Roadtrip sight/food recommendations DFW>Littlerock>Nashville>NC

[Motorcharge]

yeah Smithfield's is from my home territory they'e build 3 within 5 miles of my house in the last 18 months.

Way back in the day the BBQ sandwich 'value pack' {combo} was $6.49, so now -a-days that its priced over $10 is just doesn't quite hit the same anymore.

Yeah I'm dumb and didn't see your location.

And fair enough, though that's sadly the case with like everything anymore.

 

[sheriff]

Knoxville, TN checking in. Decent food and beer available around the area. Downtown I would recommend Stock and Barrel (fancy burgers and bourbon) and Xul Beer Company (they have a food truck onsite). Ye Old Steakhouse and Litton's are also great local choices for food. Keeping with the trend, Sweet Pea's BBQ, Love That BBQ, and The Humble Hog are excellent. I would avoid Calhoun's for BBQ. It's good and consistent across their locations but there is better BBQ.


Up towards Bristol, The White Duck Taco Shop in Johnson City is good.

 

[WTF?]

Knoxville, TN checking in. Decent food and beer available around the area. Downtown I would recommend Stock and Barrel (fancy burgers and bourbon) and Xul Beer Company (they have a food truck onsite). Ye Old Steakhouse and Litton's are also great local choices for food. Keeping with the trend, Sweet Pea's BBQ, Love That BBQ, and The Humble Hog are excellent. I would avoid Calhoun's for BBQ. It's good and consistent across their locations but there is better BBQ.


Up towards Bristol, The White Duck Taco Shop in Johnson City is good.

Knoxville is another penciled-in overnight stop. It's been 20+ yrs since I was last there; are there any areas to avoid booking a room in?

 

[WTF?]

Memphis has some awesome eats. I usually point people to Elwood’s Shack on Summer ave. It’s not far off of your route and everything on the menu

There are also some highly regarded barbecue and chicken places, and some stuff downtown that is more atmosphere driven and still good.

Which BBQ spots are 1) open on Sunday and 2) good but less crowded & minimally touristy?

 

[Lee]

Central BBQ is tops in Memphis, everyone wants to go to Rendezvous thanks to Hollywood, it's good if you like dry rub, but Central is better.

Peabody's full menu is available at the bar if you don't want to mess with reservations/long waits.


In Little Rock:

Lost 40 Brewing - Decent bar food, good bratwurst, actually decent micro brew beers, Honey Bock is good, Day Drinker is good.

Flyway Brewing - Similar to Lost 40 but in North Little Rock, smaller, decent menu of bar food/heavy hor devours and burgers.

The Root Cafe - Good Americana grub, great breakfast, all locally sourced from AR farms. It is VERY granola and rainbow flag though.

Samantha's Tap Room - Wood fired grill food, Pork Chops are good, quail is awesome, their Asiago cheese grits are my favorite side. Jewel's mom couldn't remember the name Samantha, just Tap Room, when recalling us taking her there, she got frustrated and called it, "some lady's tap room," which has gotten Jewels and I to refer to it as "Some Bitch's Tap Room."

Bruno's Little Italy - next to Samantha's is okay, a lot of folks really like it, It's better than Olive Garden, but I've had better Italian in Arkansas even.

Capeo - North Little Rock, better Italian than Bruno's in my opinion but it's "fine dining" and you'll probably need a reservation on the weekend.

Three Fold - Noodles and Dumplings

Brave New - Probably my favorite restaurant in LR, reservations probably a good idea, nothing on the menu is bad.

Faded Rose - Decent Cajun food, probably some of the best you'll get north of LA - it helps that we share a border with them.

Maddie's Place - Right next to Faded Rose and also decent Cajun grub.

The Fold - Decent, maybe over priced, gourmet tacos.

Aji Ramen Bar - I've not tried all the ramen places, Aji is really good though. If you like spicy ask for the chili paste, they'll bring you a tiny little bit, and it will light your world on fire, use it sparingly.

The Butcher Shop - Steakhouse

Sullivan's Steakhouse - Pricey steaks

Arthur's Steakhouse - Even more pricey steaks

Ocean's - Right next to Arthur's, it's seafood and decent sushi.

Wright's BBQ - A lot of folks claim it's the best in the state, it's good, probably the best brisket, their beans aren't my favorite.

