painfully shy young man who had his WH hat on upside down.
It is a known fact that 20something ladies sometimes like to flirt with younger or painfully shy men. I’m not saying it’s honorable, and probably is connected somehow to the ways bullied people can go on to become bullies themselves, but I digress. We intended to flirt shamelessly with that young man, and we started by asking why his hat was on upside down.
“It’s on purpose, ma’am.” he said, painfully.
“It says H-M now,” said one of us, “does that mean something?”
“Yes ma’am” he whispered.
“What does it mean?”
Big, slow, genuine smile. “Heavy Metal.”
OH MY GOD I LOVE HIM <3 <3 <3
Oh my goodness yes. I always stop at the WH in Elkton, MD when I travel down that stretch of I-95. 1 egg scrambled, a pecan waffle, regular bowl of grits, and I’ll shell out for the ~*specialty*~ coffee because I know the total bill will still be less than $10.
Plus you get your food within 10 minutes of sitting down. Not of ordering– of sitting!
I lived in Indiana, and there were NO Waffle Houses, and it was the worst. Now I’m moving to Georgia, THE MOTHERLAND
Wait what. There are Waffle Houses in Indiana! I have been to them in both Indianapolis and Bloomington. Did they all close in the last 3 years or something?
Waffle House was where I, a naive Canadian, discovered there is such a thing as white gravy
Ooooh, tough one! If I’m searching for the “healthiest” I’d have to say Taco Time. A bean and rice soft burrito with a side of tater tots is preferable to a big ol’ Whopper.
Alas, we here in the wilds of BC have no Taco Time but are left instead with Subways and A & W’s. So for a pure hedonistic drive thru pig out, A & W Mozza Burger with onion rings is always a good (and later, slightly remorseful) choice.
Roadtrip calories don’t count.
Hah! So true!
Sent from my iPad
I hope this counts! Which wich has great sandwiches and TRANSCENDENT MILKSHAKES, seriously, they’re amazing. My sister once made us divert a road trip by 2 hours to go to a Which Wich (I’d never been) and it was totally worth it.
Oh man, I forgot how good which wich is!
Dairy Queen and/or Sonic. I usually get at LEAST one milkshake or Blizzard per trip. It helps me stay awake while I’m driving.
Dairy Queen 4EVA!
It’s the perfect road trip restaurant because it only seems to exist in cities with populations of 5000 or less. I road trip in Texas so there’s a bunch of those, but super spread out so even if you stop at every one, you are only stopping a few times a day.
Taco Bell is road trip food to me, which makes absolutely no sense, as it requires frequent post taco bell stops. But we don’t choose our road trip food, it chooses us.
My husband and I traveled across the country and stopped at a Dairy Queen in upper Minnesota where I nearly fainted from hunger and was revived by a glorious chili cheese dog.
I have no qualms with eating Tim Hortons three times a day for limited time periods. None. But I also joyously embrace my love for fast food and happily acknowledge McDonald’s as the road trip king. Their fries win.
Unless there is an A&W around for me to eat onion rings at and almost die from salt overload.
I get overly invested in finding out what the Dairy Queen milkshake flavor of the month is when I’m on road trips, because while calories don’t count if you’re in the car for more than two hours at a stretch, you need to have both variety and a healthy supply of calcium.
Team “Milkshakes Are Protein And Calcium And Therefore Healthy” forever! Milkshake + fries = complete vegetarian meal, as long as you get ketchup (vegetable!) on the fries.
Zips! Only in Eastern WA & Idaho. They have the best damn fried breaded mushrooms ever and their fry sauce is one of the few things I miss about Spokane.
Arctic Circle has the best fast food fish sandwiches ever. All over the place sporadically, with a ton being in Utah. One of the drinks on their menu is a (virgin) fresh lime mickey.
Zips! The best time to go to Zips is right after running Bloomsday, the grease and salt are like ambrosia.
Sheetz > WaWa. I will fight anyone who says otherwise.
it wouldn’t be a fair fight, since you’re so clearly unarmed
COME AT ME
WAWA FOR LIFE!!!!
WAWA FOREVER.
