lauralue9

For our family, it isn't a driving trip without stopping at a Cracker Barrel. Cracker Barrel may be a Red State type of restaurant and we espouse Blue state morals, but we have a sweet spot in our hearts for them. When our oldest was 18 months old, we visited one in Indiana where she managed to leave behind a much loved Cabbage Patch doll. We were 150 miles away before we realized this. Our daughter woke hysterically crying from her nap. We called the restaurant, they found the doll and FEDERAL EXPRESSED it to our house for absolutely no charge. By the time she woke up the next morning, her beloved baby was waiting for her. May they stay in business forever, that's the kind of customer service you want from a large national chain restaurant!

Jocelyn_P

Clarkgriswold,

Ohhhh, I LOVE First Watch! It blows all these other chains out of the water! I doubt it could be classified as Southern, but the food is fresh and creative with lots of healthy options. Even the standards don't seems to be swimming in grease like at IHOP or Denny's (haven't been to a Cracker Barrel). We go to the one here in Tulsa; I'm not sure what other territory they cover.

Jocelyn_P

found their website for menu and locations:

http://www.firstwatch.com/index.html

razzledazzle

Hey Scarlett,
I was born in AZ too
and I'm certainly an expert on
all things SouthWest

R5

Tandoori_Girl

We have a First Watch in downtown Tampa. I tried it for Sunday breakfast and it was very good. A very diverse menu.

Does anyone like Village Inn? They're not as good as they used to be -- but then what is?

Wallace_and_Gromit

rjw_lgb_ca,

Yes, people are allowed their individual taste, that's why writing:

"The Cracker Barrel, what a hoot! Does anybody actually "eat" in one of those places? Oooops, I do recall one, posting here. Tsk, tsk!"

got the reaction it did!

Kate2

Sorry, Wallace & Grommit, I am missing your point. ( love the screen name btw )

ElendilPickle

I haven't cared for Village Inn since I had banana crepes there once. The bananas were underripe and had been cut up on a cutting board which had also been used for raw onions.

I like Cracker Barrel, though we don't go there very often. Now that I know they carry Valomilks and Peanut Chews, I need to pay the general store a visit - but only a short visit or else I'll gain back the 30 lbs. I've lost!

Going to Bob's Big Boy was always fun when I was a kid. We'd drive to Fresno from our little town in the mountains to grocery shop every two weeks, and would oftne have dinner there. I used to love their fresh strawberry pie.

After I got married, dh and I used to go to the Bob's on Manchester in Playa del Rey for hot fudge cake. Ah, memories...

Lee Ann

girlonthego

I can't believe no one has mentioned the famous White Castle burgers!!! The two day hangover. We used to eat those at 3 in the morning (a long, long, time ago) Now, I don't think I have stayed up that late in years!!!I don't believe my stomach could actually take the abuse of a white castle burger anymore.
Actually we love the cracker barrel. We hated always stopping at Mc Donalds on road trips and decided one day to eat at a cracker barrel. The kids loved the chicken and dumplings and now that is our road trip restaurant!!!

Cali

We love breakfast at Key's in Mpls. and St. Paul when we are there. The caramel rolls are to die for and then you have the breakfast - YUM!! Also enjoyed Al Breakfast when I was a student at the U Of MN - many, many years ago. Will have to try Cracker Barrel as there is one I go by out here in So. CA.

BTilke

I am not a Cracker Barrel fan (and happily admit to NOT being a Southerner either, I am PA Dutch born and bred), but my mom likes their meat loaf. So if she's happy there, then I'm happy too.
However, whenever I'm visiting her in Florida, we MUST include a stop at the Oakwood ribs joint in Leesburg. Not the "fancy" one up by The Villages, it has to be the low rent strip mall version in Leesburg. GREAT baby back ribs.
When back in the Lehigh Valley, another MUST is the Allentown Farmer's Market (all the great food you get at the Lancaster farmer's market but none of the tourists) for some homemade Moravian cake and glazed doughnuts and also some Pennsylvania Dutch carapaccio (aka, dried beef).

bamakelly

FIRST WATCH!! The very best, hands down. In Fort Myers you have to stand in line for over an hour on the weekends to eat at either one (there are 2 in town). Excellent food, breakfast and lunch. They actually print on the menu that they'll substitute or make your order your way. So friendly, too...I used to meet my friend there each weekday morning and the waitress would litereally scoop up my child in her arms and wait tables holding him if they weren't busy! (I am sure this greatly annoyed other customers, but she insisted.)

I'm as Southern as can be: born and raised in Alabama. I hate Cracker Barrel's "Southern cooking" -- their biscuits are good but their veggies are not the typical Southern style that the met-and-threes serve. I ususally only eat breakfast there, no matter the time of day.

gmoney

Wallace and Gromit, Excellent retort. I just get so PO'd at all the food snobs on this board who like to look down their noses at all us common folk. As for CB what I like is that it is one of the few places that offer real butter, real maple syrup, etc. Also I love their real country ham ( if you have ever had real country ham you know what I mean), and turnip greens. And as I said the breakfast is hard to beat.

