American Tour

Dear All,
 
This is my first post, let me introduce myself. I'm a 24 years old Italian student (I live in Italy) who comes every year to the United States and every year tries to visit as many states as possible and eat in as many "real food" (not "tourist food") places as possible. I gotta say that roadfood has often helped me in the past. 
 
I just found you had a forum too  that's why I'm posting to ask you a couple of suggestions, I'd like to know where you suggest me to eat during my upcoming tour. This is where I will be going:
 
Starting Dec 12th and ending Jan 12th I will visit New York, Philadelphia, Baltimore (just in the evening), Washington DC, Los Angeles and surroundings, Las Vegas, Denver, Orlando/Tampa/Daytona Beach, Dallas/Fort Worth, Boston and Providence.
 
Any suggestion on any of these places?
 
Thanks in advance for your help

Dan

For something fascinating in a beautiful scenic part of the North East, I'd recommend Amish Country around Lancaster Pa,about 1 hour from Philadelphia, and a quick ride up the Pennsylvania Turnpike. Many posts on this forum have talked about it. My wife , kids and I love going there and do so often...the beautiful rolling hills and the farms are so scenic...and the Amish people a delight! And Oh the Amish food...a unique experience you will never forget!
Here is a good triplanning web site.If you are interested, I, and others could recommend some great things to see and superb eating places. Be glad to help!
http://www.padutchcountry.com/towns-and-heritage/amish-country/index.asp

Hi Dan--that is quite a trip!  Can you give us a breakdown of how many days you'll be in each?  Off the top of my head if you're only going to be in Baltimore for an evening, that takes the market where Faidley's and Berger cookies live off the table.  So would you guys who've been there suggest G&M?  (You need a crab cake or proper crab in Baltimore.)  Or should he go for pit beef?
 
In LA I would say you need to go to Phillippe's the Original (reviewed on the site), but there are a ton of places you could go.
 
Are you going to get outside of any of those towns/will you have a car?  I know folks are going to urge the Lockhart area for barbecue in Texas.

Dan;
Finding great local food is what this website is all about. I suggest you go to the upper right of the home page and do a proximity search for the places you'll be. It will give you a list of Roadfood-recommended restaurants in or around any city or town in the USA. You can click on the list and read a review of any of them and look at pictures of the food.
 
Give us some trip reports as you travel!
 
-- MS

Michael Stern


Dan;
Finding great local food is what this website is all about. I suggest you go to the upper right of the home page and do a proximity search for the places you'll be. It will give you a list of Roadfood-recommended restaurants in or around any city or town in the USA. You can click on the list and read a review of any of them and look at pictures of the food.

Give us some trip reports as you travel!

-- MS

 
I agree with Michael,  Your agendae is super but very broad.  There are thousands of opportunities.  I suggest as Michael did that you review the search site and you will see thousands of super places in the cities that you plan to visit.

Thanks Folks. I already took note of a couple of locations suggested on the website and gonna try them all HAHA I'm travelling by plane but planning on renting a car in some of those locations. For those of you who asked for a breakdown of my trip here it is:
 
Dec 12th New York
Dec 13th Morning/Afternoon in Philly, Evening in Baltimore
Dec 14th/15th Washington DC
Dec 16th to Dec 19th  LA Area (haven't decided where to go yet, was thinking on driving for a small stretch of Route 66 till let's say Newberry Springs for a day trip, is it worth it?)
Dec 19th to Dec 21st  Vegas
Dec 22nd to Dec 24th  Denver and Colorado Springs
Dec 25th to Jan 4th  Orlando/Tampa Area
Jan 5th-6th  Dallas Area
Jan 7th to Jan 9th Boston/Providence
Jan 10th Washington DC
Jan 11th-12th New York
 
I pretty much found attractive reviews of restaurants for all the locations I'm visiting but I'm missing one, is it possible that the area around Orlando doesn't have a single good place to go to eat? would you suggest me any?
 
