Welcome to the weekend!
American Weekender turns 3 today, and we want to thank all of you for your continued support. We’re thrilled that you’ve welcomed us into your inbox every single Friday since we launched in July 2023, and we’ve loved sharing our favorite places to eat and drink around the country. We really could not do it without our paid subscribers — you make it possible for us to make sure you never have a bad meal on your next trip.
In today’s On the Road newsletter, we’re sharing more of our road trip planning tips. This week, we’re talking about destinations that are about 10 hours away. We’ll get into the reasoning for that number below and share ideas for where that 10-hour radius can take you.
Plus, to celebrate our anniversary, we’ve teamed up with our friends at American Spoon — one of our favorite food companies — for a very fun giveaway! We’ll send a gift box to one lucky paid subscriber that features all of our favorite American Spoon products, including the can’t-miss chili jam, which we use to make a knockout pimento cheese spread.
If that’s not reason enough to upgrade to a paid subscription, we’ve also just published our Field Guide to Brooklyn, New York, which features a three-day itinerary to the city. It includes our picks for where you should go for breakfast, lunch, dinner, and drinks. All our Field Guides are included in a paid subscription, as is our popular Google Map.
Finally, our Weekend Reading list includes a feature that celebrates the people behind the places, a look at a forthcoming hotel brand, and a guide to Shreveport stuffed shrimp.
Thanks for reading!
— Amy Cavanaugh & Kenney Marlatt
Editors, American Weekender
American Weekender is a weekly travel newsletter that covers the best places to eat and drink around the country. Subscribe to receive it in your inbox every Friday and upgrade to paid for the best intel.
A Special Anniversary Giveaway with Our Friends at American Spoon!
As we travel the country for American Weekender, we are always seeking out good American companies producing delicious products. That is how we came across American Spoon. Headquartered in Petoskey, Michigan, American Spoon has a handful of shops around the state as well as an online store. During our annual Saugatuck summer trips, we always pay a visit to the American Spoon store in town to stock up on favorite products. We’ll get a few jars of chili jam to make pimento cheese, citrus and passionfruit curd for spreading on Vanilla Cream scones from (another good American company), and wildflower honey mustard for sandwiches.
To celebrate our three-year anniversary, our friends at American Spoon have graciously offered to send one lucky paid subscriber some of our favorite treats. Your gift box will feature all the products shown above, including the chili jam, citrus and passionfruit curd, and wildflower honey mustard, plus their sour cherry preserves, peach habanero jelly, and more!
How to enter: If you are a paid subscriber, you are automatically entered! If you are a free subscriber, you can enter by upgrading to a paid subscription — just $50 a year with our summer deal! You’ll also get all our paid perks like our Field Guides and Google map. Entries close on Friday, July 31, when we’ll randomly select a winner. Good luck!
Eight Great 10-Hour Road Trips
As you know, we love a road trip. Nothing feels better than packing up the car, pressing play on the American Weekender Spotify playlist, and hitting the road. But when we travel, we try our best to keep it chill. We like taking detours for local lunch spots. We like having time to wander around small-town squares. And more than anything, we like discovering how much great stuff is just a day or two away from home.
Enter the 10-hour roadtrip. We believe it’s best to limit driving to around five hours a day. As we wrote in 8 Tips for Better Road Trips, “Limiting driving time keeps things easy and relaxed. It means you have time for a nice breakfast wherever you wake up. It means you can drive a couple hours and stop for a leisurely lunch. It means time to take the backroads. It means you can finish your drive and check into your hotel in the late afternoon. It means time for cocktail hour before dinner. You have time to explore the town, not merely spend the night.”
And while five-hour trips are great for long weekends, if you have a little more time you can spend two days driving — still just five hours each day — and you’ll be surprised how far you can get.
Our first post-pandemic road trip from Chicago was to Oxford, Mississippi, which is just over nine hours away. We spread that drive over two days, and made fun stops along the way — like Daylight Donuts in Effingham, Illinois for blueberry doughnuts, and a fortuitous visit to the now-closed Helen’s Bar-B-Q in Brownsville, Tennessee for smoked bologna sandwiches. By mid-afternoon of our second day on the road, we arrived in Oxford, dropped our bags, and headed to Saint Leo for cocktails. It was great.
