Amy Fleming November 26, 2009

East to west: a US food odyssey

As American families around the world sit down for a Thanksgiving meal, Amy Fleming retraces her coast-to-coast roadtrip plate by plate, to reveal a snapshot of everyday US dishes

US food odyssey: A dish at Clementine, Virginia — After visiting the farmer’s market and the quilt museum in Harrisonburg's historic district, Clementine, an exposed-brick arts centre and restaurant, seems surprisingly cosmopolitan. I have the special, “Soup and griddle”: an applewood bacon and melted cheddar griddle wrap with potato and mixed vegetable soup on the side. The soup is nice but weirdly thick and cheesy, providing little contrast to the wrap. Photograph: Amy Fleming/guardian.co.uk

US food odyssey: Dish at Clementine, Virginia — Matt orders better: marinated chicken, blackbean chili, chipottle mayo and tomato wrap with home made potato chips. Every bite is delicious, with tasty brown meat rather than bland breast. All washed down with unsweetened iced tea. Photograph: Amy Fleming/guardian.co.uk

US food odyssey: Dish at Crackerbarrel Old Country Store, Virginia — Crackerbarrel Old Country Store, off Interstate 81 just outside Roanoke, Virginia: If I get hungry on the interstate routes, I ignore the signs inviting me into less wholesome sounding chains such as IHOP (International House of Pancakes) and Arby’s burger joint and wait for a Crackerbarrel to appear on the horizon. I tend to order two poached eggs on wholewheat toast, coffee and an orange juice. Photograph: Amy Fleming/guardian.co.uk

US food odyssey: Dish from Crackerbarrel Old Country Store, Virginia — Matt, on the other hand, can’t resist the “Apple streusel french toast breakfast” today. That’s “three slices of Cracker Barrel’s sweet Apple Streusel bread made with bits of real apple, dipped in eggs and then grilled to a golden brown. It’s topped with Cinnamon Apple Dumplin’ Syrup and real butter, and is served with two farm-fresh Grade A eggs cooked to order, and thick-sliced, hickory-smoked bacon or smoked sausage patties.” All for $6.99. It was all good - except the ice-cream sized scoops of butter are too much even for Matt and are scraped off before they melt all over the shop. Crackerbarrel also have a gift shop full of down-home country items like quilts and rocking chairs that are probably made in Asia. I challenge you to visit a Crackerbarrel and not purchase something from that shop. Photograph: Amy Fleming/guardian.co.uk

US food odyssey: A dish at Rippy’s Ribs, Tennessee — Rippy’s Ribs, 429 Broadway, Nashville, Tennessee: We get a Rib Dinner to share with baked beans, coleslaw and corn cakes. Be warned: conversation in Rippy’s is impossible on account of them turning up their country bands so high, but the ribs are sticky and delicious. Glad we didn’t order two portions... Photograph: Amy Fleming/guardian.co.uk

US food odyssey: A dish at Arnold’s Country Kitchen, Nashville, Tennesse — Arnold’s Country Kitchen, 605 8th Ave. S., Nashville, Tennesse: This is off the Grand Ole Oprey tourist trail and Monday lunchtime sees a steady stream of locals queuing up for their “meat and three”. I have the blackened talapia (a white fish) with rice, greens, salsa and a mashed potato well filled with rich, dark gravy, washed down with a pint of proper lemonade. Mmmm-mmmm. Nothing is bland. Even the greens taste like they’re cooked in stock or something. Matt’s fried chicken and beans is equally fine. I can’t imagine why anyone would need it but you also get two types of cornbread: baked and grilled. Photograph: Amy Fleming/guardian.co.uk

Eating across the US: Blue’s City Cafe, Memphis, Tennesse — Blue’s City Cafe, 138 Beale St, Memphis, Tennesse: Beale Street is tourist central, with it’s strip of neon-lit blues clubs - including one owned by B B King - commemorating the spot where the original juke joints were in its 1920s heyday. After we order, I realise I have on a previous visit to Memphis had a terrible take-out catfish sandwhich from this very place. Total junk food. Photograph: guardian.co.uk

Eating across the US: Blue’s City Cafe, Memphis, Tennesse — Today we’ve ordered the “world’s best” beef tamales - a classic Mexican dish of a corn dough roll, with various fillings, traditionally steamed in corn husks although these ones come wrapped in charred greaseproof paper (unbelievably gross) with a bowl of chilli (tolerable). And Cajun skillet shrimp (you could also get “garlic broiled” or fried) with new potatoes (rough n’ ready with red skins on) and coleslaw and toast. It is all pretty yuck. You need to be drunk to eat here. Photograph: guardian.co.uk