Thanks !!!
 
P.S. I'm planning on taking many photographs and writing a review of my tour after I come back. 
 

Danusa86, Benvenuti al Cibo Strada!
 
If you cough-up twenty bucks to become a Roadfood Insider, you can pull up easy to use route maps.  They show all the reviewed places on this site.

Dan, it would help if we had an idea of your capacity.  For example, in Philadelphia where I live, I would recommend the following - trying to cover our local specialties:
 
Breakfast - Reading Terminal Market, either the Down Home Diner or the Dutch Eating Place for scrapple and eggs. Another option, closer to the airport, is the Melrose diner.
 
If you're at the Reading Terminal Market, also stop by Miller's Twists in the Amish section for hand rolled soft pretzels.
 
Lunch will be a bit more challenging. In south Philadelphia, Sarcone's Deli or Chickie's Deli for a hoagie - then onto Tony Luke's for one each of a Roast Pork Sandwich with broccoli rabe and a cheesesteak with Cheez Whiz.  Still hungry - Moe's or Johnny's Hot for a Philadelphia Surf and Turf - Hot Dog topped with a fish cake.
 
Other recommendations -
 
DC - Ben's Chili Bowl
 
Providence - NY System Hot Dogs and OV's Diner for breakfast.
 
In Texas - if there is any flexibility, consider Austin over Dallas.  That gets you to the great BBQ joints that are out in the country east and west of Austin.
 
Have a great adventure.
 

Thanks Holly,
 
Anybody has any suggestion for what regards my 10 days in Florida instead? can't believe Orlando doesn't have anything worth trying HEHE

Danusa86


Thanks Holly,

Anybody has any suggestion for what regards my 10 days in Florida instead? can't believe Orlando doesn't have anything worth trying HEHE

Orlando is tough: so Disneyfied and corporate that humble restaurants cannot thrive. But a half hour's drive east, to Titusville, will take you to the excellent Dixie Crossroads; and north of that is JB's Fish Camp. You also are less than an hour away from the Old Spanish Sugar Mill, a delicious restaurant in a magnificent setting.
 
PS: If you go to Dixie Crossroads, please take pictures and post them. We have none!

I don't really know what to tell you about your Route 66/LA question.  I can't find the easy link to the start of ayersian's Route 66 thread in the Digest from this summer, but they did it in the order that the LA end would have been last.  If somebody would post the link to the whole thing, that'd be great.   I remember Chris (half of ayersian) saying at the time that he and Amy were surprised/delighted at the young European tourists they would run into along the Route. 
 
But there are probably enough RF and other LA experiences that you could have a delightful three days just doing that.  The two that would probably get you the most argument here are Pink's and In-and-Out.  Some people love/swear by them, some people don't.  I'm pretty squarely in the meh category on both.  In-and-Out is fun for the 'secret menu' and the crush of people, and their food is good, but you can definitely get a better burger in LA.  Pink's is probably a very similar experience.  The good news about both is they're not hard to get to and if you want to do one or both as a toss-off, it will kill the time you spend in line and that's about it.
 
I'm trying to think of places I've repeated visits to in LA and Phillippe's and the Pantry are on the top of the list.  Both are really solid.  You might want to concentrate on a kind of food you don't get anywhere else--I use LA for pizza because my local pizza is pathetic, but that wouldn't be the case for you at all.  Start with the main-list reviewed places and check out a couple in the Trip Reports area:
http://www.roadfood.com/F...ge-County-m430078.aspx
http://www.roadfood.com/F...ted-on-56-m507051.aspx
(Take all that burger culture business with a grain of salt.)
 
