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Joined: Jul 2011
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Campfire Outfitter
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Campfire Outfitter
Joined: Jul 2011
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The demise of independent mom & pop restaurants is due to the chains paying developers and property management (who grease local bureaucrats) to get their leases.
On multi-day motorcycle camping trips I always look for out of the way places. One time, actually looking for fuel, I pulled up to an old gas station, but soon realized the pumps had been abandoned, and it had been converted to a restaurant. It was a good time to eat, so I went in and asked the middle-aged manager/waitress/cook if there was anything really special on the menu. She replied that everything was pretty good. So I ordered a chicken sandwich.
What she served me was incredible! There was a chunk of chicken as big as my fist! Helluva sandwich. Gotta love those places.
"There's more to optics than meets the eye."--anon
"...most of us would be better off losing half a pound around the waist than half a pound on our rifle."--dhg
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Joined: Dec 2000
Posts: 39,301
Campfire 'Bwana
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Campfire 'Bwana
Joined: Dec 2000
Posts: 39,301 |
My brother was a trucker until he retired a few years ago. One thing he taught me about truck stops- they are seldom the best places to eat. The reason you see a lot of trucks in some places is that is probably the only place they can park their huge trucks long enough to get something to eat.
Some long periods in bathrooms has convinced me he was right about that.
If you want to see where the best small restaurants in a small town are, ask the locals who can afford to go out more often than most where they go or watch for vehicles at restaurants that aren't broken down farm or teenager vehicles. People go where they can afford until the food is really good, then they stop looking, IMHO.
I found some good food in some some smaller truck stops mostly in the South.
The first time I shot myself in the head...
Meniere's Sucks Big Time!!!
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Joined: May 2005
Posts: 17,133
Campfire Ranger
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Campfire Ranger
Joined: May 2005
Posts: 17,133 |
The Yelp app has helped me a lot to find the good places when traveling Yep. It works great. Hungry and on the road? Hit Yelp and you'll find a local place just another half mile (or maybe three) down the road that has great reviews but no chance you'd know it was there without the Yelp app. We haven't eaten at a chain place on a road trip the last couple years thanks to it and we've had some great local food.
If something on the internet makes you angry the odds are you're being manipulated
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Joined: Feb 2006
Posts: 18,033
Campfire Ranger
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OP
Campfire Ranger
Joined: Feb 2006
Posts: 18,033 |
All I know is the further one gets to the middle states, the more bland food becomes. Aw come on Steelhead-we got that Spicky Heinz Ketchup in last week-ooooo that's some hot stuff donchaknow yahsureyoubetcha'!
molɔ̀ːn labé skýla
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Joined: Feb 2006
Posts: 18,033
Campfire Ranger
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OP
Campfire Ranger
Joined: Feb 2006
Posts: 18,033 |
You guys are making me hungry hearing about all these good eats.
molɔ̀ːn labé skýla
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Joined: Feb 2009
Posts: 11,920
Campfire Outfitter
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Campfire Outfitter
Joined: Feb 2009
Posts: 11,920 |
We have 1 place in town and we eat there every Thursday.
Sometimes just have chicken fry but they also have sirloin and mex food or brisket.
It just depends on how the gal that owns it feels that day.
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Joined: May 2010
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Campfire Outfitter
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Campfire Outfitter
Joined: May 2010
Posts: 14,953 Likes: 1 |
If you find yourself in Junction Tx. I recommend
Issac's Restaurant. The "Junction Special" is 2sausage patties,
2thick-slice bacon, 2 eggs and 2 pancakes. 6a.m. is when to go.
--- CAUGHT IN THE CROSSFIRE --- A Magic Time To Be An Illegal In America---
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Joined: Dec 2006
Posts: 52,680
Campfire Kahuna
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Campfire Kahuna
Joined: Dec 2006
Posts: 52,680 |
I always seek out a local owned eatery vs a chain if possible.
Liberalism is a mental disorder that leads to social disease.
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Joined: Apr 2011
Posts: 69,264 Likes: 10
Campfire Kahuna
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Campfire Kahuna
Joined: Apr 2011
Posts: 69,264 Likes: 10 |
Halfway between Abilene & Ft. Worth, just 2 miles off I-20, in a one stop light town called Strawn, you'll find one of the best Mom & Pop restaurants and the best Chicken Fried Steak in TX! It's called Mary's Cafe. Also have great Breakfast & Tex-Mex food. If you ever get a chance to stop there, you won't be disappointed.
Also, in MarbleFalls, TX, in the Hill Country, you gotta eat at the Bluebonnet Cafe.
It's another one you won't regret stopping at.
"Allways speak the truth and you will never have to remember what you said before..." Sam Houston
Texans, "We say Grace, We Say Mam, If You Don't Like it, We Don't Give a Damn!"
~Molɔ̀ːn Labé Skýla~
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Joined: Dec 2006
Posts: 52,680
Campfire Kahuna
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Campfire Kahuna
Joined: Dec 2006
Posts: 52,680 |
Halfway between Abilene & Ft. Worth, just 2 miles off I-20, in a one stop light town called Strawn, you'll find one of the best Mom & Pop restaurants and the best Chicken Fried Steak in TX! It's called Mary's Cafe. Also have great Breakfast & Tex-Mex food. If you ever get a chance to stop there, you won't be disappointed.
