When is It Alright to Stop at a Restaurant Chain While on the Road?

If you're really, really hungry. Or if it's 10 PM and nothing else is around. But especially if you can't eat at that place around home or you've never seen the place before (which means it is not around your area).

When we're on the road, it's mom and pop joints for us, or any place featuring regional cuisine. Quite often we will have a meal in a place that has NTN/Buzztime. We always stop at new NTN sites while traveling and have been to almost 600 places across this country from Hawaii, California, Texas, New York, North Carolina, and Florida, but that is another story.

The July 5th Chicago Tribune ran an article titled, "Would you like some nostalgia with that?" by Kevin Pang. Most of the article was taken up talking about the Brown family of West Chicago who drove 75 miles to Racine, WI, to get Chick-fil-A sandwiches. They were living in Virginia when they got hooked on them, often eating at Chic-fil-A two to three times a week.

It went on to discuss that, as children, your brain translates anything that is high caloric as delicious. Plus, food leaves indelible imprints on your brain that will stay with you throughout your life. That cream pie that Aunt Mary made, Uncle Buck's steaks. Those will take you right back.

When Krispy Kreme finally got to the Chicago area in 2000, this was the "Big Thing". Lines formed of people who had fallen under its spell while visiting other parts of the country. Two years later, when one opened in the Loop (Chicago's downtown), "college-age students camped out literally- with lawn chairs, portable TVs and grills."

Eatin' on the Road, Ah, There's the Rub. --RoadDog