Eating across the US: Dyer’s, Memphis, Tennesse — Dyer’s, 205 Beale Street, Memphis, Tennesse: It’s only 11am but we’re suddenly too ravenous to decide whether to visit the Stax, Rock n Soul, Civil Rights or Sun Records museums. We swing by Dyer’s, which has legendarily recycled, to this day, the oil in which the late Elmer “doc” Dyer started frying burger patties, in 1912. It is claimed that when the diner moved venue, said oil was transported under police guard. The burgers look gross – thin, grey and greasy - but they taste not unlike McDonalds’, in a good way. Rootbeer is the perfect accompaniment, cutting through the grease. Never again though. Photograph: guardian.co.uk

Eating across the US: The Beauty Shop, Memphis, Tennessee — The Beauty Shop, 966 South Cooper, Memphis, Tennessee: We arrive back in town late after a jaunt to Graceland Too, the unmissable home of Elvis’s number one fan, over the border in Mississippi. We need proper, non-junk food. So we head to the gentrified East side of town. The Beauty Shop is quite a pricey eatery and cocktail bar but, hey, it was converted from the very beauty parlour Priscilla Presley used to frequent. You can dine under genuine retro hair dryers.
I have the Scottish spotted salmon with new potatoes and heirloom cherry tomatoes. The portion is a little mean, but what a lovely Mediterranean contrast to the junk food-fest of late. Matt’s fillet mignon with maple bacon, black peppercorn and mustard seed crust is good, although do you really need to mess this much with a beautiful steak? And the truffle oil Parmesan fries are disgusting. Why, oh why, Americans, must you overdo it? Photograph: guardian.co.uk

Eating across the US: Four way, Memphis, Tennessee — Four way, 998 Mississippi Boulevard, Memphis, Tennessee: We visit the Four Way after the Civil Right’s Museum at the Lorraine Motel, where Martin Luther King was assassinated. He used to eat at at this unassuming soulfood place. The area is deprived and doesn’t seem like it’s changed much since the shooting in 1968.
I get the Mississippi catfish (one of Luther King’s Four Way favourites), fried in a sandwich and served with coleslaw and fries, and a tall glass of lemonade. Total comfort food.
Matt has 'smothern chicken': baked, battered chicken smothered in brown gravy, with boiled okra and northern beans (like baked beans but in a soupy, sweet gravy ) and cornbread. Sweet tea, to drink. Photograph: guardian.co.uk

Food tour of America: Country Kitchen and Store, near Elk, Oklahoma — Country Kitchen and Store, somewhere off the I40 near Elk, Oklahoma: The place is full of proper farmers. With their with giant bellies, white beards and denim dungarees, a couple of them seriously resemble Uncle Jesse from the Dukes of Hazard. Before we get too excited though, we must remember the unpleasant “fuck Obama” bumper sticker we saw on the road back there. Nevertheless, the strawberry and banana pancakes make a comforting breakfast, although I don’t want the sodding bacon they come with. I also pass on the whipped cream topping. Photograph: guardian.co.uk

Food tour of America: Del’s, Tucumacari, New Mexico — Del’s, 1202 E. Tucumcari Blvd (Old Route 66), Tucumacari, New Mexico: We have driven through the northern panhandle of Texas, stopping for vintage cowboy boots on old Route 66 in Amarillo, and suddenly the landscape has morphed from green farmland into desert. Tucamari’s stretch of the old Route 66 (which shaddows much of the I40 as it crosses the Southern states, East to West) is lined with exsquisitely weathered motels, truck stops and diners. The menu is mostly Mexican but I wimpishly want a break from meat and cheese and have a baked potato with salad. Matthew, meanwhile, braves the “grand smothered [in melted cheese] burrito”. Beef burrito’s like this one are a Tex-mex invention (Mexican burrito’s generally contain rice and refried beans). The flour tortillia wrapping is warm and soft, and the filling deliciously spicy. Luckily it's enormous so Matthew lets me eat some. Fact of the day: burrito means “little donkey” in Spanish. Photograph: guardian.co.uk

Food tour of America: Downtown Diner, Flagstaff, Arizona — Downtown Diner, & E. Aspen Ave (Old Route 66), Flagstaff, Arizona: Night before last in Grants, our New Mexican sleep stop, we got all tired and confused and ended up having Pizza Hut for dinner. But this morning we awake in a verdant mountain college town to find our best breakfast of the trip so far. Fruit parfait: bananas and blueberries layered with yoghurt and granola with a syrupy strawberry topping. Photograph: guardian.co.uk

Food tour of America: Macy’s, Flagstaff, Arizona — Macy’s, 14 S. Beaver St, Flagstaff, Arizona: This is so exciting: it’s got free WiFi, does great coffee and smoothies, and fresh, tasty vegetarian food. I have the Mediterranean plate which sees me yomping fresh baby spinach leaves like they’re going out of style, and Matthew has a hummus sandwhich. We feel good. Photograph: guardian.co.uk