I live far away from New Jersey now but a classic tuna hoagie with lettuce, tomato, and pickles is all I need. And a Wawa cappuccino from their strange coffee dispensers. And those weird soft pretzels that are on the counter that are almost bad, but really good, too. (Add hard-boiled eggs and a pint of mint chocolate chip ice cream, and that is pretty much what I lived on during summers.)
if you add diet green tea lemonade, you’ve named all of my favorite things
Respect. I haven’t been to a Wawa since probably 2010 and I can still visualize exactly where everything is. And the prices, though those may have changed.
i love you.
GIVE ME WAWA OR GIVE ME DEATH
*rips off shirt and roars* IT IS ON.
*ahem* I’m a Philly girl born and bred, so WAWA is my childhood; they are SO GOOD.
Oh man, that is really tough, since I’m in prime Wawa country and love it, but I really can’t resist the allure of Sheetz. You win this round.
fried pickles über alles
SHEEEETZ!!! Maybe Wawa has this too, but ordering deep fried mac and cheese balls through a computer interface is the best part of living in the future.
Pish all you WaWa people need to sit down until you can order freshly made fried pickles from a computer monitor.
Just here to pledge my allegiance to Sheetz. And the Shmuffin.
So I was in high school when the first Sonic opened in MA- the previous closest Sonic to New England having been in New Jersey.
My friends and I may have waited in traffic for over five hours on opening day, with the gas light on and the engine overheating in my car. After the first 45 minutes or so there was no way for the car to escape, but after 2 or 3 hours we’d inched our way to a side street where we could have given up and left. It was purely a matter of pride at that point.
Those french toast sticks still taste like victory.
When living in Massachusetts, I got to see Sonic TV commercials, but the nearest Sonic was more than half a day’s drive away. It was cruel.
right??? we got those ads for YEARS before there was even a Sonic in New England at all, and that is another reason that we waited so long just to try it. the first being that we were 17-yr-old layabouts with too much free time on our hands, obviously.
So feel free to pummel me for breaking the rules, but I want to talk airport food, mostly because I want to say Five Guy Five Guys Five Guys.
Five Guys totally counts, they have stand-alone locations off of major roads all over the place. Also, shit, I’m going there for lunch now. I can’t not.
Get fries for the team, i.e. the team that includes me.
In the spirit of “fighting to the death”, Five Guys is basically grease melded into burger form and will ruin the next 5 – 12 hrs of your life.
I feel like if I am traveling, I’ve already kind of committed to having my life ruined. Greasy food is my only consolation.
Hy-Vee’s cafes in the midwest. Enormous amounts of rich, bland food at essentially no cost. Perfect for hotdish nostalgia and taking up so you don’t have to stop again for several hours.*
*unless you drink too much unlimited coffee/milk/soda
I once had the saddest birthday ever when I was stuck in my small college town over the summer when nobody was around. My only social interaction was my soul-sucking cashier job and a boring summer class. I remember glumly thinking “I might as well go out to eat” and ended up at the Hy-Vee cafe. You know what? IT WAS GREAT.
The more I think of this– when I tell people that I spent ten years as a vegetarian in the Midwest they always act like it’s some kind of feat, which I think is a misunderstanding of both the vegetarian diet and the food selection in my homeland. Even on road trips through the middle of nowhere I’ve done okay, although nobody eats well on the road, obvs. So can we talk about your favorite no-meat travel staples? I’m a big fan of the veggie burger at Burger King, and if I see a grocery store big enough to have a deli or salad bar I can usually find some sort of bean salad or quiche.
Culver’s and Sonic both do a good grilled cheese on thick bread. The BK Veggie is more available, though. Subway has started making a falafel sandwich, it’s good too, better than their “veggie max” grossness, but I still usually just get veggies without any attempt at a protein patty when I go to Subway.
As a survival matter, here are some things McDonald’s will sell you: a “cutie” clementine, fruit and yogurt parfait, yogurt-in-a-tube, a small packet of apple slices, a side salad.
I was just wishing that there was a vegetarian thread going! I didn’t know the BK Veggie was a thing, that’s going to be useful knowledge, though the grilled cheese at Culver and Sonic sounds better. I’ve heard that McDonalds in India has developed an entirely vegetarian menu to try to better cater to a heavily Hindu and Muslim population. It’s a fools hope, but I keep thinking about how great it would be if they brought some of those over. Seriously. Pakora from McDonalds. That would be the best road food ever.
I’ve heard the same thing and hoped the same hope!
