When roaming around the highways, byways, state roads and random paths, sooner or later you are going to need two things. One is a bathroom, and the other is food, and if you are a smart traveler, you tend to combine both needs into one stop. It makes sense to find a good place to rest for a half hour while you sit and enjoy some delicious fixins instead of stopping at the nearest truck stop gas station, hitting the can and grabbing a 99-cent burrito and two-gallon soda before you try to drive another six hours. When out on the road, if time permits, I try to get off of the trail a little and to try out a local joint to see if it’s decent or not. Even if it isn’t, it’s worth checking into some of the smaller burgs that are usually bypassed by the Interstates because you usually are missing some really neat stuff that you’d never see as you blazed past at…let’s just say ten over the limit, for the sake of being law-abiding citizens.

For example: driving through Wellington, Ohio on a trip up north, I saw a hole-in-the-wall joint simply named “Pizza House”. In a town that looks like it’s heyday was somewhere about 1930, I had to stop. Glad I did, too…a nine-inch pizza and four pieces of good-sized garlic bread cost me about ten bucks, and the guy behind the counter brought me a soda when yours truly completely forgot to order one (I paid it back in the tip I left).

And that’s just the tip of the spear of knowledge I have about road-find foods. In Southern Illinois? Check out 17th St. BBQ in Murphysboro. In Colorado Springs? They closed the Red Top burger joints (seriously, that’s a loss) but Amanda’s Fonda is killer. The joint in the lead photo is Haunted Hamburger in Jerome, Arizona, and if you travel to Wickenberg (between Phoenix and California) stop in at Anita’s Cocina…the sopapillas alone are worth stopping in for. If you’re running the Pacific Coast Highway and find yourself near Crescent City, California, check out The Chart Room…and remember, don’t pet the seals or sea lions. Anywhere near Summit Motorsports Park? The food at the track rules, but if you want something different, drive to Sandusky and hit up Danny Boy’s Pizza…you can thank Neil Sabo for turning me on to that place!

That’s just a little bit of what I’ve found with over fifteen years of road tripping…what about you? Where are some of the hole-in-the-wall joints that you found that left you speechless and full?