Country Kitchen & Perkins (both for breakfast).

LOL, this thread is simply a large hoot ... and while it's debateable whether Fodors is a travel board, one thing is now abundantly clear: it is not a food board ... that would require a rather different audience of commenters.

Suffice it to say: if anyone were to create a yucky fast food board, this thread would constitute a good start. Gosh, I'm green simply from reading!

On the issue of southerness: why don't we just agree that if someone wishes to associate themself with the south, perhaps as a means of legitimacy of roots, well, why not!!! Happy to have them aboard. Now, if someone were from NYC or points north, we'd need to reconsider. But NJ and points south, sure. WELCOME ya'all. I think all here pass the southern test. Have a good day all.

gmoney: Just because someone doesn't like Cracker Barrel doesn't make them a "food snob". Crying "I'm being oppressed by your élite attitude, you latte-sipper!!" just because people have differences of opinion with you is immature. I repeat: If you're well-traveled, you develop a taste for better things. And they don't have to be expensive or unavailable to the "jes' common folk". Case in point: In 'n' Out Burgers. Or Rubio's Mexican Grill. Or Baja Fresh. Or the outstanding breakfasts I always get at the Fish Tale in Los Altos.

I have a soft spot in my heart for Picadilly Cafeterias in southern Louisiana-- my late father would take us there for Sunday brunch. In no way would I consider these "good eating" other than by quantity of food. But I still make sure I have fried okra at a Picadilly whenever I'm in the area. Can't help it. I have that same nostalgia for Ralph and Kacoo's hush puppies. And again, not a great place to eat by any means. Is it my fault I got spoiled by the good stuff my mom made, or that I was corrupted by excellent meals at Alex Patout's long-gone LA Creole eatery? (Miss that place!!) I love Popeye's Fried Chicken too.

Spare me the victimhood-- I don't buy it. Eat happily at Cracker Barrel, but stop calling me a "food snob" just because I dislike the place's food offerings. I'll throw a Rubio's Fish Taco at you!!

Can't we get along and agree to disagree-- amicably...?

The best breakfast ever is in the bay area of San Francisco called Hobee's. I always ordered the BDBIT (Best darn breakfast in town). How I long for that coffee cake!! Anybody else go there?

rjw_lgb_ca - I never have nor will label anyone a "food snob" for not liking a certain food or establishment. What I do not like are people who berate others FOR liking said establishments, which you and Smiling Still seem to delight in. If you do not like a certain food or restaurant, fine, but why must you poke fun of people who do? Just because you prefer chilled bat brains with a nice merlot sauce, or whatever over chicken fried steak does not a better person make.

Charlestonians don't consider anyone a true Charlestonian unless their family has been there at least five generations.

Not kidding. The St. Celia's Ball is the oldest debutant ball in the US and you can't get in unless a relative came out there.

Can you say soon to be in the fodors, my feelings got hurt, deleted scrap pile? Boo hoo. And now the ditty o'the day:
Get over it
Get over it
All this whinin? and cryin? and pitchin? a fit
Get over it, get over it

Get over it
Get over it
All this bitchin? and moanin? and pitchin? a fit
Get over it, get over it

Get over it
Get over it
It's gotta stop sometime, so why don't you quit
Get over it, get over it

I'm surprised no one has commented on a great American institution: the "cafeteria" style places. I am from Houston and really love going back there and eating at Luby's cafeteria. The assortment is great- fruits, salads, meat, seafood, and pasta entrees, sides, all kinds of veggies, desserts, and the ever-present huge iced teas. Best of all, you can eat as healthy or a sinful as you want on any given day. And with the variety, you can eat there a few times a week and never have the same thing twice. Great for vegetarians or meat-eaters, kids love picking out their own food in the line, and seniors can get an inexpensive balanced meal. I really miss cafeterias since moving to the D.C. area. There used to be one cafeteria in downtown D.C. but it closed, and it wasn't nearly as good as Luby's. I think Furr's was another cafeteria chain.

Oh, I see rjw commented on a cafeteria also. I'm not the only one. I agree- fried okra is particularly good cafeteria food.

It's a tossup as to which is the worse experience: eating at Cracker Barrel or watching Regis and Kelly.

I disagree that being well traveled means you develop a taste for "better things." I think being well-traveled is about being able to appreciate MORE things, experiencing diversity. What makes something "better" is in the palate of the beholder. Is food from a five star restaurant "better" than good southern bbq? Sure, the chef needed more schoolin' to learn to prepare it, but is it "better?" To me, being well traveled means I can appreciate foie gras just as I can appreciate biscuts and gravy. Someone who can only appreciate foie gras and the like isn't well travled (IMHO), they have been limited to their own comfort zone.