BK Veggie is at every Burger King, even if you don’t see it on the menu quickly it’s there somewhere so just order it. You can get it as a value meal too. It’s a Morningstar Farms Garden Veggie patty. Quite yummy. http://www.bk.com/menu-item/veggie-burger
Nice! Thanks for letting me know, I’m definitely going to keep that in mind.
Woah I did not know the BK Veggie was Morningstar Farms! You have broadened the scope of my road trip eating. (I am picky about veggie patties, the Subway ones weird me out too much to try. But M*F is a known quantity.)
The knowledge that BK carried veggie burgers has been such a positive force of good in my life. It’s so comforting to know that there’s an easy source of protein out there when I really don’t have the time to stop anywhere other than a drive-through.
When I was in Berlin the McD’s offered falafel-patty-on-a-bagel sandwiches and they were legitimately the greatest things. I, too, wish they would import them back to the States.
That sounds AMAZING. I would love that.
I was hoping for a vegetarian thread too! I have had some major difficulties finding enough food, because I keep kosher and am lactose-intolerant, so if I can’t pack my own, I usually graze on Doritos or something. I once stopped at a place in Nebraska where the only thing on the menu I could eat was a strawberry slushie.
An old standby of a vegetarian friend for late night drunken McDonald’s trips is a Fry Burger, where you get a hamburger with no patty and instead fill it with french fries. It rules, especially if you get extra pickles.
With the caveat that I don’t spend much time on the road, in general I stick with breakfast and breakfast-all-day places– local diners are the best, but Waffle House, Denny’s etc. will do. It’s harder to find this in non-eat-in places, though.
I pretty much pray for a Starbucks if I’m on the road. They have at least two pretty tasty hot vegetarian sandwiches, greek yogurt parfaits, those “protein boxes” (I find them questionable, but my also-vegetarian boyfriend loves them & lets me steal the peanut butter) and prepackaged nuts and popcorn. Plus, I count coffee + milk drinks as a protein.
Back when I was a young one road-tripping in the Midwest, counting on a Starbucks to appear could be a bit of a gamble, but these days it seems they’ve pretty much reached saturation.
The Starbucks Spinach Feta Wrap is legitimately good, not just “good for prepackaged food” good. I LOVE it.
I eat Panera and Moe’s almost exclusively on road trips, although my car-mates have hated me when it was my turn to choose because usually we have to go five or ten minutes off-highway to find one of those things. BUT that is why I travel mostly with my fiance, who is amenable to just about anything and therefore happy to indulge my desire for fancy travel food.
Biscuitville. Go to Biscuitville.
As long as I’ve got a 12 pack of Polar Cranberrry Lime seltzer in a cooler in the backseat, I could eat anything on a road trip and die happy.
Any veg*ns out there? Road food is pretty inherently meat-y. I love the Taco Bell cheesy rice burrito (it’s so tiny tho, you have to get two) for gooey warm food and Kwik Trip gas stations for, like, vaguely healthy food (seriously, they have these nice lil yogurt parfaits and veggie/dip trays, it’s sort of jarring to encounter those in a gas station) to be complemented by the grossest most unhealthy snax I can find on the shelf.
Taco f-ing Bell! You can swap out any meat for beans for no charge. Some of the items, like the 7 layer burrito, are already meatless. Get their 12 burritos for 10 dollars deal (or whatever it is) and you’re golden for a few days. You also won’t poop, but whatever.
Thank you for my new facebook cover photo!
Yeah Taco Bell! Otherwise it’s sad microwaved veggie burgers from Burger King.
But if McDonald’s starts doing all day breakfast it’ll be egg McMuffins hold the meat forever.
Egg McMuffins no meat are the BEST. They’re made from real eggs cracked into circles on a griddle too, so they’re pretty much the closest thing you’re going to get to a real breakfast at a fast food restaurant.
String cheese and kettle corn from the gas station, eaten together. I never go on a road trip without them.
As for chains, Subway. I know, I’m supposed to think it’s gross, but it’s the one place a vegetarian can go get something edible. Plus the Subways in California actually have pretty decent vegetables. Suck it, rest of the country.
I was the odd person out on my cross-country road trip because I was so relieved when we got to the parts of the South where there’s a subway in every rest stop. It’s the only fast food that’s even remotely edible to me.
yup I definitely feel a sort of vegetarian stockholm syndrome love for Subway. It’s not *good* but no one gives you the side-eye for getting a cheese sandwich. Though I refuse to ask for it by the name “Veggie DeLite.”
