/ck/ - Food & Cooking

chain

Ask a local where the good food is at. Always end up at a local spot. Hasn’t gone wrong for me yet.

>>10485210
>truck driver here
ALWAYS go to a chain. Local food is usually shit but to be fair, a hit or miss. I say shit because if you come in and you speak a little different(no southern accent), they'll hand you for that shit by serving ya shit.

>>10485210
Ill probably just go to a chain place because I'm a cheap fuck and already know their menu.
Plus, I'm most likely just passing through and wouldn't know any good local places anyway.

Local spot, but don't just take the first recommendation you find. You gotta figure out who's trustworthy.

>>10485210
I’ve always wondered where this picture is from. I can make out that the sign says Pittsburgh but that’s it

>>10485253
It's in South Dakota, Bismark.

>>10485253
It's the Breezewood exit on I-76, the PA Turnpike. You're close.

Seeing this pic always gives me a weird feeling every time it's posted because I go through there a few times a year. First time I saw it I had to fucking double take.

>>10485268
hmmm......

>>10485295
C'mon, it's similar

>>10485232
what states have you had that happen?

Local spot is the only right answer.

Chains will never be above their already minimum standards, and can often be worse.

Local spots may be at the same food quality as chains ON AVERAGE, but the variance is much higher so there's at least some chance to find something truly unique and amazing.

Its pretty hard to get chains where I live so its always local. The real trick is talking to various people around the state to learn what is and isn't good.

>>10485303
Missouri, Arkansas and Oklahoma for the Midwest when I was still running routes there then.

>>10485309
>may be
>chance
ha nice try

>>10485210
is it bad that I can tell that this is the Breezewood exit in PA?

>>10485343
what time of year do you think it is?

>>10485211
Definitely this. I've lived in a shit-tier town for a while; all the local restaurants were complete garbage. Low competition means no pressure to do anything good; someone starting a new place is going to have to have savings to last a few years before developing enough of a following to succeed, so that doesn't happen.

>>10485210
chain this is one of if not the major reason a place like mcdonalds got popular. you know what you are getting no matter where you are versus taking a massive gamble(especially pre- smartphones) of eating the unknown

>>10485402
I remember seeing an interview with a bluegrass banjo player who used to tour all over little bumfuck towns. He said he got food poisoning so many times at little diners, he started ordering his fried chicken dark brown. It was dry as fuck but he stopped getting sick.

>>10485275
Oh shit, I thought it was fucking Breezewood. I got food poisoning there on a class trip in middle school, lel.

Typically a chain, because local shit always tastes like the garbage I could make at home while drunk before going to bed.

>Chain
>It's cheaper
>It's faster
>You know exactly what quality of food you will be getting

>>10485210
>go to local pub
>get counter meal
>always decent quality
>enjoy drinks and banter with the locals
do Am*ricans not do this? The only time I'd go to a ch*in when I was travelling is if I was in a rush

>>10485603
>Oi mate, yeh re-up yer knife license? The bobbies been crackin' 'eads lately if yeh don't

>>10485607
That would be funny if I was British :^)

>>10485610
Oh, carry on then

>>10485210
look on Yelp or some other local online board. I can't trust these mother fuckers in small shit tier towns.

>>10485334

>Choice A: always shit
>Choice B: mostly shit, sometimes amazing

pick one

>>10485603
local non chain pubs 99% have shit tier reheated supermarket food, only ones in posh areas have nice food

>>10485210
Fuck America.

>>10485210
Local spot, im not poor.

>>10485210
Local snack booth or Kebab shop if I'm in a hurry, local restaurant if I have time to spare.

>>10485210
All I see is a wreck getting ready to happen between the Dumbass in the SUV trying to cross the road and the white car pulling out.

>>10485210

does america really look like this?

>>10485865
Absolutely

>>10485210
I buy a protein bar at the gas station and keep going to the nearest airport that can accommodate an ERJ170, then book the first flight out.

>>10485827
You'd think it would help, but it won't. Good food isn't available in such places at any price.