Whole Hog - the OG best BBQ in the state, better pulled pork, beans, and potato salad than Wright's. Wright's probably beats them in ribs and Brisket though.

Eat My Catfish - name is pretty self explaintory

Wasabi - Good sushi and Asian cuisine

Kiyen's Kamikaito - NLR Probably the best sushi in the state, wish he still had his old location, new one is inconvenient for me.

Big Orange - Decent burgers

Potbelly Sandwich Shop - it's a chain out of Chicago but there aren't many in the south, only 2 in AR, both in LR, their "The Wreck" is a dang good sandwich, add bacon and mushrooms.

The Croissanterie - I haven't eaten there yet, but I've heard good things, every thing served on made-in-house croissants, even burgers.

 

[Lee]

Off the top of my head, just a normal neighborhood residential sized lot. Road full of houses and missing one right in the middle.

AR - Property for sale little rock

Residential lot for trade in Arkansas 2217 South Martin st little rock Arkansas Priced at $1,000,000 or trade for?

irate4x4.com

I'm no real estate mogul, Zillow "comps" seem to range between $4-20K. I'd say $20K is pretty optimistic.

 

[2big bronco]

I'm no real estate mogul, Zillow "comps" seem to range between $4-20K. I'd say $20K is pretty optimistic.

Well if you happen to hear of anyone that would want it for 5k and do all of the leg work/paperwork minus my signature, send them my way.

 

[Lee]

Observations from my trip last week to/from NC to Bentonville: LR to Memphis...dead land. Very little there. Kinda the same between Memphis and Nashville. WNC mountains are bit unusual with I-40 and I-26 both down. Let WAZE/Google tell you the way (or go I-81 to I-77 to I-74). Research that part for your best options.

Jewel's mom's side of the family is all in Memphis and the surrounding area. I've got research Farms all over the Mississippi Delta, eastern part of the state. I know that stretch of I40 well, it is miserable.

Jewel's uncle drove for FedEx for years and eventually retired from driving for PAM. He always claimed that I-40 between Little Rock and Memphis was the densest 18-wheeler traffic in the country. I believe him.

 

[vetteboy79]

You'll pass through Crossville TN before Knoxville...there's a Buc-ee's there (although you'll probably see plenty in TX), and a buddy of mine owns two excellent restaurants that are right next to each other (Beef & Barrel and Dublin's Crossing). Not a bad little area to stop over if you don't wanna go all the way to Knoxville.

*if you go to either of those restaurants, ask for Joe Wyatt and tell him Chris from the Woodshed sent ya

 

[RedX]

Jewel's mom's side of the family is all in Memphis and the surrounding area. I've got research Farms all over the Mississippi Delta, eastern part of the state. I know that stretch of I40 well, it is miserable.

Jewel's uncle drove for FedEx for years and eventually retired from driving for PAM. He always claimed that I-40 between Little Rock and Memphis was the densest 18-wheeler traffic in the country. I believe him.

Yeah, I was impressed by the amount of 18 wheeler rigs from LR to Memphis (both ways).

 

[WTF?]

Try an In n out Burger and a Whataburger so you can argue it with us. Dallas Fort Worth has both.

Knocked out This side quest on the way out of DFW. WAB was a solid meh, and I’d go Back to in & out if it wasn’t next to a Freddy’s or something else better, but it was at least better than just ok.

Whataburger was like the inspiration for the good burger skits- they had exactly 4 customers at prime lunch hour and took an alarmingly long time to deliver our lukewarm mediocre food:

InNout being the most eastward location on the map was absurdly busy with every basic suburban housewife and her kids wanting to sample 'animal style' fries they saw on the tok-tik, and their service and efficiency rivaled the chic-fil-a's ability to handle a drive thru line wrapped around the building and standing room only in the dining area.

Apparently its not just a suburb novelty thing- i had no clue because there isn't one within 1000 miles of me.

 

[OutlawRider]

You could stop in and see if Action Fag is still alive.

He is.

I between Little Rock and Memphis in Jonesboro. Let me know if you need anything.

 

[DRTDEVL]

Knoxville, TN checking in. Decent food and beer available around the area. Downtown I would recommend Stock and Barrel (fancy burgers and bourbon) and Xul Beer Company (they have a food truck onsite). Ye Old Steakhouse and Litton's are also great local choices for food. Keeping with the trend, Sweet Pea's BBQ, Love That BBQ, and The Humble Hog are excellent. I would avoid Calhoun's for BBQ. It's good and consistent across their locations but there is better BBQ.


