The road has been my home this summer, and these bites prove it. There are certain foods that remind you of places you’ve been and people you’ve met. You see a photo, or the air blows a memory across your face, and suddenly you’re right back in that place with those people. Food always creates the best travel memories.
Fresh Oysters
Shrimp Shack | 30A, Florida
Nestled in the heart of 30A, in the mecca of spring break families, is Shrimp Shack. Small but mighty, I hit this little place at least twice, if not three times, every trip. A quick slurp of a dozen freshly shucked oysters, dragged through cocktail sauce and spilling over the edge of a saltine cracker, might just be a moment of beach nirvana only the perfect sunset could top. Pair it with a tart and sweet frozen margarita with a rim of salt, and you have the perfect mid-afternoon snack, lunch, dinner, or 10 a.m. start to your day. Now, to the sand!
ChicagoDog
Portillo’s | Chicago, Illinois
I am usually a purist. The snap of a casing, the texture of a steamed bun, no unnecessary toppings. But there are certain, shall we say, iconic hot dogs that deserve to be consumed in the form they were designed. A Chicago dog cannot be altered. If you remove one thing, you have missed the point. I don’t like mustard, but in this instance, what I like does not matter. The Chicago dog comes as it is: yellow mustard, relish, preferably very green, chopped onions, a tomato slice, a pickle spear, and a sport pepper, all sprinkled with hot dog fairy dust: celery salt. It’s messy and salty and tangy and spicy and embarrassing to eat. Too bad. It’s Chicago, baby!
Tuna Burger
Sunny Point Café
Asheville, North Carolina
Asheville, North Carolina, is known for its
beer and its chocolate and, of course, the Biltmore. But a tuna burger? Maybe not quintessential Asheville fare, but it was one of the best bites I’ve had this year. I used to say the bacon at Sunny Point was my favorite bite on the menu, but it fell to second place on my last visit when, on a whim, I skipped the shrimp and grits and feasted on their tuna burger. Made with yellowfin tuna mixed with soy sauce, sesame, and ginger, it’s topped with fresh avocado and peppery arugula, then crowned with a scallion aioli that I ordered an extra side of to dip my fries in. Frankly, I could dip just about anything in it. Fresh and perfectly seasoned, this had everything I wanted in an afternoon lunch. And let’s be honest, I had a side of bacon, too!
Pork and Crab Soup Dumplings
Deluxe Green Bo | Chinatown, New York City
I love a good food crawl through a finite neighborhood of New York City, and I have cultivated more than one trip through Chinatown. And while I have my rice noodle locations narrowed down, and I know where to send you to get a pork bun, I personally find myself sipping tea, crashing through crispy scallion pancakes, and devouring these particular dumplings over and over again. I have consumed them standing on the sidewalk directly out of the container in the mid-afternoon heat while the city bustles around me, and I have also partaken of these pillowy delicacies crammed into tiny tabletop seating inside the restaurant. I would eat them on a train. I would eat them on a plane. They are now, and for the foreseeable future, my favorite dumpling. Full of unctuous broth with a bite of pork and crab mixture tucked inside, they leave me desperate for my next trip to New York.
Grilled Yellowtail Collar
Kisser | East Nashville, Tennessee
Kisser is not a secret. Michelin knows about it. James Beard hails them as a success. It’s a small, lunch-only spot serving Japanese comfort food in East Nashville. The service is warm and welcoming, the yuzu lemonade is tart and fresh, and the menu is dotted with moments that make you think, just for a second, you are sitting in the kitchen of your best friend while her parents whip up dinner. That is, if your best friend ever served you a delicious grilled yellowtail collar that you dipped in ponzu studded with shredded daikon. It’s light and fresh, and you sit there with chopsticks, picking small bits of grilled fish from the bone and wondering how something so unassuming could be the crowning jewel of your travel day.