>>10485865
Pretty much yeah. You can drive "thru" [sic] the outskirts of every mediocre American city (Columbus, Kansas City, Chicago, Milwaukee, Atlanta, Dallas, doesn't matter arr rook same)

>>10485210
Dunno. I'd probably check Yelp.

>>10485275
So where would you have a meal there?

>>10485210
I always just go to a pizza place and order the house recipe

>>10485911
I usually pick up a couple of sandwiches and a flavored milk at the Exxon.

>>10485210
For me its Micky D's, can't go wrong with a Big Mac no matter what country your in!

>>10485210
I'd keep driving past that capitalist jewhole until I ended up in a traditional town built by Trad White Men, for Trad White Men.

>>10485210
Jesus fuck, what a depressing picture

>>10486752
>Affordable food, gas, and lodging is bad!

>>10485275
Sometimes I saw one of my local interstate exits in a captcha. That was cool.

>>10485210
If I'm still travelling, I'm going through a drive thru. If I'm stopping for a night, I'll get my hotel first then look up my options online. Probably end up at a bar tbqh.

>>10485210
Try a local spot. Best grub I've ever had has always come from hole in the wall joints in the middle of nowhere. They have to rely on quality instead of brand recognition/convenience to stay in business.

>>10486752
Welcome to the beauty that is small town 'murrica, lol! Who says we don't have a culture?

Local spot. Meal may be shit, but the pie will be top-tier.

>>10485210
I'm a fast food guy on the road because I usually wanna make good time.

If, however, time is not a factor, local joints will be considered.

>>10486752
>>10487030
How do people manage to get triggered by gas stations?

>>10485210
Different people travel for different reasons. If I would be in an unfamiliar city, I'd be on vacation, so I'd be wanting to explore. I'm going looking for the local specialty. If I can't find it, then I'll eat at a franchise, but I'm not having to keep a tight schedule. Getting lost is part of the fun.

>>10485865
Urban sprawl in the Northeast. Cities build outwards until that starts to make things inconveniently far, then they build upwards. It's actually pretty nice. PA also has a lot of farmland and forest, so don't think it's all like the picture. The patch you're looking at is along a major highway, meeting the needs that would halt those travelers: fuel, food, motels, Wal-Marts. The number of options might be larger than strictly necessary, but these places wouldn't stay open if there wasn't enough business to keep them profitable.

>He doesn't carry almonds during his trips.

>>10485210

Small "shit tier town" local spots are the only answer. In a small town, these spots only exist because they provide either A) incredible value or B) incredible flavor. They can't fall back on a national brand advertising campaign or corporate subsidy.

>>10485865
High-traffic interstate exits do. Food, gas, convenience stores and motels compacted into one little area to serve as a convenient pit stop for motorists. What you see in the pic is probably all that's there. Maybe a Walmart nearby.

go to a local spot and order something simple
townspeople love to leech as much money off from outsiders as they can
eggs,coffee and toast

>>10486708
You'd have to drive over ocean then!

I remember stopping for the night once in Searcy, Arkansas. I spent an hour and a half driving looking for a place to eat that looked good, then I just said fuck it and decided to fast for the night in my hotel room.

>>10485210
Depends if I see a good local or not.

It's usually pretty easy to tell. I've only been fooled a few times.

>>10485911
Sheetz obviously.

>>10485210
A chain that I haven't been to before. Never do local spots, they charge way more for something barely better.

>>10488145
I feel like this is true in nicer areas, but I've lived in plenty of small towns with legitimately shitty restaurants that were solely supported by 60+ year old people that had been going there since they were kids. They almost don't want to improve because it will startle the stagnant taste buds and delicate digestive systems of the American Midwest Elderly

>>10485633
Fast food isn't always shit unless you have impossibly high standards that you for some reason have wrapped around up in your pride, so you feel insulted when someone likes cheap food.
Home cooked food is mostly shit, rarely good. Fast food is mostly okay, sometimes bad, sometimes good.
Restaurant food is half good, half shit.