GoTravel

How to make biscuits:

2 cups flour
1 tspn salt
lard

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Dump flour and salt into bowl. Add enough lard to make a dry dough. Knead dough on flour covered counter as little as possible. Cut biscuits with a glass. Brush tops with melted butter and bake for 12 minutes or until golden brown.

snowrooster

I believe you'll find First Watch in FL and OH (for some reason I think the fellow may have started them in OH but spends time in FL so branched out there). We have one about a mile from our house - I'm thinking breakfast Sunday?

The quality of CB can differ from restaurant to restaurnat (and I imagine from day to day as well). Sometimes the pinto beans have a thick gravy w/bits of ham, other times they are plain and dry. Luckily it is usually the former. When I was pg I would eat their pancakes w/fried apples and whipped cream . . . FOR LUNCH!!

Meesthare

I've never been to Cracker Barrel (clearly this is not a Canadian phenomenon) but some years ago I went with a friend of mine to visit his family in Georgia and Florida. He had grown up in Jacksonville and went to university in North Carolina, and was deeply nostalgic for Krystals hamburgers. He was rhapsodic about tasting them again after many years. When we arrived at his sister's house in Atlanta she stepped out for a few minutes and returned with a large takeout order from Krystals. They were pretty good, I must admit.
We drove down to Jacksonville and at one point did a day trip to St. Augustine. Of course we had to stop at Krystals for lunch. I figured my friend needed to get this out of his system before we returned to Toronto, so I ordered their largest meal - I think there were 2 dozen of them, maybe even more, in a big box. (For the uninitiated - Krystals are little bitty things.) He wasn't able to scarf down all of them, so the leftovers ended up sitting in the car on a VERY hot day while we wandered around St. Augustine and eventually drove back to Jax.
We dropped his mom back at her house in Jax and I noticed my friend taking the leftovers into the house. "Isn't that nice of him to clean up the car and throw the stuff away," I thought. But - not at all. He took the (by now probably poisonous) leftovers and warmed them in his mother's microwave and proceeded to finish them off.
We left for Toronto the next day, and the Krystals practically finished HIM off. Talk about getting them out of his system - there wasn't much of his system left by the time I got him back to his house. You know what? He still remembers Krystals with great fondness. Nostalgia seems to have outweighed ptomaine. amp;

Subway_Scoundrel

OK I will add (of which some are mentioned above) Some are regional to NC----- BoJangles !! Any Cafeteria !! Smithfield's BBQ Wafflehouse (I love it) !! Denny's is OK.... Tony Roma's ( I spent a lot of time in China and there was one in Shanghai and ate there every weekend. A needed change after raw snails, cold chicken, shark fin soup and jellyfish all week. And call me crazy---Jack In The BoX. We don't have JITB in NC (or even the south that I know of) and I love their breakfast for fast food, although you could not eat it everyday. I also thought that opening a Bojangles in Shanghai would be a great idea, since chicken places go over well there. Think they would go for a Sausage, Egg and Cheese Biscuit with a side of dirty rice ???

Fodorite018

OMG Meetshare! That reminds me of a funny incident at Krystals my one and only time there many years ago. We were living in Orlando and a group of us went there after a night out, and a few of our dh's had had quite a bit to drink. They were somewhat composed...when in walked a very large lady with the biggest beehive hairdo that you have EVER seen! I swear this thing had to be at least 2 1/2 feet tall! There was one of those ren-a-cops in there that night too. Anyway...our dh's thought that hair was the funniest thing and being quite inebriated they started giggling and making comments...not very quietly either. All of us wives were trying to hush our dh's, but it just was not possible. The rent-a-cop was looking very, very annoyed and we knew we were on limited time with him. Somehow we finally got the dh's out of there (never did get our food BTW) and the only sober person was the driver, and wouldn't you know it...he backed into her car as we were leaving. Ahhh...memories, lol!

sunbabe

Does anyone like Baker's Square? Their coconut cream pie is a good friend of mine. Can't resist it. I also like their chicken primavera.

bennnie

I'm with Gail - I don't "get" Cracker Barrel. I was on a business trip in Dayton when I ate there for the first time. Tried the chicken and dumplings for the first time ever too. I can only assume that they served a poor version of this meal. It was inedible.

We stopped there this summer for breakfast while on a roadtrip down to DC. The kids loved the store, the service was slow and the pancakes were okay. There's one in northern Mass but we're not in a hurry to get back there.

We are big breakfast fans and have looked high and low for a good local place. The best we've found is the Hollow Cafe in Amesbury Mass. Always clean, reasonably priced, fresh food, good service.