Cookbooks - On the road again

Ten years ago, I took a circuitous cross-country road trip with a dear friend. I was more focused on the eating part of our journey than the sightseeing - typical for me. We departed from New Orleans, one of the most exuberant and original restaurant cities in the country, bound for Los Angeles.

It was my first trip to L.A., and I feverishly anticipated all the funky local eateries I’d heard about: the burger joints, the taquerias, the great Chinese food and the old-school delis established by displaced New Yorkers. I imagined the streets crowded with unique mom-and-pop eateries, one after the other. After all, wasn’t California the culinary mecca of the country?

As we reached L.A.’s epicenter from I-10 West, the restaurant signs all looked queasily familiar: Applebee’s, Chili’s, Outback Steakhouse, those damned golden arches. My heart sank when I realized Los Angeles was infected with the same chain restaurant epidemic as the rest of the nation. Like everywhere else, I’d have to hunt for the colorful local eats.

Thank God I had my copy of Roadfood with me.

Jane and Michael Stern published their first edition of Roadfood in 1978, and it has become an indispensable, omnipresent guide for road warriors longing to find a true taste of America’s provincial restaurant food. Nearly 30 years later, the industrious duo show no signs of slowing down. Aside from their monthly, award-winning column in Gourmet and the upkeep of their website, www.roadfood.com, the Sterns published their latest edition of Roadfood in April (Broadway Books, $18.95). The latest installment includes 200 new listings.

What constitutes Roadfood? As the Sterns state in the introduction, “We want to direct readers to restaurants that express the soul of their region or neighborhood, primarily by serving wonderful food you won’t find elsewhere … At its best Roadfood is an edible folk art.”

Of course, you can also use Roadfood to find worthwhile eateries in your own back yard that you haven’t yet discovered. Mamie’s Biscuits in Conyers, here I come.??