>>10488640
>Home cooked food is mostly shit
This is, unfortunately, true for most of the modern world. There's plenty of really good home cooks, but the average person is lucky to make decent ramen. It's sad, really.

>>10485858
That intersection is a cluster fuck, but it works.

>>10488601
>Searcy, Arkansas
Lol, you were literally in purgatory. Next stop just south, in MS and you enter hell.

>>10488647
>Searcy, Arkansas
>Lol, you were literally in purgatory.

It was a strange town. There were a lot of people just wandering in the middle of roadways at dusk.

>>10488616
I really want to go to one of those. We have QuikTrip which doesn't have nearly the same amount of food offerings.

>>10488640
>Restaurant food is half good, half shit.
I work as a line cook at a 4 star restaurant. The apps/entrees that are ordered quite frequently are bought frozen from sysco and fried/heated. It's the plating that convinces the consumer.

>>10488652
I thought I was the only one who observed that when I came to visit family.

>>10485865
Rural America, yes.

The interstate highway system made it really easy for big corporations to establish franchises in those areas, without offering any help to small businesses.

>>10485210
Local spot
At the very worst I will go to McDonalds.

>>10485210
what's the point of traveling if you're just going to get the same ol manufacturered slop you can find anywhere

>>10488735
Sometimes there's this thing called "work", you should read about it on wikipedia or something

>>10485210
Local, it might be shit it might be good. I usually say it's a 50/50 shot, if I go to a chain it is consistently mediocre at best greasy shit at wost

>>10485210
Local. Chains are bad wherever I go, but local places for some reason seem to take pride in their food.

>>10488735
Well for starters, if you're traveling for pleasure you're probably not gonna go to some flyover shithole like OP's pic.

>>10488735
because the local food sucks?

>>10485298
i agree it absolutely is similar to places i've been in north dakota. i myself nearly mistook it for dickinson.
however
i don't recall bismark being in south dakota, ever at all.

There are so many many social rules that you are just expected to know at local places

>enter local place
>see sign that says “please wait to be seated”
>patiently wait by sign
>after a couple minutes waitress approachs
>”you gonna sit down sweetie? or you just want to eat oh your feet teehee”

>waitress immediately brings an unrequested glass of dr pepper
>”oh it’s just what people normally order”

>pick item from menu
>”oh darlin we only have that during the winter time”

>”you’re not from around here are ya?”

>>10485275
That was my guess -- and I haven't been there in 20 years.

Maybe the place should be some sort of Historical Landmark.

>>10485210
If a town has a chain it's not a "small, shit tier" town.
A small town is usually a pub on a highway with like 3 houses around it.

>>10488717
>without offering any help to small businesses
I don't get why they should if that is their competitor.

>>10485210
Anyone else hate how every American city looks the same? This looks like just about every average American city.

>>10489645
That sentence was poorly worded. I mean the interstate doesn't help small businesses very much.

>>10489651
>judging an entire city based on what the area by the highway looks like

>>10489671
are you under the impression that franchises can't be owned by locals?

>>10485210
I drive around and find out where the niggers eat and then I eat there.

>>10485210
Fucking forced to drive thru this shithole every time you wanna change form I70 to I76 traffic backs up like a motherfucker.

>>10488999
Ur a dick. It isn't school.

>>10485210
Depending on how long I'm in the area I will normally try one or two local places, if the food is good I'll go back and try something new

It really depends on where you are if you’re in a region with a strong local agriculagural presence then the local spot should be pretty solid, if you’re truly in the middle of no where then chains will have better access to a good supply chain

>>10490536
>strong local agriculagural presence then the local spot should be pretty solid

>>10490620
nothing says father/son bonding like walking into a diner where there is almost nobody except for like a few boomers and one 20 something IT Tech guy with an adroid phone and buying eggs,bacon and hashbrowns with your dad. As you sit down you notice that the coffee cups are THICC, thiccer than a normal coffee cup. It almost looks like something a dwarf would drink out of and then this hot famer style chick comes out to take your order and pours you coffee.

you feel me?