Southern Restaurants/Fast Food

As some of you may know, I am from Baltimore, MD. This weekend I went to go visit my family and to go pick up my car. As I was driving the LONG twelve hours back to Georgia Tech, I constantly noticed a restaurant entitled, "The Cookout." Back at home, we do not have any unique restaurants that are just strictly in Baltimore. However, as I was driving through North Carolina, I constantly kept running into "The Cookout" restaurants. I thought it was very interesting that southerners can simply go through the drive-thru and get fast food that they would usually eat at a cookout. Their menu includes barbeque, grilled chicken, chicken wings, hamburgers, hot dogs, etc. I must admit that this fast food restaurant definitely goes along with the stereotypes that southerners LOVE to have cookouts all the time.

For those of you who are in the south, are there any restaurants, like The Cookout, that are unique only to your state or city? If not, do you know of any restaurants from another state that stick out to you. What were your experiences like at the unique restaurant that you visited?

Finger lickin' good

When talking about the South, some of the first images that come to mind for some people are images of food. When I say food I’m not just talking about any kind of food. I am talking about things such as fried chicken, mac and cheese, and collard greens. These are all foods that the South is well known for. Many people who are just traveling through Southern states stop at various small town restaurants just to get a taste of this "Southern goodness." You can ask almost anyone who has ever had a "good ole Southern" meal and they would probably tell you just how good it can be.
In addition there are people who have never visited the South that have heard about food here. For example, the other day during a conversation with a girl who had never been south of Tennessee, when told I was from the South, she immediately went to asking about the food we had and if it was as good as people stated. It was then that the realization hit me, Southern food is a good representation of the South.