Things that I've enjoyed in LA would include the museums--the Getty, the Geffen Contemporary, LACMA, even the Peterson's Automotive Museum.  There's a new Getty Pavilion in Malibu.  The Peterson, LACMA and the La Brea Tar Pits are all pretty close to one another and would make a fun day.  A day at Santa Anita (make sure they're having live races before you go) would be fun.  Driving through some of the chichier neighborhoods at night at holiday time is marvelous to look at the lights.  There's a ton of gorgeous hiking in the LA area.  Venice Beach (what passes for Venice here) would probably amuse you.  And that's all outside the stereotypical LA things like the Grove, Rodeo Drive, going to a TV show taping, etc.

Couple more things in case they help: my last two LA sets on flickr.  The plants are the Huntington Gardens--I love it, but I am an old lady.
 
http://www.flickr.com/pho...ets/72157625365380280/
http://www.flickr.com/pho...ets/72157614725279051/
 
It's too bad you can't switch out Orlando for someplace like New Orleans.  Now that's somewhere you should visit sometime if you haven't already. :)

Thanks, that was a lenghty suggestions message HEHE thanks, you've been very helpful.
 
Yeah, can't switch Orlando basically because I'm not coming to the U.S. on vacation, I am a soccer referee and I've been invited to officiate in a tournament in Orlando, that's why I'm going there. But don't worry, I've already been to New Orleans in 2008 and tried Cafè Le Monde as well as some off-tourist places locations where I tried beans, gumbo and poo-boys. 
 
You won't believe me... Italy is famous for Pizza, especially Naples, probably the best Pizza in the world but I like the American Style Pizza too, very different true but nice at taste.  As food lovers though, you gotta come to Italy once in your lifetime, and do a food tour over here !!! HAHA

I expect some screaming but in the Tampa/Orlando area I would (if I had a car) take a day trip to Clearwater and visit the original Hooters location. Just for fun...and other stuff.

Italy is way up on our list--we'll get there one day.  So do you have to referee the whole trip, or just in Orlando?  And also if Tampa is included, there are a couple joints in Ybor City where you can get some great Cuban food.

Nancypalooza


Italy is way up on our list--we'll get there one day.  So do you have to referee the whole trip, or just in Orlando?  And also if Tampa is included, there are a couple joints in Ybor City where you can get some great Cuban food.

 
I referee only in Orlando, the rest of the trip is just sightseeing, I do a trip every year and this year I chose the locations I mentioned in my other message. Tampa is not exactly included, the tournament is in the suburbs of Orlando, namely Kissimmee, Lake Myrtle and Austin Tindall. But since we'll have a car we might consider a couple of road trips in our free time, to either Tampa, or Daytona Beach or any of the locations Michael suggested in his last message. 
 
If you ever come to Italy, it will be my pleasure to give suggestions HAHA I don't like my country very much, planning on living abroad but there is one thing I love which is food, and culture. Every city, every state (we call them regions) can offer you tons of fantastic local food. 
 

In the Orlando Area  there is a restaurant outside Kissimmee called The Catfish Place. In Vegas try the Hushpuppy on Charleston. I try to find good catfish where ever I go. Also in Vegas or LA try In N' Out Burger one of the best chain burgers around.

Danusa86

Nancypalooza


Italy is way up on our list--we'll get there one day.  So do you have to referee the whole trip, or just in Orlando?  And also if Tampa is included, there are a couple joints in Ybor City where you can get some great Cuban food.

I referee only in Orlando, the rest of the trip is just sightseeing, I do a trip every year and this year I chose the locations I mentioned in my other message. Tampa is not exactly included, the tournament is in the suburbs of Orlando, namely Kissimmee, Lake Myrtle and Austin Tindall. But since we'll have a car we might consider a couple of road trips in our free time, to either Tampa, or Daytona Beach or any of the locations Michael suggested in his last message. 

If you ever come to Italy, it will be my pleasure to give suggestions HAHA I don't like my country very much, planning on living abroad but there is one thing I love which is food, and culture. Every city, every state (we call them regions) can offer you tons of fantastic local food. 

