Rating: 
Summary: Great for military personnel going TDY & buisness travellers
Review:
There are only 10 to 12 restaurants per state, but the ones that are listed are great. If you are driving across the U.S. and would choose your route based on great food, as much as sightseeing, then this is the perfect book for you. If you rarely get outside of your home state, then this book will be a disappointment for you.
Hopefully, one day Jane and Michael Stern will have enough reviews to publish several big thick books covering different regional areas in the United States, where they will have 50 to 60 restaurants per state.
Rating: 
Summary: EAT YOURSELF THROUGH THE CITIES IF YOU CAN FIND THEM.
Review: For a book on travel, it seems that the index would be from the viewpoint of (in this order) State; City, Restaurant. In this book if you are in Podunk, Somewhere you can't find it in the index unless you know the name of the restaurant.More "out-of-city" locations would have been preferable. In the text, list the State, City and restaurant with maybe one or two lines of description with a rating code. Sorry, I was't impressed and am returning the book.
Rating:
Summary: EAT YOURSELF THROUGH THE CITIES IF YOU CAN FIND THEM.
Review: For a book on travel, it seems that the index would be from the viewpoint of (in this order) State; City, Restaurant. In this book if you are in Podunk, Somewhere you can't find it in the index unless you know the name of the restaurant. More "out-of-city" locations would have been preferable. In the text, list the State, City and restaurant with maybe one or two lines of description with a rating code. Sorry, I was't impressed and am returning the book.
Rating:
Summary: Absolutely brilliant guide to local dives
Review: I can't think of another restaurant guide that has so many brilliant tricks up its sleeve. Not only are the Sterns superb food writers (I cannot read this book without getting hungry), but they have an exquisite sensibility for picking the very best in downscale local cuisine. They lead you to the places that you'd eat in several times a month, if you'd grown up in a location, or lived there long enough to have clued yourself in. Add exceptionally useable organization to this, and you have a 5-star guide book. Separating their reviews by region, and, most importantly, providing maps that show the relative location within a state, they've provided the best-possible organization. It answers the most important question of a hungry person: what's good to eat *near* *here*. Rather than having to flip back and forth from an index in the back, you can turn to the map of the state you're currently in (or planning to visit) and pin-point what's within driving range. I've visited over a dozen of their recommended spots, including Primati Brothers in Pittsburgh (mmm, sandwiches with french fries and cole slaw loaded on top), and several BBQ joints in Texas, and they've never failed to be anything less than very good. Most are excellent, and every one is unique and full of local flavor. Of the dozens of guidebooks I consult before travelling, this is #1.
Rating:
Summary: Absolutely brilliant guide to local dives
Review: I can't think of another restaurant guide that has so many brilliant tricks up its sleeve. Not only are the Sterns superb food writers (I cannot read this book without getting hungry), but they have an exquisite sensibility for picking the very best in downscale local cuisine. They lead you to the places that you'd eat in several times a month, if you'd grown up in a location, or lived there long enough to have clued yourself in. Add exceptionally useable organization to this, and you have a 5-star guide book. Separating their reviews by region, and, most importantly, providing maps that show the relative location within a state, they've provided the best-possible organization. It answers the most important question of a hungry person: what's good to eat *near* *here*. Rather than having to flip back and forth from an index in the back, you can turn to the map of the state you're currently in (or planning to visit) and pin-point what's within driving range. I've visited over a dozen of their recommended spots, including Primati Brothers in Pittsburgh (mmm, sandwiches with french fries and cole slaw loaded on top), and several BBQ joints in Texas, and they've never failed to be anything less than very good. Most are excellent, and every one is unique and full of local flavor. Of the dozens of guidebooks I consult before travelling, this is #1.
Rating:
Summary: Best book I know of for finding good regional food.
Review: I have been using the Stern's books for years to find unique eating places serving regional food. Even my kids like most of their choices. They don't just leave an impression on their stomachs, but also in their imaginations. I think they've done a good job of updating the book, down to adding a restaurant I was about to write to them about. If you want "fancy places" this book isn't for you. If you want real stuff, this is the source. R. Jeffs
Rating:
Summary: AND YOU'LL USE IT
Review: I started reading Jane and Michael Stern in "Gourmet" magazine and soon realized that they obviously have no home other than their car, truck or trailer. They are ALWAYS on the road and when they are not busy eating, they are certainly busy writing. Here I am in New York City where many of the top restaurants in the world are located and, frankly, I'd rather be eating a stack of diner pancakes or snacking on a lobster shack crab roll or finishing the meal with a slab of chocolate cream from a pie palace! After all, I am the guy who drove once from Miami to Key West, stopping way too many times to decide whether Key Lime Pie was different on each and every Key. The Stern volume can squeeze into your glove compartment and while you're driving, whoever's in the passenger seat can whet your appetites reading out loud about what's coming up ahead. The book is easily, cleverly divided into large chunks of states and then again into individual states. Do you know where to get flannel cakes or schmaltz? Ever drunk a cabinet? (no, not a cabernet.) Do you know the difference between Indian and Grape-Nuts pudding? Read the book. This is a funny, charming and totally informative volume. You'll love it. And you'll USE it.
