One of my quirks is that I love eating at American truck stops. There’s just something about them. I’ve always loved them. Basically, your typical truck stop, for all of my life, has been your basic mom & pop “generic American food” place, with fried chicken, cheap steaks, burgers, breakfast served any time, and piping hot fresh coffee (plain old coffee, nothing fancy). They’re often a little on the dingy side, and my favorite thing to do is usually to order steak & eggs with hash browns. Bonus if the waitress calls you “honey.”
Tonight I wanted to get the heck out of the house after a long day at my crappy-paying but at least kinda fun job, and I started looking on the internet for places with wi-fi internet so I could blog or whatever. To my frustration I found little in my area besides Wendy’s, McDonald’s, Burger King, and Panera Bread places (Panera is basically basically Starbuck’s with fresh baked goods–bleah). So imagine my joy when I found that only about three miles from here, off of I-275, is a truck stop–a truck stop with Wi-Fi! I called to ask if they really have it, and they said “yep!” Joy! I’ll order steak and eggs, probably for around 8 bucks (typical at places like that) and cruise the ‘net. I’ll get a little light, a hot meal, and enjoy some of what I think of as “comfort food.” If I can’t be with my kids, that would be a good substitute anyway.
So I made the drive, and my heart sank when I arrived. Yep. They had wi-fi. And it was a truck stop, with lots of trucks and cars from the expressway. But as I pulled in to park, I saw what their restaurant was:
A Burger King. A fracking Burger King.
Not that I have anything against a Whopper. I love a good Whopper. But when you’re looking for Mabel, the 50 year old chain-smoking waitress with her back complaints to bring you a piping hot New York Strip with sunny-side-up eggs and say “you want me to freshen your coffee for ya hun?” while you chow down and play on the Internet, it’s not quite the same thing.
Another slice of beloved Americana, slowly being eaten away by the Corporate Behemoths.
Ah well. I guess I did want fries with that.
{ 17 comments }
Me: I’ll have the Frito pie.
Most of the places you’re talking about can no longer make it at toll road "rest stop" plazas, where the rent is getting to be super high. It’s only the off road truck stops that really seem to keep up these days.
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I’ve been to such official "rest stop" plazas before and was unsurprised to find that the states that put them up often seek corporate sponsorship, probably to allay costs. But I’m afraid this was on an old road, maybe a quarter mile off the regular exit in a fairly small semi-rural community. No shiny new state-created Rest Stop. :-(
Frito pie? Never tried it…
Always loved those places. You either get the best food you’ve had in awhile or it’s generally edible. Sometimes it’s a greasy nightmare but always it is quaint. I love those places, you know, the places that just say "Diner" on them. That’s a shame because it probably would have been a fun place to eat otherwise.
I’m with you, Dean. I love those places too, and I lament their passing.
The old truck stops were run by corporate behemoths like Flying J, but these behemoths knew how to train a decent wait staff, fry some chicken and make a decent cup of joe. Burger King is taking over because people eat their awful food. I have no idea why people eat that junk, but they do.
There was a great truck stop near the Jersey/Delaware border that served a wonderful mississippi mud pie. They closed down and were replaced by a mini mall. I haven’t found a decent mud pie since.
I have no idea why people eat that junk, but they do.
I think it’s because of the predictability of fast food. If you are far away and have no reference as to what is good to eat and what is not, you can go to a Burger King, order up some mediocre crap and it will taste how you expect it to taste and cost what you expect it to cost.
IMO it’s the only reason those places do so well.
Check the website and see where you can get a Waffle House there. Steak and Eggs is $9, I believe, and the coffee is 100% coffee flavored. I don’t think they have wifi in all of them, but you can check.
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Mom and Pop inc?
Hey! Get the basic, comfort, normal sized serving of "the" typical ( in every geographic area ) definative flavour food. you know, real. With veggies too. The only veggies are getting to be potatos ( fries ) tomatoes and lettuce. Cole-slaw is even getting threatened. You know it was getting bad when the best they got is chickenwings. With 14 different flavours. Thank god Baskin Robbins has held at 34. Otherwise with encouragement…
My little town has almost held them off. Subway made it though. A town of 3000 with 8 sit down restaurants and 4 more grab and go ( delies in the grocery strores ect) and they all want to be McDonalds or ? Its’ good before it succeeds anyhow.
No Waffle Houses in Michigan, unfortunately. I haven’t been to one of those in well over a decade, probably not since I lived in Louisiana with Cosmic Conservative. (Well not under the same roof. I mean he is cute and all but…)
FWIW, Travelcenters of America (TA) truck stops do still tend to have in-house diners — though at least some TA’s also have fast-food courts as well.
It’s been a while but I think the last Flying J truck stop I was at had an in-house diner too.
The Pilot and Love’s truck stops in my area all seem to have only fast-food chain stores attached.
On my last road trip with the wife, we found a place in Lexington, Nebraska that didn’t look like any chain truck stop I’ve ever seen, and the diner was very authentic, the food very good. We’d waited too long to find a place for dinner and I finally decided the only place with food that would be open that late was a truck stop. It was a real find.
Don’t know what your cooking skills are like Dean, but I think you might want to try to make some frito pie for home someday. It really is totally delicious.
I was going to suggest the Iron Skillet (which is part of the Petro chain of Truck Stops) which is quite good, and a proper Truck Stop Diner (open always!). But they don’t have any stops in Michigan, either. Maybe an IHOP?
It’s basically just what it sounds like. And really, it’s a no brainer when you think about it: make and addictive snack food into an addictive meal. I’m just surprised that no one has come up with a recipe for a main course made out of Doritos. :)
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Okay, Frito Pie:
In a bowl like device, layer these ingredients like this:
onions (diced chopped or minced, whatever you put on chili dogs)
cheese (preferably shredded cheddar or some sort of processed cheese goo)
GOOD chili
Fritos (regular curly ones, or crushed up other fritos if that is all you have)
Serve hot, consume greedily. It is reportedly a Texas creation (like Fritos themselves) but its pedigree is even dodgier than Corn Dogs (another Texas invention.)
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And there is no dish made of Doritoes because Doritoes were made from a dish (nachos).
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Ugh… I used to work at an Iron Skillet.
But then again, whenever I’m back east, I’ll gladly stop there and eat. I love truck stop food…
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I will only eat at an Iron Skillet if the waitress calls me "honey."
Thus I have spoken.
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