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.
Rating: 
Summary: Not as useful as I'd hoped
Review: The best parts are the "sidebars", short articles on things like different styles of clam chowder and lists of good steak houses or pie spots that you might want to copy down for quick reference if you travel a lot. However, the restaurant listings are far too incomplete to really use this as a comprehensive source of advice for long road trips. Even "500+" listings have to get spread pretty thin over a country as large as the good old USA! And be warned, this is a meat eater's book that lists LOTS of steak houses, hot dog stands, hamburger joints and bar-b-q spots. There is an average of about 10-12 places listed for each state, with no apparent relationship between the size of the state and the number of restaurants listed: Maine gets 20 listings (surprise, there're a lot of lobster shacks along the coast up there!) while New York gets just 19, and our largest state, California, only gets 26 (of which 70% are in SF, LA and San Diego). Western states are particularly sparsely covered. There are only 7 tips for Colorado, but the Sterns guide us to 16 culinary Meccas in Alabama. The Sterns can't find even one place to list in Phoenix (admittedly not a great restaurant city, although I managed to find a few good spots the last time I was there). "Oh well, Mildred, there's nothin' here, we'll just have to drive a few hundred more miles to LA before we can eat." Based on the authors' selection of restaurants for the area of the country where I live, Seattle, I concluded that the Sterns have no more insight into the identities of good local restaurants than you can find in a typical travel guide. My experience is that most conventional city and regional guidebooks list at least as many worthwhile places as the Sterns and they are usually written by locals who really do know some of good spots. For metro areas I've had good results with the Zagat surveys.
Rating:
Summary: Not as useful as I'd hoped
Review: The best parts are the "sidebars", short articles on things like different styles of clam chowder and lists of good steak houses or pie spots that you might want to copy down for quick reference if you travel a lot. However, the restaurant listings are far too incomplete to really use this as a comprehensive source of advice for long road trips. Even "500+" listings have to get spread pretty thin over a country as large as the good old USA! And be warned, this is a meat eater's book that lists LOTS of steak houses, hot dog stands, hamburger joints and bar-b-q spots. There is an average of about 10-12 places listed for each state, with no apparent relationship between the size of the state and the number of restaurants listed: Maine gets 20 listings (surprise, there're a lot of lobster shacks along the coast up there!) while New York gets just 19, and our largest state, California, only gets 26 (of which 70% are in SF, LA and San Diego). Western states are particularly sparsely covered. There are only 7 tips for Colorado, but the Sterns guide us to 16 culinary Meccas in Alabama. The Sterns can't find even one place to list in Phoenix (admittedly not a great restaurant city, although I managed to find a few good spots the last time I was there). "Oh well, Mildred, there's nothin' here, we'll just have to drive a few hundred more miles to LA before we can eat." Based on the authors' selection of restaurants for the area of the country where I live, Seattle, I concluded that the Sterns have no more insight into the identities of good local restaurants than you can find in a typical travel guide. My experience is that most conventional city and regional guidebooks list at least as many worthwhile places as the Sterns and they are usually written by locals who really do know some of good spots. For metro areas I've had good results with the Zagat surveys.
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