So if something like that sounds great to you as well, here’s a little inspiration for your next road trip, no matter if you are from the Pacific Coast, the Chesapeake Bay, or somewhere in between.
San Francisco, California → Portland, Oregon
Drive time: 10 hours
Drive North to Portland, Oregon for a trip that’s filled with relaxing nature, cool neighborhoods, and a food scene that ranges from a food cart serving bulgogi crunchwraps to a critically acclaimed Haitian restaurant. Don’t miss Scotch Lodge, which just won the 2026 James Beard Award for Outstanding Bar. It’s a place we are always sure to pop in for an Islay Daiquiri when we are in town. If you need a little snack, we are fans of the dill-heavy pickle-spiced fries served with sour cream.
On The Way: Stop in Mount Shasta, California, where you can take in the scenic views and rustic charm.
Dallas, Texas → Oxford, Mississippi
Drive time: 8 hours and 30 minutes
Get out of the big city and drive to Oxford, Mississippi, a cool college town centered on a walkable square. The fried catfish, biscuit sandwiches, and great cocktails you’ll find there are worth the drive. Don’t miss City Grocery, where chefs John Currence and Jon Davis aim to reinterpret Southern food (though ordering the ever-present shrimp and grits, with cheese grits, plump shrimp, bacon, and mushrooms, is non-negotiable).
On The Way: Stop in Hot Springs, Arkansas, where you can take a dip in one of the historic bathhouses.
Memphis, Tennessee → Savannah, Georgia
Drive time: 9 hours and 30 minutes
Head East to the beautiful port city of Savannah, Georgia, where you’ll find fresh local seafood, great chef-driven restaurants, and loads of history. Don’t miss The Wyld, a dreamy destination for dishes made with local seafood and produce. Order the heirloom tomatoes decorated with olive oil, fried garlic, and basil, and the crispy local shrimp served with fries, horseradish tartar, and cocktail sauce.
On The Way: Stop in Atlanta, Georgia, for drinks at Ticonderoga Club.
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania → Boston, Massachusetts
Drive time: 9 hours and 30 minutes
Head East to Boston, Massachusetts for a weekend of exploring historical sites, watching a Red Sox game, and eating everything from Hong Kong French toast to seafood. Don’t miss Bar Mezzana, where you can pair the lightly bitter Mezzana Spritz (made with Campari, peach, and moscato) with crudos like shima aji with horseradish and lemon.
On The Way: Stop in Scranton, Pennsylvania, for a Texas Wiener, the local style of chili dog.
Washington, D.C. → Portland, Maine
Drive time: 9 hours
Take a drive up the Eastern Seaboard and spend some time in Portland, Maine, where you’ll eat fresh oysters, fish and chips, and Red Snapper hot dogs. Don’t miss Bite Into Maine, our favorite lobster roll purveyor anywhere. You can order fancy versions with toppings like cole slaw or flavored mayos (curry and wasabi are two on offer), but the classic Maine-style is the way to go. Upgrade to the six-ounce size, which gets you additional sweet, tender lobster meat, bound in mayo, sprinkled with chives, and tucked into a buttery, toasted bun. If you visit the Cape Elizabeth location, you can nosh on these in the shadow of Portland Head Light, and what’s more Maine than that?
On The Way: Stop in New Haven, Connecticut, and explore the local apizza scene.
Chicago, Illinois → Knoxville, Tennessee
Drive time: 9 hours
Head South to the fun college town of Knoxville, Tennessee, home to the University of Tennessee, where we recently visited and found great pizza, bagels, cocktails, and more. Don’t miss A Dopo Sourdough Pizza, where you should order The Sofia pizza, with red sauce, oregano, and nduja, plus fresh mozzarella added after it’s baked. From the white pie section, the spicy greens pizza is a delicious combination of kale, mozzarella, Calabrian chilis, and lemon. Save room for the pistachio gelato, loaded with salty nut flavor.
On the Way: Stop in Indianapolis, Indiana for breaded pork tenderloin sandwiches and smashburgers at the Workingman’s Friend.
Jacksonville, Florida → New Orleans, Louisiana
Drive time: 8 hours
The great American city of New Orleans, Louisiana, is a must for any food-loving traveler, and we’ve been dozens of times to eat po’boys and drink cocktails in the French Quarter. Drive over from Jacksonville to soak it all up. Don’t miss R & O Restaurant for the roast beef debris po’boy. It’s worth the taxi to Metairie for this hefty sandwich, stuffed with tender slices of beef and a rich, savory gravy.
