I grew up 650 miles away from my grandparents in North Dakota. Every summer meant a lengthy visit, book-ended by two twelve-hour car trips there and back. My parents obsessed on making the trip without stopping, other than for gas or bathrooms. Restaurants were out of the question. The backseaters didn't mind, though, because mother always packed a monstrous bag of such rare treats as single-serving cereal boxes. For lunch, she'd make summer-sausage sandwiches on her legendary homemade buns, family favorites with their light glazing of milk and sugar. On these voyages we'd leave before the crack of dawn. The food was our entertainment. I can't remember a trip where we weren't completely finished with lunch and much of the snacks before 9am.

As an adult, I rebel against fond travel memories by living close to my parents, and by rarely packing a meal. If the journey isn't fully the destination, the restaurants I encounter in passage certainly come close. My memories of a week spent in the Bay Area a few years ago are stored in the world-class meals we ate day after day, from Napa down to Big Sur. But even that gourmand's paradise hardly compares to the simple pleasure of taking the road to nowhere on a hot summer day, leaving the concrete for the cornfields in search of local color and American "authenticity." Or at least amazing pie.

About ten years ago, I heard about the book "Roadfood." The husband and wife team of Jane and Michael Stern coined the word, or at least earned it, by logging millions of road miles and documenting the best eats in the various editions of the book, which they first published in 1977. (A new update is expected next spring.) I keep "Roadfood" (also currently known as "Eat Your Way Across the U.S.A.") in my car, and make notes on places I visit. It's the baedeker of barbecue, the Michelin Guide to mom 'n' pops. A relentless thirty-six-cities-in-six-weeks business tour I made a few years back was civilized by the indulgences I enjoyed, guided by the book. Maurice's Piggy Park, in Columbia, South Carolina, became my favorite barbecue place anywhere, and the Blue Willow Inn, in antebellum Social Circle, Georgia, aced my small-talk score in Atlanta, as I "introduced" this local destination to the natives.

Unfortunately, there are more small towns than pages in the book, so I asked Michael Stern, who, with Jane, still spends about 50 percent of his time on the road, for some advice on making your own discoveries. "In the morning, look for where the pickup trucks and/or police cars are parked," Michael says. "Roll down the window and smell—for biscuits, barbecue, charcoal grill, etc. Look for any place that boasts it is 'The Home of _______.'" But beware the truck stops. "'Most truck stops are terrible places to eat," Stern explains. "Long ago, before superhighways, truckers probably did stake out the good mom 'n' pop restaurants along the back roads. Now, truckers are as much a prisoner of the superhighways as a plane passenger is of the airline. And truck-stop food is generally about as good as airline food, with a few rare exceptions."

One of the risks inherent in following a guidebook like "Roadfood" is the transitory nature of print. I once drove a fair bit out of the way to visit a place called Hale's Restaurant in Grand Tower, Illinois, only to discover that it had closed since the book's publication. Now, thanks to cell phones and the Internet, such risks are unnecessary. In fact, the Sterns now have a web site, www.roadfood.com, which adds a terrific dimension to their work, allowing them to get feedback and reviews from users, and to keep their database of places expanding and current.

The Sterns live a road-tripper's fantasy life. Even with the Internet, and a database of tips and suggestions, serendipity still holds sway. "I'd say that at least half of the good places we find are 'accidental,'" Michael notes, "just by getting lost and traveling the back roads or through neighborhoods."

Chicago native Michael Stern offered the following short list of destinations outside of, but within a day's drive of Chicago. More details on each reside either on roadfood.com, or in the forthcoming print edition of "Roadfood": Perkins' Family Style Restaurant (2001 W. Atkinson Ave., Milwaukee, (414)447-6660)—"a relatively new, great find for soul food." Speed Queen Bar-b-que (1130 West Walnut St., Milwaukee, (414)265-2900)— "four-star barbecue." Bendtsen's (3200 Washington Ave., Racine, Wis., (262)633-0365)—"for Danish kringle." Grove Café (124 Main St., Ames, Iowa, (515)232-9784)—"fantastic pancakes." Coney Island Wiener Stand (131 W. Main St., Fort Wayne, Ind., (219)424-2997)—"a classic dog house." Booches (110 S. 9th, Columbia, Mo., (573)874-9519)—"great hamburgers." Central Dairy (610 Madison St., Jefferson City, Mo, (573)635-6148)—"great ice cream place." Loudon Square Café (801 N. Broadway, Lexington, Ky., (859)252-9741)—"a fine old-South all-you-can eat feast."

Also by Brian Hieggelke

TOONING JAPANESE
The costumes—boys with oversized weapons, girls as feline princesses or sailors in miniskirts—bring a delicious aroma of ambiguity to a crowd already wrestling with the awakening nuances of sexuality in twenty-first-century American culture.
(2001-05-24)