Best/Worst Dining Experiences on the Trail

[neo]

i have always liked the rivers end at noc,dont recall any bad dining experience in trail towns neo

[grrickar]

Best was a bacon cheesebruger at the Peppercorn Restaurant in the Fontana Village. Worst? I guess that was a alfredo noodle dish I made that I added too much water to. The stove was misbehaving, so I ended up eating cold crunchy noodles and bland white sauce as thin as milk. Still wasn't bad... I guess when you are hungry, most anything will do.

[neo]

my woarst dining experience was on the north south trail at land between the lakes march 2001,i was out of food nothing to eat last 7 miles,hungry like a wolf neo

[SGT Rock]

One of the worst would have to be MREs, bad idea. The best (no this isn't sucking up) was the breakfast I had at Miss Janet's place. Well, that and dinner at Kincora - nothing beats home cooking. I know Jack did the dinner at Kincora.

[Jack Tarlin]

Rock:

Thanks for the kind words. I recently checked many years of journals and made the extraordinary discovery that something like 1,000 thru-hikers, at one time or another, have eaten some Baltimore Jack lasagna, mostly at Kincora, Miss Janet's, or at one of the Dartmouth dorms (The lasagna-fests at the old Tabard dorm at Dartmouth went on for seven years in a row!)

That's a LOT of pasta.

Good news is that to date, I have received no reports of fatalities.

As for me, my best Trail meals were:

*Breakfast at either Miss Janet's or Keith Shaw's in Monson
*Lunch at the great Chinese Buffet in Waynesboro next to the Kroger's
*Dinner at the Homeplace in Catawba

Best meal while actually on the Trail would either be at one of the many Brown Fork Gap Rat Patrol fests, where folks like Rat, Wolf, Ox, and their friends cooked up some amazing ribeyes with all the extras; or at any of the Billville feeds put on by Jester, Bag 'O Trix and their friends.

Most memorable Trail meal might have been the time Trix showed up at the Eckville shelter with two cases of beer and thirty-seven Whoppers (!!!); most singularly unusual meal might've been the blackened cajun chipmunk that I was served one year at Piazza Gap shelter in Maine (and yeah, it tasted like chicken if you're interested); this was also the place I hiked into one year with two live lobsters, which made for a hell of an entrance and a pretty special dinner, tho in retrospect, I don't advise trying to cook lobster in a one-quart pot; it is awkward for the chef and not particularly pleasant for the lobster.

Worst Trail meal I had was probably the entire barbequed chicken and two liters of Hawaiian Punch I consumed just before discovering the dead guy at the Doyle back in '99. I'll spare you the details but I've avoided Hawaiian Punch ever since.

[Pooja Blue]

Hanover, NH: AYCE Indian buffet at the Jewel of India. Marvelous!

[yogi clyde]

Best: Breakfast at Miss Janet's - stayed an extra day


Worst: Dahlonaga GA - some bar that served Italian food - my first lesson on the the trail, do not eat Italian food in the South.

[Grimace]

Best: Spring House in Dahlonega (sp) after our SOBO hike.

Worst: Slippery Pot Pie is some crappy Diner in Blue Mtn PA near PenMar.

[Mother Nature]

Absolutely best..The Homeplace in Catawba. The worst would be arriving early in the week and missing this place! The atmosphere and food are like arriving at Grandma's house at Christmas.

I'll second the Erwin Burrito with their two-fisted homemade burritos!

Mother Nature

[minnesotasmith]

"Worst: Dahlonaga GA - some bar that served Italian food - my first lesson on the the trail, do not eat Italian food in the South."

You just have to know where to go. There's a pretty fair Italian place in Cumming on the main highway there, and numerous ones in Atlanta proper.

[MOWGLI]

[i]
You just have to know where to go. There's a pretty fair Italian place in Cumming on the main highway there, and numerous ones in Atlanta proper.

Pretty fair doesn't cut it when you're from New York. Especially if you've spent any time in Little Italy.

I will say I had some surprisingly good Italian food in Birmingham, AL this summer. The place looked pretty shabby from the exterior, but inside, it was all good.

I believe this was the joint;

Formaggio's Italian Bistro
1713 10th Avenue South, Birmingham, AL 35205

[minnesotasmith]

In Jasper, Alabama, about 30 miles WNW of B'ham, there was as of about 10 years ago a nondescript chain-looking place called Momma Mia's (trite name, yes). Oh, the pizza there...

Oh, and as far as being from NY, if you're from NYC, you may have access to culture and food, but the standards of what you have to put up with in almost everything else... yecch.

[MOWGLI]

Oh, and as far as being from NY, if you're from NYC, you may have access to culture and food, but the standards of what you have to put up with in almost everything else... yecch.

MS, do you have any idea what you are typing about? Or is this just one more thing that that you read on the internet or that you learned fourth hand? (please spare me the details - those were rhetorical questions)

New Yorker's don't actually "put up" with a whole lot. Most of 'em certainly wouldn't "put up" with your sorry act. That is for certain.

