Synopses & Reviews
Road trip! In this rollicking memoir, Jane and Michael Stern tell what it's like to eat everywhere across the U.S.A. Driving more than three million miles, eating twelve meals a day, they discover not only the pleasure of biscuits and gravy and cherry pie r la mode, but a world of cooks, customers, and fellow roadfood devotees for whom good food is one of life's essentials.
Hop into the car for hilarious adventures and misadventures as the Sterns search for the definitive barbecue, sandwiches, Indian fry bread, sweet potato pie, and other treasures along America's highways and byways. Eat in a midnight restaurant where a "murderburger" is the specialty, dine in a place whose proprietor is devoted to the memory of Richard Nixon, devour ribs alongside a cook's pet pig, and feast at one of the last of the old-time boarding houses. You'll meet such personalities as America's greatest bull rider (who won't eat clams but downs deep-fried lamb testicles), a waitress who gets her dining tips straight from Jesus, and a pre-reality-show radio homemaker who broadcasts straight from her kitchen.
Join the Sterns at the start of their journey when, fresh out of grad school and with little more than hunger as their guide, they hit the road in search of something to eat. Discover with them a strategy to maximize cafeteria tray capacity (desserts first) and to sniff out a great breakfast in an unfamiliar town. Best of all, savor the delicious potluck banquet of beloved regional fare, unusual eateries, and the unforgettable characters who make up American food.
Review
'An effervescent memoir that leaves you craving barbecue, Coca-cola and (maybe) chitlins.'
Review
I love Jane and Michael Stern... they [deserve] a room of their own in the Smithsonian, next to Julia Child's The New York Times Book Review
An effervescent memoir that leaves you craving barbecue, Coca-cola and (maybe) chitlins.
Entertainment Weekly
Synopsis
In this laugh-out-loud culinary memoir, the Sterns tell the story behind their lifelong road trip, offering a front-seat view of smoke pits with velvet-soft pulled pork on the tables, boardinghouse-style restaurants whose lazy Susans are filled with fried chicken, yeast rolls, turnip greens, and coconut custard pie, and cafes where customized mugs for regulars hang on pegboards.
Synopsis
Over the last three decades, Jane and Michael Stern have logged
more than three million miles on America's two-lane highways,
eating some 72,427 meals—and counting—often at the rate of twelve a
day. Roadfood, their best-selling guide to the quirky eateries that lie
beyond the blur of McSomethings, has become a glove-box bible for
chain-weary travelers who want authentic barbecue or homemade pie.
In this laugh-out-loud culinary memoir, the Sterns tell the story
behind their lifelong road trip. Two for the Road offers a front-seat view
of smoke pits with velvet-soft pulled pork on the tables, boardinghouse-
style restaurants whose lazy Susans are filled with fried chicken,
yeast rolls, turnip greens, and coconut custard pie, and cafés where
customized mugs for regulars hang on pegboards.
Along the way, the Sterns meet unforgettable characters, endure
meals from the Hall of Infamy, and gradually formulate their own rules
of the road. When you want to find a great restaurant, forget the yellow
pages and the concierge: ask the local cop or barber. Run like hell from
anything called "World Famous." Sure bets: the place with a giant
plastic animal on the roof or pictures of Jesus on the walls.
Each chapter ends with the Stern's best recipe finds, from white
clam pizza to Elvis's favorite pound cake.
Synopsis
Part memoir, part guidebook, part cookbook, and all parts hilarious, Two for the Road shares the lessons the Sterns have learned during thirty years of sampling regional fare on Americas back roads. If you want a great restaurant, forget the Yellow Pages, ask the local copand avoid anything that calls itself world famous.” Sure bets are places with a giant plastic pig on the roof or pictures of Jesus on the walls. As the Sterns search for the Holy Grail of barbecue, they relate achingly funny adventures and misadventures, and what emerges is a big picture of America, revealing exotic eating customs that flourish right under our noses.
About the Author
JANE and MICHAEL STERN are the authors of the best-selling Roadfood and the acclaimed memoir Two for the Road. They are contributing editors to Gourmet, where they write the James Beard Award-winning column "Roadfood," and they appear weekly on NPRs The Splendid Table. Winners of a James Beard Lifetime Achievement Award, the Sterns have also been inducted into the Whos Who of Food and Beverage in America.
Table of Contents
CONTENTS
Two for the Road 1 What Would Jesus Eat? 16 Twelve Meals a Day 36 The Perfect Roadfood Find 50 Four for the Road 64 I Hear America Eating 75 The Maryland Paradox 90 Neighboring in Iowa 101 Into the West 114 Bringing It All Back Home 133 The Invisible Northeast 144 The Inedible Complex 157 Reading Menus 170 Surviving the Night 184 Where Appetites Know No Bounds 196 The Cow on the Roof and the Living Pig 206 States of Insanity 219 A Place Where Nobody Knows Our Name 232 In the Bondage of a Chef 244 Featured Restaurants by State 263 The Recipes by Category 273 Index 275