On the Way: Stop in Panama City Beach, Florida for a Bushwacker or two. (That’s a frozen rum drink with coffee liqueur, crème de cacao, and coconut.)
Kansas City, Missouri → Saugatuck, Michigan
Drive time: 9 hours and 30 minutes
Saugatuck, Michigan is our own summer getaway, and we think that everyone should pay a visit to this charming lakeside town. We always stay at Lake Shore Resort and eat at Marro’s Italian Restaurant, Farmhouse Deli, and other favorites. It’s cooler by the lake. Don’t miss Pennyroyal Cafe & Provisions, where chef Missy Corey celebrates the best of Western Michigan at her beautiful cafe. Try the campfire trout, a play on saltimbocca, or the roast chicken and fries served with a rich jus.
On the Way: Stop in Davenport, Iowa for a strip of Quad City–style pizza.
All Our Favorite Spots in Brooklyn, New York: A New Downloadable Field Guide for Paid Subscribers
All our Brooklyn favorites are available as a three-day Field Guide that you can download on our website. As always, it’s free for paid subscribers — just use the discount code found in this month’s Weekend Getaway newsletter at checkout. Here’s what you get:
Three-day recommended dining itinerary
Picks for breakfast, lunch, dinner, and drinks
Downloadable for quick reference
Designed for your mobile phone
Reminder: As a paid subscriber, you can use this month’s code to download any other Field Guide you’d like for free! We recommend saving your Field Guides to Apple Books or Dropbox for the best experience on an iPhone. Google Drive works great too on other smartphones.
Members-Only Google Map
Paid subscribers also get access to the American Weekender Google Map. This map includes every place we’ve ever mentioned in our newsletters plus every place we’ve ever recommended in our Field Guides. Whether you’re looking for roadside barbecue in Tennessee, afternoon cocktails in New Orleans, or a farm-to-table dinner in Western Michigan, our map — which has more than 1,300 locations! — will point the way. We update it with new spots each week, so keep it bookmarked for your next trip. Paid subscribers can find the map linked in our latest Weekend Getaway newsletter.
UNITED STATES
50 States, 50 People: Condé Nast Traveler recently published this feature, which honors the people behind an iconic travel experience in each state. I wrote the package’s Illinois entrant: Poochie Rollins, who has worked at The Wiener’s Circle for 28 years. If you live in Chicago, you know this joint, but if not, let Rollins tell you why you should go: “Wiener’s Circle is a place where people can be themselves,” she says. “In the corporate world, you need to be professional—you can’t swear. When you come to Wiener’s Circle, you can be yourself, and we give you space to do that. We’ll roast each other, sometimes we’ll take a shot. This place is a nightly vibe.” (Condé Nast Traveler)
UNITED STATES
Hilton Is Bringing Chic Boutique Hotels to a College Town Near You: We have stayed at Graduate hotels in Oxford, Columbus, and Ann Arbor, so we’re interested in the latest hotel chain from Hilton: Undergraduate. Like Graduate, Undergraduate hotels will be located in college towns, but they will also be more affordable and located in “less splashy places” so, not your Big 10 town. They’ll also include a strong bar program. Sounds right in line with the American Weekender travel ethos. (Travel & Leisure)
LOUISIANA
The right stuffed shrimp: Given that we are fans of iconic shrimp dishes served far from the coast, this story in the Food Section appealed to us. Hanna Raskin digs into the famous stuffed shrimp of Shreveport, which was recently officially designated as Louisiana’s Stuffed Shrimp Capital. But this may not be the stuffed shrimp you are envisioning. Raskin writes: “Shreveport-style stuffed shrimp also calls for crabmeat, garlic, and the holy trinity of celery, onion, and bell pepper, as well as what Chapman describes as ‘the blend of spices near and dear to this area.’ But what distinguishes the dish is the split shrimp is secured within the Creole dressing, or applied tightly to a cylinder of it, then battered and deep-fried. Consequently, a traditional stuffed shrimp looks more corn dog than crustacean.” (The Food Section)
— Compiled by Amy Cavanaugh
Want more? Chat with us on Substack, download our Field Guides, check out our archives, or follow us on Instagram @americanweekender. We’ll be back next week.
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