Taking The Ultimate American Road Trip? Here's Where You Have To Eat

A trip to Acadia National Park, encompassing much of Maine's Mount Desert Island, is as much about fresh, local seafood and wild Maine blueberries as it is hiking Cadillac Mountain. Take a midday lobster stew break at Jordan Pond House, the only restaurant in the park, which has been serving afternoon tea and popovers since the 1890s. Or head into the picturesque, romantic town of Bar Harbor, where the food never disappoints. Enjoy breakfast of blueberry pancakes or lobster eggs benedict at Café This Way, and later, grab an outdoor seat with a waterfront view for dinner at Stewman's Lobster Pound, where you'll find all the traditional ingredients — lobster, steamers, mussels, clam chowder, and blueberry pie, the official state dessert of Maine. Not to be confused with the official state treat, the whoopie pie. 

You may not be familiar with Detroit-style pizza, but if you're making the Fox Theater stop, that's what's to eat. Similar to Sicilian-style, this square pizza has a thick deep-dish crust, but is served with the marinara sauce across the top of the cheese. Detroit-style pizza's square shape and crunchy-yet-still-chewy crust comes from being twice-baked in a butter- or oil-brushed steel pan. The pans used to bake the first Detroit-style pizzas were often not pizza pans, but small industrial parts trays from auto plants. Stop into Buddy's, where it supposedly all started, for a cheese pizza — even New York and Chicago natives won't be disappointed. 

Make your reservations well in advance for Phantom Ranch Canteen. If you're sure you can make it, that is. An oasis situated on the floor of the Grand Canyon, the sole food stop below the canyon rim, it can only be reached on foot, by mule, or by rafting the Colorado River. Well worth it for their all-you-can-eat, family-style Hiker's Stew dinner — and you'll want to share, considering six onions and a carafe of Burgundy go into it — between trekking the inner gorge. But don't forget: you hiked in, so you'll have to hike back out. 

When you visit Mount Rushmore to behold the faces of four U.S. presidents carved into over 1,200 acres of granite, it's only fitting that you stop by Memorial Ice Cream for a "Monumental Scoop." Aside from his presidency and authoring the Declaration of Independence, Thomas Jefferson is credited with bringing the first written recipe for ice cream to the U.S. — and Memorial serves vanilla based off of TJ's original recipe from 1780. 

Hopefully, you've got a few days to spend in NYC when you're visiting the Statue of Liberty. Even still, you won't make a dent in the tens of thousands of restaurants, delis, and food trucks that make up New York City's dining scene. Check out our NYC Restaurant Guide to find the best restaurants (six of the top 10 Best Restaurants in America are in New York, including Del Posto, also voted the best Italian restaurant in America). But here's the quick roundup of traditional New York fare all visitors must try: Start your morning with coffee from Everyman Espresso and a bagel. Lunch is a mile-high corned beef sandwich at Katz's. Head uptown in the evening — put your name on the hour-plus wait list at Serendipity 3, go across the street to Patsy's for pizza, then come back and, if you're lucky, your name will be up, so you can squeeze in for a frozen hot chocolate or $15 ice cream sundae.

Get the ultimate cowboy experience at Yellowstone National Park's Old West Dinner Cookout. After riding to Yancy's Hole on a horse or in a covered wagon, you'll find coffee brewing over the campfire. When the dinner bell rings, line up for steaks, potato salad, cornbread, and their signature Roosevelt baked beans, all the while listening to Western songs sung by their resident cowboy.