Agree, “veggie delite” is too dumb to say. 🙂
I’ve got celiac, so I’m pretty much stuck with salads at most fast food places. And while I like salads and I like being healthy–it’s also incredibly boring, and not very filling. Which is why I love living in Oregon where the Subways have gluten-free buns, so I can actually have a sandwich like a real person on a road trip. So I say bless you Subway.
Yeah! And Subway also has that sriacha mayo, which is delicious.
I dunno what’s going on down there but the Subways in Canada are far superior in quality to just about any fast food (and especially any other sub places)
Wawa – god how i miss living in the east.
Steak and Shake- see above. give me a steakburger, onion rings and a chocolate milkshake, stat.
I LOVE STEAK ‘N SHAKE.
Frisco Melt at Steak ‘n Shake is a serious weakness for me. In fact, it’s going to be difficult to resist ignoring the healthy lunch I packed today, and instead go get one from the location that’s 10 miles away.
CookOut is where it is AT. I love to order off menu and get what I call the PMS Special: a chocolate, banana (fresh), peanut butter milkshake. Also, quesadillas are considered side items.
[cries homesick North Carolinian tears]
Forever and ever CookOut. I am a vegetarian and I still go there OFTEN for the mint oreo milkshake.
Fun fact about Cookout: You can get a milkshake made out of anything they have. A friend of mine once successfully ordered an onion ring milkshake.
Wow. That’s amazing.
The first time I went to CookOut I asked the hulking teenager behind the register what his favorite milkshake was. “I like the blueberry cheesecake. Sometimes I have them put an extra slice of cheesecake in it.” Yes, my friends, there’s an entire slice of cheesecake in a CookOut milkshake.
Cracker Barrel is always my family’s go-to — they have books on tape! And weird little peg games!
and fried okra!
they’re always socially awkward around me because I’m not white, esp in the South
food’s good, tho
Cracker Barrel is my go-to as well. A post Crack Barrel gravy coma makes the road go by faster. Also, in my youth the store had these sweet-ass Scarlett O’Hara dolls in a variety of stunning outfits, and I coveted them so hard. Every time we would stop in a Cracker Barrel I would make a beeline for the Scarlett O’Hara display and just stare with deep and heartfelt longing.
THE PEG GAME. I played that so much with my brother moving from NC to Denver in February ’96. Or some other moving trip. I just remember lots of driving, but ’96 moving was blizzard after blizzard, so maybe not. I can’t deal with Cracker Barrel now, though.
Cracker Barrel makes me cringe because I can’t can’t can’t take the country music that is whinging away every time I go. Also.all the antique doodads look like crap swiped from my relatives, who find that stuff precious. I have to forcibly remind myself that I don’t live in the rural Midwest any more. YES I HAVE ISSUES
I know it’s supposed to be just chains, but can I please just advocate for, if you’re on a rambling sort of road trip where you have the time, just searching “diner” on Google maps and going to the nearest one? So many of my funnest road trip memories were from hitting up random diners in little towns across the country. Especially the one in Iowa where we ordered eggs and the guy had to place a call to the farm across the street to bring us some eggs. Then he told us rambling stories about how he was Nixon’s personal chef.
I would argue that “whatever local diner” = “chain” for the purposes of “can be replicated along any major driving corridor in the US” and is THEREFORE perfectly acceptable thread content.
It’s really my #1 argument for “why smartphones are definitely a good thing for our lives and society”. On that road trip my then-boyfriend was the only one with an iphone, and we left him in New Mexico (that was the point of the road trip, I didn’t just abandon him in the desert although looking back he absolutely would have deserved it if I had). After that we had to pretty much eat nothing but fast food because we’d waste too much time driving around otherwise. IPHONES GIVE US DINERS.
Stopping at random diners and restaurants on my big road trip was the greatest. So many friendly locals who want to make you feel good about their town. I rarely felt better on that road trip than when I was sitting at a table at a local one-off diner or shop.
I have to drive distances a lot and in-the-shell sunflower seeds keeps me AWAKE. Spitz brand is the best because they are less salty and have a zip top closure on the bag. PRO TIP: empty gatorade bottles are the best for spitting spent shells into.
Subway. It is exactly the same everywhere, which is nice for those of us with sensitive systems. I get the same thing every time so no need for unexpected stops.
