ROADSIDE RENAISSANCE
Grabbing a bite along America’s highways now gives more options than fast food, bag of chips
TSOUTHBOROUGH, Mass. he old Wendy’s is just off Interstate 495, about 30 miles west of Boston. It still has the squat exterior of a ’90sera fast-food restaurant, with curved eaves above big windows overlooking a wraparound drive-through. But you won’t find square burgers and Frostys inside.
At Nan’s Kitchen & Market, customers eat Nashville hot chicken sandwiches on pillowy rolls dressed with smoky mayonnaise and shaved cabbage slaw. People waiting for their orders browse aisles of craft beer and locally made soaps. Takeout boxes contain medium-rare flank steak or pesto grilled broccoli from a nearby farm. Commodity coffee is out. Brown butter hazelnut lattes are in.
Anyone who has traveled America’s highways has learned to lower their expectations for pit-stop meals. The most common options are gas stations stocked with shelf-stable snacks and hot dogs rolling under a heat lamp, or chain restaurants serving ultra-processed food. To discover Nan’s — described on its website as a place for “fresh and wholesome food, sourced as close to home as possible” — on a long slog from Washington, D.C., to Portland, Maine, felt like a shock to the status quo.
My fiancé and I perused the market full of “shoppy shop” items, the type of impulse buys that lure urbane consumers with jazzy packaging and marketing copy describing independent, gourmet purveyors. We combed through the selection of natural wines and CBD dog treats, the chocolate-covered pretzels and nonalcoholic aperitifs. Per the glowing reviews online, we ordered the Nan’s original fried chicken sammie ($10.95) plus a grain bowl with lemon-brined salmon ($15.95). It was all fantastic.
It all felt designed for travelers like me, someone who will subsist on Cheez-Its and pistachios in a pinch but would rather seek out a meal from a local place with a story behind it. As we drove away with a few bottles of Sicilian red in the trunk and zero food coma, the experience made me wonder: Was Nan’s a unicorn? Or is road trip food getting better?
Pandemic pivot strikes a chord
To understand the state of road trip food, look at how Nan’s wound up in an old Wendy’s.
“I’ve been in the fine dining industry for a very long time,” said Jordan Mackey, Nan’s chef and owner. “I spent most of my career in four- and five-diamond hotels, Michelin restaurants, that kind of thing.”
Between 2015 and 2017, he and his wife, Reanna, wrote a business plan for an “upscaled” restaurant that served thoughtfully sourced vegetable side dishes, “almost like a high-end Cracker Barrel,” Mackey said, “where we could take really good scratchmade food and put real nectarines in our lemonade — that kind of thing.” There’d also be a country store element where they could sell local eggs, dairy and artisanal goods.
The plan sat on the shelf as a distant dream until the coronavirus pandemic hit, decimating the middle class of dine-in restaurants in favor of extreme luxury and more fast-casual choices.
About 10 months after opening a 275-seat Mediterranean restaurant in Sudbury, Mass., they had to shut down for a lockdown. By May 2020, seeing no relief in sight, they decided to bet their remaining savings on the fried chicken concept. They found a farmhouse turned bed-and-breakfast in Stow, Mass. After negotiating a lease and finishing some construction, they got the first Nan’s open that November. “It took off like a rocket ship within 90 days,” Mackey said. “We were exceeding our pre-COVID revenues at our full-service restaurant.”
Following the success of their first store, which catered to local customers, the Mackeys searched for a second location. They found a shuttered Wendy’s a short detour from the highway, just beyond a gas station and a Red Roof Inn. It was almost like bringing the Wendy’s back to its roots; in 1979, it became the first nationwide fast-food chain to introduce a salad bar. The company phased out the offering by the late ’90s.
“We were like, ‘How cool would it be to convert a Wendy’s into a healthy restaurant?’ ” Mackey said.
The sequel was a hit, too. Now they hope to open two more locations this year.
“It shows we’ve got something here that’s repeatable,” Mackey said.
Truck stop sushi and spring rolls
Americans’ spending habits suggest they’re hungry for more than mass-produced hamburgers. Regional brands like Buc-ee’s and Wawa have used their kitchens to convert drivers into regulars with Texas barbecue and hoagies.
Some people may say they don’t want to eat sushi from a gas station. But according to Darren Schulte, vice president of membership for the National Association of Truck Stop Owners, sushi is among the bestselling items at the truck stops, travel centers and fuel retailers that make up the trade group.
Before the pandemic, Schulte would spend 50 weeks of the year traveling to visit member operations located off exit interchanges across the country. They range from national and regional chains to mom-andpop outfits that cater to both truckers and everyday motorists, serving a much broader selection of cuisine than you’d expect (unless you live in the South and already know the drill).
“We are kind of like these hidden gems,” Schulte said. “People [don’t] really know what trucks and travel centers offered.”
He rattles off examples like the memorable butter chicken at Refresh Travel Plaza in Madera, Calif.; the catfish and shrimp po’ boys at Port Fuel Center in Savannah, Ga. (they also have a salad bar); Slovacek’s West in the town of West, Texas, which has Czech kolaches, sausages and other Eastern European baked goods.
“I was at a truck stop not too long ago that had some of the best Thai spring rolls,” Schulte said. “They were phenomenal tasting, made fresh right there every morning … so I think what you’re seeing as the United States itself is changing, you’re seeing that same change in [travel] food offerings.”