Personally, I think I'd rather spend a night in a NYC crack house than in a shelter having to listen to your nonsense.

[MOWGLI]

Stand by for more social commentary from our resident social moron.

Back to food, I wish I'd known about the Indian Food joint in Hanover when I passed by there in December '03. The pizza I ate there was marginal at best.

What's the name of the joint on the corner in Andover, ME - near the Andover Guerst House? I believe the building was red. They had some really good breakfasts there as I recall.

[Lone Wolf]

"Addie's Place"

[ffstenger]

The best; Mountain Blackberry sunday at the Big Meadows wayside, SNP
I'm lookin' forward to some of the places mentioned above on my next
hike ! Should I plan my next section based on going to a good place to
eat??? Oh yea, say on more.......mmmmm Showme

[MOWGLI]

"Addie's Place"

Yup, that place was pretty good. In fact, I ate there, went back to Pegleg's place, tossed my cookies (I had a stomach bug), and went back and ate at Addies again the next morning! That could only happen on the trail!!

[superman]

Homeplace was the best. There were a bunch of us and they let us camp on the side lawn. When they cleaned up at night they brought out all the leftovers. I hiked out the next morning with a big bag of chicken. We stop in there ever time we go to Trail Days or Florida.

That diner in Andover, ME was the worst. They turned the burner on to cook my frozen burger and turned the burner off when it was half cooked. The burger was the nastiest I've ever eaten….it had that old, cold grease thing going. The next morning I went across the street to the general store and got a foot long sub sandwich for the trail. When I opened it I couldn't believe how small the one piece of meat was.


The worst trail meals are most any meal that I make. When I hike with Pat from Maine (GA>ME 2000) she cooks and I fiddle with the tent.

[papa john]

Best breakfast EVER was at the BB Patch!

PJ

[Seraphim]

[QUOTE=rocket04]Best:
The one pound burger at White House Landing. I'd just dreamed of it for so long it made it the best.

Yep, that was a DAMN good burger. I even broke my promise of not going to WHL because I wanted that burger so bad. Hiked that ".5" in practically running because lunch is over at 1. So I get there at 12:57, a few of my group were sitting eating their cookies they had just purchased, talking about the food they just ate, and how I can't get any because it's too late! So I blow the horn and they leave, dude came and dropped me on their front porch, where I proceeded to sit for THREE hours until "dinner". It was cold, other hikers came, and eventually, there were seven others there! Gordy started up her stove on the bench, she was starving- we ALL were! They finally let us in, on time of course, we all ordered fast, it came slow. But I savoured every bite, washed it down with an ice cold Bud, and got kicked the **** out shortly after! We weren't paying customers, therefore, we were treated like hiker TRASH. It was the best burger, for all the trouble, for the fact that I was dreaming about it (and I still am)- but it was almost $10 with everything, and the owners probably spit on it! So should I consider that the best or the worst- or both?!

The chinese restaurant in Buena Vista. I don't remember what it was called, but it was fine cuisine. A bit pricey for hikers, but if you're a foodie, you'll love it. The Diner in DWG has great Greek food (moousaka is superb), and the place next to it has the best pies and donuts EVER!

And The Homeplace goes without saying... that was one of the worst days I had on the trail-- my mind wasn't in the right place and I was miserable, Dragon's Tooth didn't even cheer me up... But when I got into town and into those mash'taters, nothin but grins full of slop were coming from me, as I reached for another hunk of meat and more gravy. I remember that night fondly, because eating food like Mama's, drinking sweet tea like Mammy's, and AYCE family-style with some of my favourite hikers was like heaven after a day in hell.

Waynesboro: when you go to Pizza Hut, tell them I said hello! Maybe they'll hook you up! The Chinese place there was good too, and so was the Italian restaurant next to it. And if you feel like hitching, there's a AYCE Shoney's on the other side of town. Country Cookin in Daleville was also great AYCE.
Salisbury- home of Bev's, best ice cream shop on the trail. If you're lucky, the cute boy will give you free ice cream. Rutland, the Twelve Tribes place has healthy, scrumptiously fresh food and nice atmosphere... Addie's Place... The Red Onion in Rangeley is good, and so are the people.

The White Wolf in Stratton: Wolfburger and a Shipyard. Get it. And then get another one.

Bad? Sportsbar in Pearisburg. Falls Village, CT only has a hotel with high priced sandwiches and fancy crap and Cokes for $2 with NO refills! VT: Manchester Center's Pizza House's "best Pizza" isn't special- go to Little Rooster Cafe- good bkfst, drinks and prices! And in Bennington, the Apple Barn is worth the trip for some pie and fun.

But my all-time favourite is Tom's house in Dalton MA. A few nights on his porch and I ate like a queen. Ice cream sundaes and pasta, fresh veggies and soft bread with BUTTER... Trail magic is better than any restaurant. OH, how I love the trail.