BTW, since the OP asked what are your non-sophisticated favorites, why respond if you are too sophisticated to have non-sophisticated favorites? Tsk, tsk.

Anything is better than most BBQ. I prefer a seasonings rub on my slow-cooked ribs or chicken. That sweet gooey stuff is way too southern for me.

Count me in as a Southerner who isn't crazy about Cracker Barrel. We were there in May and the food was OK, not great, just OK. What I couldn't stomach was the loud hillbilly-style music they were playing. I don't mean Country and Western music, we're talking major hillbilly tunes. I felt like I had just watched a Hee Haw marathon. I bet the phone # of that place was BR-549. UGH!!

What exactly is hillbilly music? Bluegrass? I've kind of grown to like Bluegrass lately. Personally, I've never noticed music being played at Cracker Barrel (except for perhaps holiday tunes in the store). Guess it must be a managers choice kind of thing.

I am a Cracker Barrel expert - not by choice. My in-laws just love it, and that means we end up eating lots of meals there. Honestly, much of the food is pretty good. I prefer the breakfast items. Count me among those who can enjoy a simple meat loaf dish as well as the fanciest gourmet food. With two young kids, Cracker Barrel is actually a good place to go; I just wish the in-laws weren't so stuck on it - they have very limited food tastes - because I thrive on variety. My biggest objection to Cracker Barrel is that it is usually crowded, but the shop is appreciated by the kids and makes the wait easier.

Snowrooster, I have heard of Bluegrass music but I am unfamiliar with it and probably wouldn't recognize it. All I know is that it was too loud and that was mainly what we found so annoying. In any case, I think you are right that it's a manager's choice since I don't recall hearing this at other Cracker Barrels. The manager at that Cracker Barrel must have been very hard of hearing in order to think this volume was OK.

P_M - If you're interested, the soundtrack from O'Brother Where Art Thou is a great example of a mix of Bluegrass (and won the Grammy for Best Album - overall, not just Bluegrss - a few years ago). I don't know the music that well but I like it. It can make you take a deep breath and relax or want to get up and dance depending on the song. Soulful almost.

I've never eaten at Cracker Barrel...I guess they are here but I couldn't tell you where. Statia (or anyone) is their squash casserole that typical southern squash casserole that every Southern Mama makes...yellow squash boiled and smashed, onions, crunched up saltines, a beaten egg, and salt and pepper, bake at 350 blah blah? My VERY southern (southern MS) m-i-l taught me that. She dropped her dumplings in by the spoonful by the way, not rolled. (They also made chittlins from butchering on...my dh still remembers the smell of them cooking. Evidently it's not exactly pleasant.) The fried okra she served, she also grew (and tomatoes, butter beans, purple hulls etc)! That's southern. And in very southern tradition, she brought us small bags of these frozen delicacies at the end of every season when she came to visit.

Bob Evans...had never heard of it before moving here. Saw one in Sarasota and almost "fell out" (how's that for a southern expression). My brother's name is Bob Evans. Wanted to take a picture for him!

My unsophisticated favorites vary according to where I'm living. In New Orleans we loved Popeye's Chicken. I'm tickled to have one here now...and we have it every 4th of July. What's more American than fried chicken after all! (It's the only time of the year its allowed in the house though.)

Growing up in New England it was Friendly's and I'm dismayed to see it on the bottom of the list now. We thought it was great, but then, the name of the best restaurant in the town I grew up in was the Busy Bee! LOL I wonder if the hedge that spells out "FRIENDLY'S" is still by the Mass Pike in Longmeadow?

I'm surprised no one has mentioned HoJos, but am I showing my age? Those orange roofs...I could spot one miles away. Oh their clam rolls...the thought of them can still make my mouth water. Or just a big plate of fried clams. slurp.

Rubios now too rj! We were introduced to their fish tacos in Phoenix. My dh wanted to put them on his lunch menu here.

As for the southern thing, it's a state of mind. Someone can be born and raised in the deep south yet act like the damnedest Yankee I've ever seen!

I'm a friendly's fan too. And yes, the hedge is still there - you can see it when you drive by on 90 to Boston.

Friendly's! When I was a teenager in NH, I applied for a job there and the manager said their motto was "We're friendly, not familiar."