Worth-the-Stop Restaurants: The Road-Trip Food Finds of 2025
Farm Club | Mike Gilger
For Wildsam's inaugural Road Trip Awards we asked a panel of seven expert judges for the places that will make your next voyage through America unforgettable. Here, we explore Worth-the-Stop Restaurants: the hyper-local spots with hometown love and crazy-good food. Bonus points for creaky floors and family recipes.
The Lost Kitchen
“You cross a footbridge, bathed in the sound of rushing water, and enter a hidden door of a historic grist mill. Vases of fresh-picked flowers flaunt their wildness. You see rough-hewn beams, shelves of glimmering stemware, objects that evoke memories and spark surprise. You sense the palpable strength and warmth of the staff, mostly women. You’re served flavors you can understand but not create, all suffused with very human gratitude and the feeling of being in the presence of people who do something for the pure love of it. It’s all rendered in warm, high-contrast Technicolor, simultaneously celebrating and defying its rural location in Freedom, Maine. You can’t believe it’s there while also knowing, deeply, it couldn’t exist anywhere else. Freedom, indeed.”
—Eric Kerns, cofounder, Tourists
Farm Club
Chic but warm with the glow of natural light, this restaurant holds none of the stodgy, gimmicky trappings of the “farm-to-table” trend. Rather, this is the real deal: co-owned by farmers and sitting on the rural outskirts of Traverse City. These folks mill their own grain for breads, and every plate—heirloom beans to roasted squash and goat cheese on toast—offers an energy of the earth.
Suarez Family Brewery
Ales, unfiltered lagers and “crispy little beers,” says owner/brewmaster Dan Suarez. “We’ll ask, ‘Where do you want to be when you drink this?’”
El Modelo
Trust comes with time, and this place has been turning out tortillas since 1929. It began as a three-room home and continues to draw diners for dishes like enchiladas, sopapillas and beloved tamales.
Helen
A homey space nestled into downtown Birmingham. Thoughtfully prepared, contemporary Southern puts place on the plate. Start with a smear of cane syrup butter on warm angel biscuit.
Island Creek Oysters
“Coastal living done right,” says Eric Kerns. See tidal flats and shucking stations before settling in with a briny tray of oysters by the bay. “Their full restaurant, the Winsor House, has the rum list of your pirate dreams.”
Hjem A.M.
A bright start in a Black Hills town in the shadow of Rushmore. Breakfast sister to Beard-nominated Skogen Kitchen bedecks deviled eggs with smoked salmon, stacks of pancakes with fried chicken.
Cold Spring Tavern
This place has it—the ramshackle charm evoked by the word “roadhouse.” In the same family for decades, they just do their thing: tri-tip sandwiches, live music, cold beer.
The Road Trips Awards
We scoured the map. We asked our smartest, most well-traveled friends. The results are in.