Up towards Bristol, The White Duck Taco Shop in Johnson City is good.

No Petro's?

 

[WTF?]

Thanks for the recommendation Lee ; ‘some bitches’ taproom was a great spot with some excellent food and beverage.

 

[Lee]

Did you get the grits?

 

[DirtRoads]

Thanks for the recommendation Lee ‘some bitches’ taproom was a great spot with some excellent food and beverage.

Been out of town and just saw that you were looking for info, my bad. Hope you had a good trip

 

[Filthy McChevy]

Knocked out This side quest on the way out of DFW. WAB was a solid meh, and I’d go Back to in & out if it wasn’t next to a Freddy’s or something else better, but it was at least better than just ok.

Alright! Whataburger had dropped the Dr. Pepper shake last time I tried to get one too so In n out is my drive thru burger of choice.

 

[WTF?]

Did you get the grits?

No but I did get the quail.

 

[WTF?]

Been out of town and just saw that you were looking for info, my bad. Hope you had a good trip

No worries, we arrived at central bbq’s downtown location right at opening and rode around downtown for a few minutes afterwards before rolling onward.

Stopped just outside of Knoxville for tonight.

 

[WTF?]

He always claimed that I-40 between Little Rock and Memphis was the densest 18-wheeler traffic in the country. I believe him.

I’d believe that, we thought maybe we would get a reprieve from it being Sunday morning, but we quickly jumped off the interstate to take route 70 outside of the urban sprawl of the major metros which runs parallel to it and was empty and didn’t cost much additional time at all.

 

[Lee]

I’d believe that, we thought maybe we would get a reprieve from it being Sunday morning, but we quickly jumped off the interstate to take route 70 outside of the urban sprawl of the major metros which runs parallel to it and was empty and didn’t cost much additional time at all.

You timed it right, harvest is pretty well over for the year or 70 would have been covered in 80 MPH grain trucks and 10 MPH combines.

It's been resurfaced recently, stretch between Biscoe and Brinkley used to be a roller coaster of worn out asphalt from all the grain trucks. No shoulder and a 20' drop into swamp on both sides.

Did you do anything for breakfast in AR?

I should have mentioned it, pork rinds at Central BBQ are awesome.

 

[WTF?]

Did you do anything for breakfast in AR?

Non-chain restaurants open before 9 on Sunday morning were slim pickings and the blackout curtains in the hotel caused us to accidentally sleep in so we weren’t playing with an over abundance of time anyhow feeling like we were a bit behind schedule- we stumbled on starhouse donuts which was outstanding - punched way above its weight for a quick stop in used tire shop blvd district on the way to 40.

I should have mentioned it, pork rinds at Central BBQ are awesome.

It tried them, they, along with everything else we tried there on a 3 meat sampler with ribs, were good but not great. Ribs were borderline dry; frankly, a slight disappointment for $60.

 

[WTF?]

Rolled back into town just before rush hour this afternoon.

Trip was pretty much completely uneventful- sight unseen purchase of a 35 yr old foxbody convertible that has not seen more that a few hundred miles a year for the last 2 decades (carfax shows 9k miles added to the odometer since 03) and we put more miles on it this weekend tha it’s seen since 2020. It consumed only gasoline over the 1400 mile trek wearing an expired tx plate from the seller.

The most excitement was that I actually got pulled over in my dd commuter on the way home from my brothers’s house,(apparently the sensation of speed is different when readjusting to the lack of top down wind buffeting or top up whistling/ sitting inside a canvas drum resonance)- but I was able to talk the SHP officer into releasing me swiftly with just a warning.

Final reflections:
*We certainly didn't have as much time to spare as I had initially anticipated trying to average, ~500mi/day after meal and gas stops and seeking out moderately priced lodging where we were reasonable certain that both us and the car would survive the night unharmed (~$100+/- per night sure doesn't go very far anymore in these bidenomic times). Any more than minor mechanical issues certainly would have strained the timeline quite a bit.

*The relatively minimal additional time allocated to escaping the soulcrushing boredom/monotony and strain of dodging semi truck traffic was well worth it.

There's really not much more that we wished we had more time to check out along the route. I now understand why there weren't more suggestions of things to check out along the way, because there's apparently just not a whole lot there. But I certainly am appreciative of the input you guys were able to provide!