On The Road

  • Eating in Seattle

    When is a restaurant worth all the hoopla, and how long can it keep all its dishes in the air at the same time, so to speak? On a trip to Seattle, we visited three established restaurants, two with large national reputations and a third from the city’s best-known chef/entrepreneur. What we got ran the

    read more

  • Kirby’s Sandwich Shop, Sikeston, MO

    Urban areas aren’t the only places that carry the burden of franchise food. It’s taken a toll on small towns, too. Oh, yes, a couple of generations ago, most folks were quite pleased when a McDonald’s finally came within the county line, proving that they, too, were part of the "modern world." But even more

    read more

  • Hunt’s Seafood, Panama City

    There’s something very satisfying about finding a truly local restaurant in a highly-touristed area. A recent visit to Panama City, Fla., turned up an absolute find, the sort of place we’d head for if we had only one night in town. Hunt’s Oyster Bar is deeply casual; t-shirts and cutoffs are the norm. It’s a

    read more

  • Starnes Barbecue, Paducah

      No ribs. No chicken. And immaculate. This is a barbecue spot? You bet, honey. In a cinder block building painted what once was called wintergreen, we found lunch in Paducah, KY. A couple of booths, a big U-shaped counter and plenty of regulars mark the interior of Starnes. On the wall, a spaghetti-board menu

    read more

  • Uh…just exploring?

     "Lost" isn’t a word in my vocabulary. "Not sure where I am," is an occasional phrase, but most of the time, I prefer, "on a new adventure." But now and again, no other word but "lost," will fit, and while traveling through Norway last summer, Ann and I discovered that "really lost" could be appropriate.

    read more

  • Stockholm: Eating and Otherwise

    Stockholm, where Lake Malaren meets the Baltic Sea, is a city where dozens of islands mean that one is almost always within sight of water. Besides being the capital and the main city of Sweden, it is a major cultural center. Ingmar Bergman made movies there, and directed plays and operas in the city’s gorgeous

    read more

  • Stockholm: The Grand Smorgasbord

    Lives there a chowhound so blase that he’d skip the chance for an authentic Swedish smorgasbord? Well, we certainly wouldn’t, and when we visited Stockholm recently, it was our primary culinary goal. Years ago, Joe had been to a memorable version at the classic Stockholm Opera House, and from what we’d learned, it has remained

    read more

  • Washington, DC:Ben’s Chili Bowl and more

    While Washington, DC, grows more and more impressive as a fine dining destination, with more of that in future entries, we also take considerable pleasure in the more folksy sort of eating. One of the classic spots for that is Ben’s Chili Bowl, a fixture on U Street since 1958, and now in the midst

    read more

  • Washington, DC: Central Michel Richard

    It isn’t often that we get to eat at a national-award-winning only a week or so after it’s been honored, but it happened at Central Michel Richard in Washington, D.C., named Best New Restaurant of 2008 by the James Beard Society less than a fortnight earlier. We were there because we had eaten Richard’s food

    read more

  • Washington, DC: Rasika

    Rasika stands very tall as one of the handsomest restaurants in the burgeoning Washington D.C. neighborhood known as Penn Quarter, just north of the Mall. Elegant and yet intimate, the Indian cuisine it offers is refined and exciting. We stopped there for lunch, and were surrounded by people who were having such a good time

    read more