Rating:
Summary: AND YOU'LL USE IT
Review: I started reading Jane and Michael Stern in "Gourmet" magazine and soon realized that they obviously have no home other than their car, truck or trailer. They are ALWAYS on the road and when they are not busy eating, they are certainly busy writing. Here I am in New York City where many of the top restaurants in the world are located and, frankly, I'd rather be eating a stack of diner pancakes or snacking on a lobster shack crab roll or finishing the meal with a slab of chocolate cream from a pie palace! After all, I am the guy who drove once from Miami to Key West, stopping way too many times to decide whether Key Lime Pie was different on each and every Key. The Stern volume can squeeze into your glove compartment and while you're driving, whoever's in the passenger seat can whet your appetites reading out loud about what's coming up ahead. The book is easily, cleverly divided into large chunks of states and then again into individual states. Do you know where to get flannel cakes or schmaltz? Ever drunk a cabinet? (no, not a cabernet.) Do you know the difference between Indian and Grape-Nuts pudding? Read the book. This is a funny, charming and totally informative volume. You'll love it. And you'll USE it.
Rating:
Summary: From a professional traveler
Review: I'm on the road 365 day a year, and acclimating to new surroundings is a survival skill I've learned over the years. When I roll into a new town, the first things I do are: buy a map, find a Post Office, a decent grocery, a good gym, the quickest route home from my work and call all the recomendations in the Stern's witty and unfailingly accurate guide for directions. I've not had a bad meal yet, and the person who gave me the book at the start of my tour told me the same thing. If you travel a lot, and you can't face another Applebees/McDonalds/Denny's/SouperSalad et.al. then this will steer you right to where you and your stomach want to be. It's just indespensible! Their descriptions of "shatteringly crisp fried chicken" and "glorious sloppy joes" are enough to cause you to drool embarassingly. But don't worry, the places in this guide are used to Pavlovian patrons! Enjoy.
Rating: 
Summary: Excellent compilation
Review: P>Mark Twain once wrote that "a man accustomed to American food and American domestic cookery would not starve to death suddenly in Europe, but I think he would gradually waste away and eventually die." Jan and Michael Stern's latest guide, "Eat Your Way Across the U.S.A." would certainly take issue with Mr. Twain, depending upon the part of the country they were in. The Sterns have regularly rambled across this country and have written numerous books on cooking and pop culture, and their latest book recommends 500 places to eat in the Lower 48, from Beal's Lobster Pier in Southwest Harbor, Maine, to Andrea's Old Town Cafe, in Bandon, Oregon. "Eat Your Way" is more inclusive than "Roadfood" and "Goodfood," the Stern's previous guidebooks. They recommend high-end fare such as Fiore's in Las Vegas -- "a swank bistro with a truly interesting menu and elegance more convincing than the Disney World standards that prevail elsewhere" -- and acidly note places to visit if you happen to be out that way sometime: The 50's Cafe in North Dakota was introduced with "unable to find a truly compelling meal in Fargo . . . " South Carolina cuisine rates high with the Sterns, with no less than a dozen recommendations (twice as many as found in North Carolina). Five are found in Charleston, and the rest spread among Spartanburg, Holly Hill, Walterboro, Edisto, Jacksonboro, Summerton, Mount Pleasant and Columbia What's most impressive about "Eat Your Way" is the number of compelling places offering tasty regional fare. There's thin-fried catfish and gumbo at Middendorf's in Pass Manchac, Louisiana. Sparks offers steaks and New York City atmosphere so thick that "we have stormed out wishing we were eating steak in Omaha or Oklahoma City. It all depends on who you sit near and your ability to tolerate the impertinence of New York's big spenders." "Eat Your Way" does more than any cookbook to showcase the variety and quality of American cooking, and the Sterns' winning way with words in describing the succulent meals awaiting the traveler can spark a spontaneous road trip of your own.
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