Iron Skillet – N. Little Rock, AR

Truck stop restaurants are usually a safe bet for good food and service. Truckers look for good home-cooked food to keep them going; fast food doesn't work for those folks. A bad review from a trucker can spread fast and severely damage the reputation of a restaurant. With all the truckers on the road, any restaurant on a major highway is going to have plenty of opportunities to prove what they can do, otherwise, they won't be in business for long.

The Iron Skillet at the Petro Shopping Center in North Little Rock, Arkansas on I-40 is a good one.

Bella Marie’s Pizzeria – St. George, Utah

People in New York, Boston, and Chicago probably think they have the market cornered on great pizza. There is no denying that restaurants in those great cities make some of the finest pizza in the country, but they are not the only ones. 

If you find yourself in the high desert of Southern Utah, there is a pizzeria worthy of praise for producing some of the finest pizza I have ever eaten. Bella Marie’s Pizzeria, in St. George, Utah, was an entirely unexpected find. Unlike most restaurants in this hurry up modern world, Bella Marie’s takes the time to make their own pizza sauce and dough. What comes together on a plate in this little restaurant is something so special that it stands among the finest anywhere.

Tim Hortons – Hallstead, PA

Have you ever avoided a restaurant chain because you didn't think it would be worth your time? Without any solid reason, other than a feeling? On a recent vacation in the Northeastern US, we noticed Tim Hortons restaurants, many of which were paired with convenience stores and gas stations right off the highway.

Buckhead Mountain Grill & Graeter's Ice Cream – Bellevue/Ft. Mitchell, KY (Cincinnati)

Two things I learned while traveling through the Cincinnati, OH/Bellevue-Newport, KY area: a Kentucky Hot Brown for dinner at Buckhead Mountain Grill, and Cincinnati's famous Graeter's Ice Cream for desert is a great way to spend an evening.

Eve's Cafe on the Square

Every so often you stumble on a restaurant where the food is so unexpectedly good that you have to wonder why doesn’t everyone know this place? Why am I just discovering it? Eve’s Café On the Square, in Lampasas, Texas is that place. Lampasas is not exactly a tourist destination, nor is it known for great restaurants. It is the seat of Lampasas County, in Central Texas, about 30 miles west of Killeen – and as it turns out, there is at least one great eatery in town.