We've been watching a lot of the Food Network at my house lately. I don't know if it's because there is nothing else on or if we just love watching food that much, but it seems that every time we have a free half-hour we're watching Guy Fieri on
Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives. They go to some awesome places! I would love to get paid to drive places and have people cook stuff for me. That's high up there on my dream jobs list, right after "get paid to travel the world and write books about it like the lady who wrote
Eat, Pray, Love." Watching all these episodes has left me wanting to travel the nation in search of awesome restaurants - here are the top 5 restaurants I'd make a road trip to visit!
5. Melt
Cleveland, Ohio
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| Look at all that delicious melty cheese. |
This only gets demoted to number 5 on the list because it's in Ohio and it is completely feasible for me to get there and back in one day. Their specialty is grilled cheese, in any way you can imagine it. Mostly giant and delicious. I have family in Cleveland, maybe it's time to pay them a visit.
4. Nibils Restaurant
Myrtle Beach, South Carolina
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| The Western Omlettes here are wonderful. |
This restaurant I didn't see on the Food Network - I've actually been there! Back in 2003 my family and I went to South Carolina for a vacation. We rented a condo on the beach and spend a week lying around, putt-putt golfing, going to the movies (we saw
Finding Nemo, naturally) and enjoying the ocean. On the fridge at the condo was the business card to Nibils, which we assumed was a good sign. It was right on the pier and served delicious food - we ended up going back multiple times. My parents even visited it again last year on vacation for their anniversary. Unfortunately it's has moved from the pier to downtown, so no more oceanfront views, but I would totally go back and eat there given the chance.
3. Comet Cafe
Milwaukee, Wisconsin
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| A free side of bacon with your beer. I'd have to order one and I don't even drink beer. |
The chefs at this restaurant love bacon. They serve bacon-wrapped meatloaf, pancakes with bacon in them, bacon-infused mashed potatoes, even baskets of bacon. I love bacon. Let's go now!
2. Tocabe
Denver, Colorado
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| Yummy fry bread, topped with delicious-sounding hominy salsa. |
This is a restaurant that looks like a Chipotle but serves Native American foods. They make fabulous open-face tacos that use the same amazing fry bread that shows up every year at the Bellville World's Fair under the guise of
Indian Bread. I can almost imagine how delicious this tastes.
*Fun Fact: my grandmother's grandmother was a full-blooded Iroquois, which makes me 1/16 Native American!
1. Voo Doo Donuts
Portland, Oregon
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| A donut shop like no other. |
I would make a trip clear to the west coast just to eat here. Their signature donut (down in the bottom right corner) is a person-shaped donut filled with strawberry jam that comes with a pretzel stick for stabbing. No joke, an actual voo doo doll donut. They also make donuts with frosting and Cap'n Crunch. And if you look in the back on the top shelf you'll see one with maple frosting and two strips of bacon. Who wouldn't want to eat ALL of those? Why am I still in Ohio?