But also I like to stop at a gas station and get the biggest Red Bull they have and a bag of Ritz Bitz cheese sandwiches. That is the taste of freedom.
Subway made me barf every time I ate at one (literally every time in every state; it was terrible and baffling) until I started getting the flatbread instead of the bread they bake on site.
Suddenly, no more barfs.
(Italian BMT with absolutely every bit of plant matter, salt and pepper, oil and vinegar, NO MAYO. The mayo in the past may also have been a factor.)
This rings true.
Flatbread, ham and american cheese toasted, one pass of light mayo. Sometimes veggies, sometimes not.
I could probably eat exclusively at various Starbucks(es?) on a road trip, but I’ll also put in an honorable mention for Wawa and IHOP!
Mallory, you already know the answer! EAT FRESH.
I have been mainlining Community over the last few weeks (up to Season 5 after a bit over a month) and this is all I could think of.
I just tried Casey’s General Store pizza on a road trip in Iowa. I was all disdainful of the idea of gas station pizza, until I tasted it. Village Inn on free pie day is probably the best, though.
I used to work at a Casey’s and I shudder to recall that place but I’ll be damned if their pizza isn’t unexpectedly good.
Perhaps the only thing I miss about my Nebraska childhood: Caseys BBQ pizza.
Giant Red Bull, bottle of water, bag of cheez-its, Twizzler pull & peels, beef jerky. Restock as needed whenever you stop for gas. DO NOT STOP ANY OTHER TIME GAWD DON’T YOU WANT TO ACTUALLY GET THERE HOW FUCKING LONG DO YOU WANT THIS ROAD TRIP TO TAKE.
/I am a disgusting monster never roadtrip with me
It’s not a road trip without Twizzler pull & peels.
Tim Hortons! The nearest one is 600 miles away. Timbits timbits timbits timbits.
Timmy Ho’s keeps me awake on the thruway when commuting from Buffalo to Rochester for school.
Ugh, never have I been sadder that all the road trips I’ve been on thus far were with people who insist on being ‘economical’ and ‘stocking up on provisions’ at the grocery store before leaving and/or when needed during the trip. That said, that policy has also led to hilarious (to us, at least, having gone road-trip punchy) grocery store interactions with locals, so I suppose it’s a win-win?
There was also the time I demanded a change in route due to food wishes–when my girlfriend and I drove cross-country, I insisted we spend one night in Dearborn, just so we could have dinner at a shawarma restaurant I’d read about online. It was worth it.
I used to drive up and down the east coast a lot, and I would always stop at Stuckey’s if I saw one. Anyone else know of Stuckey’s?
ETA: I just checked their website and they’re all over the midwest but looks like the ones in the southeast have closed! This was quite a long time ago, I guess.
Does anyone like fish sandwiches, or is it just me? They are what I eat at fast food restaurants, and I love them. Fish, tartar sauce, warmed together, it’s good.
Also, those dollar cones where I don’t think McDonalds can legally call them ice cream? Whatever. Road tripping is not for the healthy.
Love a dollar cone. Any kind of soft serve is my jam. McD’s vanilla flavoring is so fake-tasting but when it’s the only option, it’s still great.
Thinking of soft-serve made me think of TCBY, which made me google the nearest location. There’s one in a mall 27 minutes away. I’m pregnant, this is totally reasonable, right?
The last fish sandwich I ever had was at Culver’s — the original location, as mentioned above. I was reading “Fast Food Nation” while I ate it, had already given up red meat and chicken, and I was like, “Whelp, guess this is my last fish sandwich. Good thing it was a good one.”
If you’re traveling through any states near Utah, there’s a chain that I mentioned above called Arctic Circle that completely knocks the fish sandwich out of the park.
Wait wait, I’m apparently comment stalking you because I remember you mentioned Spokane earlier. You’ve had Dick’s fishwiches right? I loved those things as a kid, and I didn’t even like fish at the time.
I’m sure I had one at some point, but I don’t really remember. I was all about the chicken sandwich whenever I went to Dick’s! Loved that place.
DICK’S IS THE PLACE WHERE THE COOL HANG OUT
Arctic circle is great! Super shakes too. Also in the intermountain west Cafe Rio, just because that stupid tomatillo ranch dressing is amazing.
I only like McD’s Filet-O-Fish sandwiches… everywhere else is kinda gross IMO. Which is weird, because McD’s puts CHEESE on FISH, but.