Food tour of America: Burger lounge, San diego, California — Burger lounge, 1101 Wall Street, La Jolla, San diego, California: Our native Californian friend, “crazy” Laura Lee, takes us to the beach to spot leopard sharks, and then to Burger Lounge. She says it’s the best. Described as “all natural, grass-fed beef”, the burgers are indeed succulent-yet-lean and fine-flavoured. We have ours with onion rings, fries and rootbeer. Photograph: guardian.co.uk

Food tour of America: Starlight, San Diego, California — Starlight, 3175 India Street, San Diego, California: Sensing our excitement at being back in a swanky coastal city, our hostess takes us to Starlight “Dining and Cocktails”, which serves locally farmed food in a dimly-lit stone and wood-lined hall, with constellations of chrome-mounted lights sprouting decoratively from the ceiling. I start with octopus and greens, “simmered until tender, marinated in smoked paprika and garlic then grilled”. It is one huge tentacle! But good. Photograph: guardian.co.uk

Food tour of America: Starlight, San Diego, California — I follow it with fish of day - tile fish (lean, firm white fish) - Oregon chanterelle mushrooms, lobster mushrooms, local button mushrooms and greens with black garlic butter. It was a lovely thought but the mushrooms are too much with this incredibly meaty fish. I wish I had ordered Matthew’s crisp-skinned jidori chicken, with local tomatoes and string beans, pesto of organic local basil and pan jus. A shared chocolate mousse cheers me up, so much so that I forget to copy down its description. Basically, it has tiny crunchy chocolate balls scattered over it, which totally work. Photograph: guardian.co.uk

Food tour of America: Whale watcher’s cafe, Big Sur, California — Whale watcher’s cafe, Highway 1, Big Sur, California: It’s blowing a hooly up here on the cliff. “Any whales out there today?” I ask the waiter. He squints out at the swirling Pacific. “Nah, not so far, but did you see the elephant seals on the beach there?” Not yet, but I will take a look after some of your finest poached eggs, please. Matthew has blueberry pancakes with bacon and maple syrup. Photograph: guardian.co.uk

Food tour of America: Fertile Grounds, Berkeley, California — Fertile Grounds, 1796 Shattuck Ave, Berkeley, California: This street, in the university town across the bay from San Francisco famous for attracting radical left wing intellectuals, has long been home to the local organic movement and good food - the most famous of which is Chez Panisse, below. We love that even the freaking donuts at the coffee shop are organic. Photograph: guardian.co.uk

Food tour of America: Chez Panisse, Berkeley, California — Chez Panisse, 1517 Shattuck Ave, Berkeley, California: Alice Water’s restaurant Chez Panisse is one of the planet’s culinary shrines. It’s open kitchens influenced the River Cafe. And waters was a trailblazer of the local, seasonal produce movement, back when the restaurant opened in 1971. Inside, the wood panelling and copper table lamps recall Charles Renne MackIntosh. It feels a little like the Ivy in London: cosy quality. Also (I’m coming to the food soon, I promise), the actor Gael Garcia Bernal is at a nearby table!
I start with 'little gems lettuce with marinated beets and fig vinaigrette'. The ingredients are top quality, recently picked and alive with flavour. Who knew a plate of little gem leaves could taste so good? Photograph: guardian.co.uk

Food tour of America: Chez Panisse, Berkeley, California — For a main course we both have 'wood oven-braised Elliott Ranch lamb shoulder with spicy greens toast, little turnips, and red pepper relish'. I am surprised to find that toast means actual toast, which acts like a genius crouton base, gradually soaking in more and more of the meat juices. I usually like to get a litlte bit of everything onto my fork but here I feel compelled to taste each component separately and enjoy the special flavour of every single ingredient. “Poached Bosc pear and huckleberry tart with vanilla ice cream” finishes the meal perfectly and sends us off into the night feeling giddy with good food. Photograph: guardian.co.uk

Food tour of America: Saul’s Deli, Berkeley, CA — Saul’s Deli, 1475 Shattuck Ave, Berkeley, CA: Obviously I have poached eggs on toast, but Matthew has a more apt corned beef hash with poached egg and yums it up. Photograph: guardian.co.uk

Food tour of America: Dottie’s True Blue Cafe, San Francisco — Dottie’s True Blue Cafe, San Francisco: You’d have to get up pretty bloody early to not have to queue for breakfast at Dottie’s. Officially the best breakfast of the trip! The menu is packed with good options, and none of the interesting added twists to dishes seem gratuitous like they do so often in America (to my British palate, at least). I have two eggs, with bacon, home fries and toast. It’s all about he home fries - they’re all herby and salty and not oppressively oily. Matt has pancakes with fresh fruit salad. But they also do chorizo, and chicken apple saussage and Italian saussage and a 9-grain hot cereal. This is somewhere I could return to again and again and never get bored. Photograph: guardian.co.uk

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