Funny...I've been to Italy five times and love the beauty,food,culture and the people...I'd love to have a villa outside Florence in Tuscany!!!!

leethebard

Danusa86

Nancypalooza


Italy is way up on our list--we'll get there one day.  So do you have to referee the whole trip, or just in Orlando?  And also if Tampa is included, there are a couple joints in Ybor City where you can get some great Cuban food.

I referee only in Orlando, the rest of the trip is just sightseeing, I do a trip every year and this year I chose the locations I mentioned in my other message. Tampa is not exactly included, the tournament is in the suburbs of Orlando, namely Kissimmee, Lake Myrtle and Austin Tindall. But since we'll have a car we might consider a couple of road trips in our free time, to either Tampa, or Daytona Beach or any of the locations Michael suggested in his last message. 

If you ever come to Italy, it will be my pleasure to give suggestions HAHA I don't like my country very much, planning on living abroad but there is one thing I love which is food, and culture. Every city, every state (we call them regions) can offer you tons of fantastic local food. 

Funny...I've been to Italy five times and love the beauty,food,culture and the people...I'd love to have a villa outside Florence in Tuscany!!!!

 
HAHA maybe we can swap passports? HAHAHA honestly, food and culture are the only things you can save of this ruined country. Where have you been? what kind of Italian Food you liked the most?

My heritage is Napolitan and Sicilian( 50-50%)...and I love southern Italian...but also the food of Tuscany.....where ISN'T there great food in Italy???

leethebard


My heritage is Napolitan and Sicilian( 50-50%)...and I love southern Italian...but also the food of Tuscany.....where ISN'T there great food in Italy???

 
HAHA you're right 100% I live in northern Italy, near Milan; maybe not the best place to eat but still good. My father comes from Southern Italy though, near Salerno and that's where you can find a real food heaven, every time I go there I don't want to go back to the North. 
 
If you ever come to Northern Italy I will suggest you some good pasta places, one next to where I live serves Pasta in Pizza dishes, just imagine !!! I know it's more than 300g each person and it costs less than 10 bucks. 

Hi,I love a sidewalk cafe in Venice called El Teatro...and in Rome(the Parioli section) Ambasciatta di Abruzzo...used to have a sit down all you can eat family style feast!!

Danusa86


I referee only in Orlando, the rest of the trip is just sightseeing, I do a trip every year and this year I chose the locations I mentioned in my other message. Tampa is not exactly included, the tournament is in the suburbs of Orlando, namely Kissimmee, Lake Myrtle and Austin Tindall. But since we'll have a car we might consider a couple of road trips in our free time, to either Tampa, or Daytona Beach or any of the locations Michael suggested in his last message. 

OK...this is something to go on.  Austin Tindall Park is just north of East Lake Toho - or just south of the Orlando Airport - whichever way you want to look at it.  As suggested, you are not that far from The Catfish Place, which is just on the other side of East Lake Toho on US-192 in St. Cloud (the town that neighbors Kissimmee).  I haven't been there in awhile, as I am now mostly passing through the area on the way to somewhere else and not as a destination.  But, my friend's father lived in St. Cloud and we used to go there quite a lot and it was always good.  Also, in the same part of town is a small-town breakfast and lunch operation called the Koffee Kup Kafe.  It is maybe a mile east of The Catfish Place on 192.   Don't let the KKK alliteration throw you - the folks there are pretty nice, but St. Cloud is an old redneck cowboy town in the south.  Either way...it's probably time that they considered a name change.  Breakfasts are very good.  I wouldn't hesitate to stop here.
 
If you made it this far, you are now getting to be about a 45 minute drive from a place with which I am intimately more familiar and able to offer some wonderful suggestions.   The drive is going to be roughly the same heading this way or to Titusville (as Michael had suggested) from where you would be staying.

Thanks !!! I'm not sure yet of how much free time I'll have thus of how far I will be able to drive, but I'll keep you updated so you can suggest me live HEHE