A&W for a rootbeer float.
Having never seen Sonic before, I became addicted to their shakes when driving through Colorado.
My secret shameful road trip love is Cracker Barrel. All day breakfast ftw.
POPEYES
fried chicken is always the solution, i do not care what the problem is, always chicken
Their spicy tenders are the best chicken in America. I am prepared to fight about this
Plus they come with numerous filling and delicious side dishes! No one goes away from POPEYES hungry!
THEIR MASHED POTATOES ARE AMAZING
I WILL TAKE ON ALL COMERS WHO ARGUE OTHERWISE
[I, uh, love dipping their spicy tenders into the mashed potatoes and then eating them because I’m a big ol’ carb eating weirdo.]
That is not weird! that is extremely normal!
The best thing about Popeyes as road trip food is that a meal at Popeyes is like a whole day’s worth of carbs.
Here specificaly to endorse POPEYES; am both gratified and disappointed that I cannot be the first.
Widespread Popeyeses are one of the things I am most jealous of the US for. For some reason the only part of Canada with Popeyes is Southern Ontario. I will definitely be eating fried chicken when I’m in Toronto next month.
Popeyes.
Come for the chicken, stay for the toilets!
Carl’s Junior spicy chicken sandwiches!
Your;re all WRONG; the best stuff is packed from home and slowly runs out until you are eventually forced to stop at a Chile’s or Subway after spending a full day on nothing but cheese sticks, grapes, and bougie “health food” Cheetos copycats.
CHEESE STICKS. OH GOD.
Cheese sticks/cracker slices/bags of cheese cubes plus veggie tray. It’s almost healthy.
Wawa or Sheetz (depending on where you are) for general caffeine and munchies. And sandwiches.
Wendys if you want nap belly.
If you wanna be healthy just grab veggie trays — it’s finger food and doesn’t HAVE TO BE messy, and you won’t get road trip constipation as fast as if you do some kind of burgers every meal.
SHEETZ! So much better than Wawa. The newer/bigger ones have a whole row of slushy/granita machines in delicious fake fruit flavors.
Also, whenever people are like, “the donuts at X are better than at Dunkin’,” I’m always GENUINELY baffled at first, bc who goes there for the donuts????
And I realize that it’s part of the name and therefore something that they’re maybe expected to be good at, but seriously. Dunks exists specifically for iced hazelnut coffee, and occasionally the chocolate chip muffins when I’ve had a long day at work and deserve a reward.
It’s not a road trip food for me tho, because I already pass at least five of them on my commute to work. Road trip food ought to be a /little/ less everyday.
Seriously, if you get food at Dunks it’s never the donuts. Their bagels are okay in a pinch, and their toasted sandwiches are surprisingly good? But nah son, you go to Dunks for the coffee. (Or in my case, white hot chocolate I DON’T SEE THAT AT KRISPY KREME)
But their coffee is sad water???? I mean the donuts aren’t great but they’re better than like…. anything else there.
/waits to be swarmed and killed by northeasterners
I don’t get it either their coffee is like flavored water to me. And I’ve never been anything but a northeasterner. If I’m going there it’s for the donuts.
Yeah, Dunkin’s donuts are always a previously frozen, bland disappointment.
They have the worst donuts in any given city.
Their coffee is excellent, though.
I ended up stopping at BK this weekend, and their coffee with extra cream and sugar is actually better than DD. I feel so…heretical. (Although: DD’s hash browns.)
If on the east coast FRIENDLY’S always.
And Mallory what the hell are you doing eating Subway in Nevada go to a Port of Subs and get a decent sandwich.
FRIENDLY’S YES
If Friendly’s offered breakfast all day they would have my heart forever. Scrambled eggs with home fries followed by a Monster Mash sundae? I mean, can you even imagine??
mm, Friendly’s grilled cheese + tomato soup, yes.
Friendly’s milkshakes ARE MY CHILDHOOD. They even give you an extra pitcher of milkshake, the milkshake that didn’t fit in your glass. It’s heaven.
OH MAN. Friendly’s. There was one within minutes of my childhood home, and I never appreciated it properly. Now that they’ve closed all locations within two states of me, I miss it so much.
Road trip stops of the seasleepy household, choose the first available unvisited location:
Steak n Shake.
IHOP.
Whataburger.
Sonic.
Arby’s.
Wendy’s.
