Oh, Travel: Eating locally

One of my foremost travel commandments is one I learned from my father at a young age: thou shall not eat at chain restaurants when traveling. If you can get it at home, you shouldn’t be eating it there. My two exceptions to this rule: coffee shops & road trip food. While I would prefer a local coffee shop for my morning cup o’ joe, that’s not always possible, so sometimes I have to break down & head to Starbucks. Ditto when you’re looking for dinner while driving along the Interstate: sometimes, you just have to break down & head to Cracker Barrel because that’s what’s listed on the “food this exit” sign.We love getting local food recommendations from locals & friends who have been there in the past. We also live by two rules: 1. the place where the line is longest with locals is the place to go & 2. the places mentioned in the hotel in-room magazine are not the way to go (found this out the hard way when a friend recommended a place in Chicago & then it was mentioned in the in-room magazine. Sure enough, it was tourist hell). I’ve also found that the key to finding the best local places is to walk past the places aimed at tourists – there’s usually a local place tucked in a corner somewhere.

Below are photos from some of our favorite local eats. What are some of yours? Leave a comment below with your recommendations!

P.S. I realize I have now posted about food two Thursday’s in a row. Clearly I have food on the brain!

P.P.S. I’m not perk’d or paid to write any of this – I can assure you that these establishments have no idea that I exist.