California to Virginia, My Cross-Country Foodie Adventure

California to Virginia, My Cross-Country Foodie Adventure

Life update: I moved!  For the last three weeks my family and I have been driving across the country for a military move from California to Virginia.  That’s me, my husband, two kids, a dog, and a cat all crammed into my car.  If I could pick a song to represent how I feel right now, it would be Willie Nelson’s On the Road Again.  “Goin’ places that I’ve never been.”  Check.  “Seein’ things I may never see again.”  Check.  “Just can’t wait to get on the road again.”  Not so much, Willie.  As you can imagine, living out of a suitcase and being stuck in a car with two pets and your family for 8-10 hours a day for almost a month will make most people go nuts.  We are finally in our new home and I’m able to put our adventure down on paper, so to speak.

We’ve driven cross-country four times, but for this trip, California to Virginia, My Cross-Country Foodie Adventure, we decided to take a route that we’ve never taken before.  We left San Diego and went north through Utah, across Montana to South Dakota, down to Chicago, then onto Nashville and West Virginia before our final destination in Virginia.

The foodie in me is always wanting to try the foods that places are known for and while Utah, Montana, and South Dakota were all beautiful, they didn’t offer much in terms of a foodie scene.

I was trying to eat vegetarian in Montana, so I didn’t try any, but if you’re into bison/buffalo, the majority of restaurants we saw in Montana offer a lot of it on their menus (bison burgers, bison chili, buffalo meatloaf).  After seeing a lot of huckleberry offerings on the menus in West Yellowstone, I asked a local about them and he said that huckleberries grow wild out there and that they’re similar to blueberries, but slightly sour.  You can find huckleberry margaritas, huckleberry fudge, and other specialties with the fruit.

As for South Dakota, we drove ALL THE WAY THERE *just* to see Mount Rushmore, but do you want to know what the best part of Mount Rushmore was?  The big horn sheep we saw on the way there!  We were able to see a herd of them crossing the street right in front of us!

Fun Fact: Utah is a “dry state”.  That means most restaurants do not serve alcohol.  Insert the shocked face emoji here.  Remember I’m trapped in a car with my husband, two kids, and pets for approximately 9 hours a day?  Guess who has two thumbs and drank wine in Utah?  This girl.

It was in Indiana where I was able to experience my very first White Castle cheeseburger.  I had only eaten the frozen ones from the grocery store, so I was excited to try the real thing.  The burgers from White Castle taste almost identical to their frozen siblings, but the fresh ones at the restaurant have pickles.  Yum!  What makes White Castle’s cheeseburger so special is their grilled onions.  Love them.  Being open 24 hours, I bet this place satisfies some major cravings at 2am.  I could have eaten 4 cheeseburgers, but had to save myself for Chicago later that day.

Onto the foodiest of all the foodie stops we made on this trip, Chicago.  I wasn’t leaving the Windy City without three things: deep-dish pizza, an Italian Beef Sandwich, and a Chicago dog.  I make Slow Cooker Italian Beef Sandwiches at home, but I was excited to try one from one of the places that claims to have invented the Italian Beef, Al’s.  You can get your sandwich wet (extra gravy), dipped (whole sandwich submerged in gravy), or dry.  I opted for the non-soggy option and got mine dry with the “gravy” on the side so I could dip it.  You also get your choice of peppers.  They have sauteed bell peppers or you can go the spicy route and get the giardiniera.  If you like heat, you have to get the giardiniera!  It’s chopped veggies like carrot, cauliflower, celery, and spicy peppers that are salted and preserved in oil for an out-of-this-world condiment.  You can also make some at home with my recipe for Chicago-Style Hot Giardiniera. The sandwich was great.  It had the thinnest sliced meat I’ve ever seen, melted cheese, and spicy giardiniera all on an Italian roll.  Delish!  My husband thought it was one of the best sandwiches ever!

Sadly, I devoured my half of the deep-dish pizza before the thought of a photograph popped in my mind, but another tasty find was the Chicago Dog at Al’s.  It can vary from one place to another, but in general it’s a hot dog in a poppy seed bun topped with mustard, a pickle spear, relish, tomato slices, diced onion, spicy peppers, and celery salt.  My son, the chile-head, loved it and so did I!

Now for my absolute favorite leg of the trip, Nashville, Tennessee.  Food + fun + music = Nashville.  It reminds me of a country music version of a less crazy, non-24-hour Las Vegas with super friendly people.  Country music bands are playing in every establishment you walk past, so if you like country music, you have to check it out.

When in Nashville, you have to get some Nashville hot chicken.  It’s super crispy fried chicken that is doused in an extremely spicy cayenne pepper sauce.  We heard from multiple people that the place to get Nashville hot chicken was Hattie B’s, but we didn’t get a chance to head over there.  Instead, we went to The Stillery, where I made one of the best foodie decisions of my life by ordering the Mac & Cheese topped with Nashville Hot Chicken.  This was BY FAR the best mac & cheese I’ve ever had!  They used my favorite pasta for mac & cheese, cavatappi, and smothered it in THE best cheese sauce and topped it with crispy breadcrumbs before baking it in the oven to cheesy perfection.  *Hold on, it gets better.*  When it comes out of the oven, they plop a huge Nashville hot chicken breast on top for the grand finale.  Crispy, creamy, spicy, cheesy.  It checked ALL my boxes!

If you’re in Nashville and looking for a family-friendly place, I highly recommend the Downtown Sporting Club.  They have a restaurant downstairs and an epic game room upstairs complete with fooseball, classic arcade games, axe throwing, ring toss, board games galore, and even a recreated backyard with artificial turf, beach chairs, and sports on tv.  All free!  Not only was the food and customer service in the restaurant superb, they had bottomless mimosas for $20!!

While Nashville was fun, we had to move on.  We drove east to visit family before finally arriving in Virginia.  A couple more hotel nights in the books and California to Virginia, My Cross-Country Foodie Adventure is over.  Now I’m home sitting on my couch and not wanting to be “On the Road Again” anytime soon.

What about you?  What are some of your cross-country foodie finds?  Let me know in the comments or you can tag me @therealflavorfuleats on Instagram, @flavorfuleats on Twitter, or Flavorful Eats on Facebook.

If you also plan your vacations around what you’re going to eat, check out these foodie travel posts:

• A Foodie’s Trip to Italy
• 2 Fun Foodie Days in San Francisco
• A Foodie’s Trip to Palm Springs
• Visiting Sacramento, America’s Farm-to-Fork Capital