McDonalds (BUT ONLY BREAKFAST OR A NUGGET/DRINK SNACKY STOP)
How are you the first person to bring up Steak n Shake? I thought I had entered a strange and terrifying world where I was the only person who eats Steak n Shake.
yall i mentioned s n’ s on page 1, no worries
When I was about 14 my parents took us on a road trip from Montreal to Prince Edward Island. We ate at Subway for virtually every meal on the road. It was years before I was able to even think about Subway without gagging, never mind actually eat there again.
Go with about any chain’s equivalent of DQ Blizzards (Culver’s is a great idea) and have a running contest for best stir-in combinations. For something more nutritious, nothing, but nothing beats Taco Bell’s XXL Grilled Stuft Burrito for massive wad-o-food satiety. (Not to be eaten late at night, especially if you still have mileage to put in.)
I realize no one starts out wanting healthy food on a road trip but someone already SAID Taco Bell and when I run out of Taco Bells and have left the safe confines of Colorado’s Good Times and their wild fries, I turn to healthy options and HERE THEY ARE:
Ruby Tuesday’s has a salad bar. It has actual spinach available instead of lettuce, and a wide variety of veggies. Your arteries will live another day.
Starbucks/Peet’s both offer tasty oatmeal with toppings, and occasionally decent salads and sandwiches. Do not, for the love of god, be fooled by any of the cheese/fruit/cracker plates at Starbucks, at least one item in each is always such shit that you regret the rest.
Healthiest thing you can get in any gas station is invariably a Naked protein smoothie and a granola bar, probably Nature Valley, and a banana. NOT an apple, they are made of wax. Trust me on this.
I always start out with four crunchy tacos from Taco Bell and a bag of Chili Cheese Fritos and a Coke, but by the time I’m on the road for three days my ancient bowels need healthy food. Go with God, my friends.
EDIT if you are driving through a state with a Trader Joe’s, here are a bunch of things you can eat one-handed while driving:
* Sugar snap peas
* Watermelon skewers
* Pre-sliced mango
* Volpi pepperoni, straight (it’s SO GOOD)
* Horseradish cheddar potato chips (or any chips, of course, but these are my favorite)
* One of those little single-serving quiches, which you can nuke in any gas-station microwave for 2 minutes, cut into quarters, and eat one-handed as you go
Fuck just giving up all the secrets today.
I usually get packets of cashews at gas stations. Sometimes also a string cheese or a cheese stick. Proteiny!
I am commenting just to say that I recently moved out of Colorado and I miss Goods Times so much. Thinking about it just makes me so sad. (Oh, and Garbanzo’s…I miss having such a nice lazy but still kind of healthy fast food option when I didn’t want to cook.) SO MUCH SADNESS.
I-5 advertises the shit out of Pea Soup Anderson’s, which is… ok. But there’s a really good taco truck at the Buttonwillow Arco.
Pea Soup Andersen’s (on I-5) fed me literally the worst restaurant meal I’ve ever been served in CA. The. Absolute. Worst.
Do not go there. Go to the In-And-Out about a mile south of there. Or anywhere else. Literally anywhere else.
In case you are ever roadtripping in Connecticut or upstate New York, Stew Leonard’s is a grocery-store-cum-amusement-park complete with animatronic cows and a 10-foot olive bar.
Just putting that out there.
McDonald’s and Cracker Barrel until I DIE. I also have a soft spot for Burger King chicken sandwiches (the sort of oblong ones on the sesame bun), but that is the only thing on their menu I will go anywhere near.
If you’re in New England/upstate New York, Stewart’s Shops for the ice cream and shakes
In Ontario? Wendy’s. I don’t know why but it’s become our default road food. We never eat it any other time.
On childhood trips my dad was always obsessed with Bob Evans because he could get a big breakfast any time of day. Also, for that same reason, we also ate at a lot of truck stops for breakfast, which was usually pretty good. To this day I am obsessed with eating big breakfasts on trips.
For non-breakfast items, though, I love Wawa (when I’m back east), and Culver’s and Freddy’s in the west/midwest. I also love gringo Mexican food that I’m too embarrassed to eat in New Mexico (where I live) so Qdoba and Taco Bell are also frequent choices. Sometimes I just want a crunchy taco with ground meat and nachos with bright orange cheese sauce.