Also, in MarbleFalls, TX, in the Hill Country, you gotta eat at the Bluebonnet Cafe.
It's another one you won't regret stopping at. NOW you tell me!
Liberalism is a mental disorder that leads to social disease.
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Joined: Dec 2008
Posts: 512
Campfire Regular
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Campfire Regular
Joined: Dec 2008
Posts: 512 |
Halfway between Abilene & Ft. Worth, just 2 miles off I-20, in a one stop light town called Strawn, you'll find one of the best Mom & Pop restaurants and the best Chicken Fried Steak in TX! It's called Mary's Cafe. Also have great Breakfast & Tex-Mex food. If you ever get a chance to stop there, you won't be disappointed.
Also, in MarbleFalls, TX, in the Hill Country, you gotta eat at the Bluebonnet Cafe.
It's another one you won't regret stopping at. Ha! I live in Fort Worth, but we hunt out by Abilene and we eat at Mary's often on the drive. You are spot on, cheers brother! Another good place I love is Cafe Rico in Cisco. The pork adobado Azteca is really good.
If 2nd amendment rights can be subject to licensing and fees, how was the poll tax unconstitutional?
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Joined: Apr 2011
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Campfire Kahuna
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Campfire Kahuna
Joined: Apr 2011
Posts: 69,264 Likes: 10 |
I'll have to try the place in Cisco. I went to jr College there before I went to TAMU.
Do y'all hunt north or south of Abilene?
The Dixie Pig Cafe in Abilene has been open for over 50 years and has great breakfast!
"Allways speak the truth and you will never have to remember what you said before..." Sam Houston
Texans, "We say Grace, We Say Mam, If You Don't Like it, We Don't Give a Damn!"
~Molɔ̀ːn Labé Skýla~
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Joined: Apr 2012
Posts: 244
Campfire Member
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Campfire Member
Joined: Apr 2012
Posts: 244 |
you want a good greasy spoon just find the sale barn café, never been to one that didn't have good food, and I have been to a lot of them
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Joined: Sep 2003
Posts: 14,807
Campfire Outfitter
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Campfire Outfitter
Joined: Sep 2003
Posts: 14,807 |
We had another superb prime rib along with singing and good cheer again in the Eastside Restaurant in our small town New Britain, CT. http://www.eastsiderestaurant.com/ ![[Linked Image]](http://i701.photobucket.com/albums/ww15/Donmartin29/east.jpg)
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Joined: Nov 2007
Posts: 47,166 Likes: 1
Campfire 'Bwana
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Campfire 'Bwana
Joined: Nov 2007
Posts: 47,166 Likes: 1 |
God bless Texas-----------------------
Old 300
I will remain what i am until the day I die- A HUNTER......Sitting Bull
Its not how you pick the booger..
but where you put it !!
Roger V Hunter
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Joined: Dec 2006
Posts: 52,680
Campfire Kahuna
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Campfire Kahuna
Joined: Dec 2006
Posts: 52,680 |
well Don Martin nobody gives a crap about your opinion and stolen pictures
Liberalism is a mental disorder that leads to social disease.
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Joined: Dec 2008
Posts: 512
Campfire Regular
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Campfire Regular
Joined: Dec 2008
Posts: 512 |
I'll have to try the place in Cisco. I went to jr College there before I went to TAMU.
Do y'all hunt north or south of Abilene?
The Dixie Pig Cafe in Abilene has been open for over 50 years and has great breakfast! It's south of Abilene, Coke county. Halfway to San Angelo, too far to drive back up to Abilene unless we hit it on the way home and we may at some point. And sorry, Cafe Rico is in Eastland, my mistake. A little off I-20 but we do it anyway.
If 2nd amendment rights can be subject to licensing and fees, how was the poll tax unconstitutional?
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Joined: Feb 2009
Posts: 1,183
Campfire Regular
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Campfire Regular
Joined: Feb 2009
Posts: 1,183 |
I look for the places where there are a lot of eighteen-wheelers in the parking lot. Truckers always seem to know where the best places to eat are located. However, I generally avoid truck stops because they all seem to be franchised chains now too.
KC
The conventional wisdom that truckers are cognoscenti with respect to the best places to eat is, alas, a myth. Truckers care far less about the quality of food than about their ability to park/manuever their rigs. Accordingly, truckers tend to patronize restaurants that have expansive parking lots...the quality of the food is a secondary consideration.
Last edited by Tuco; 06/06/15.
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Joined: Dec 2011
Posts: 331
Campfire Member
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Campfire Member
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Posts: 331 |
.................. I also like the food at the cafe in Elmira. Yes, great burgers and fries.......need a fistful of napkins to sop up the drip-en's ..........
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Campfire Ranger
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OP
Campfire Ranger
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Our best around here is Wampach's Cafe in Shakopee, Mn. Great breakfasts-pancakes that are bigger than the dinner plates they serve them on. Very good sausage gravy and biscuits too. There's two waitresses working there that have been there for over 25 years. Always smiling-holding court over the regulars that come as much to see them as they do for the food. Just one of those places that you really like to go back to.
molɔ̀ːn labé skýla
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