How can I be the first person to mention Burgerville?!?!? Apparently all the other PNW toasties must be hard at work, otherwise I’m sure there would be others here to celebrate the delicious joy of Burgerville.
As a PNWer (PNWsterner?) now exiled to the other side of the country, I attempt to ignore the fact Burgerville exists at all so as not to be consumed by woeful pining for rosemary fries.
FYI: this does not work. And I want rosemary fries.
Wendy’s.
Usually good and has never made me sick.
QuickTrip gas station is pretty great (so is Racetrac but apparently Florida is the only state with these?).
My fave thing we used to do when we traveled was get McDonald’s but ONLY when it was around Monopoly time. Our theory was that different regions gave out different pieces so we had better chances, but we still never won anything that great
RaceTrac is big in Texas and they have roller dogs to DIE for. I love Racetrac. Strangely has the best coffee and cappucino in the DFW area.
I love Sheetz. Made-to-order food, good french fries, good beverage selection, usually decently-sized and maintained bathrooms.
Krystal’s! White Castle! Both are the only places I know of that serve mini hamburgers. So you can literally eat 10 and the employees DONT EVEN JUDGE YOU! They nod understandingly as you get up to order 3 more. And Krystal’s puts mustard on the Bruges! It’s the best thing ever.
Garbage plate rochester ny. The king of junk food. Om nom nom. I miss them so much since I finished college.
Cracker Barrel! Each one has the exact same building structure, and old timey décor, so you sort of feel like you’re both everywhere and nowhere at all. Real mind trip. Plus the food is good, albeit heart-attack inducing.
Pizza Hut salad bars half an hour before the Pizza Hut closes. Sometimes they don’t charge. And eating a salad on a road trip is extra points for something.
Also, Wendy’s chicken nuggets, and Subway. Subway because you can sort of eat it with one hand while driving… Sort of.
Waffle House. Q: What is better than a pecan waffle? A: NOTHING Also, Sonic. But if you need something that isn’t “fast food” there is just something about Cracker Barrel… it’s either being tempted to buy ALL OF THE OLD-FASHIONED CANDY in the gift shop or all those damn rocking chairs.
Cook Outtttttt forever.
I’ll cut anyone who says different. Where else but the #blessed South can you get chicken nuggets, chili, a quesadilla AND a burger and hushpuppies????
NOT TO MENTION THEY GOT SHAKES DATS THINK LIKE MARIAH CAREY.
Ugh. Cook Out is on the lunch menu for Friday now, THANKS GUYS.
Arizona! Poore Brothers! I am from there and love those! I miss the dill pickle flavor. Saguaro brand had equally wonderful flavors but more of weird tongue-coating effect.
I hold a special place in my heart for Wendy’s. I’m away at college and there isn’t one for fifteen miles (no car) so the road trip home every semester is pretty good for a Wendy’s binge.
I also have fond memories of Frosty King when I was a kid, but really the only ones I know about are in Mojave and Tehachepi.
PANERA
Bob…Evans…?
When I was a kid, there was nothing I loved more for road trip food than a country fried steak from Cracker Barrel.
These days, it’s either 3 chicken strips with mashed potatoes and gravy from KFC (wherein I use the mashed potatoes and gravy as a condiment for the chicken, obvs.), or Steak n’ Shake for a Frisco Melt (frequently with extra sauce for the fries.)
In the north-central WV and PA areas, Eat-n-Park. Smiley Face cookies!
People have already mentioned a number of my favorites (weird local diners, Dairy Queen, Culver’s, Sonic, Subway, A&W – but only with a Long John Silver’s attached since I’m fish-eating vegetarian) so I’ll throw another one out there for the vegetarians – County Cookin’. There’s a bunch along the stretch between MD-TN (my annual childhood roadtrip) and the salad bar is SO cheap, like $5 or something ridiculous like that, and it was always HUGE at the ones we went to. Giant plates of salad loaded with ranch, corn muffins, those ridiculously fluffy dinner rolls and icy soft-serve topped with chocolate chip cookies. Those were the best pitstops.
Zaxby’s in the South. In ‘n’ Out on the west coast. The salt of your tears everywhere else
If you’re running south on I-95 from Virginia on down, go to COOKOUT. If you see a billboard, pull the hell on over and order yourself more food than any human should reasonably consume for far less than it should cost. Also, pretty good milkshakes.
WAFFLE HOUSE. Also Popeye’s.