You'll eat well everywhere from Alaska, where you can sample
seafood at the Marx Brothers Café, Anchorage (001 907 278 2133; marxcafe.com), to Hawaii, where you'll find
celebrity chef Alan Wong's restaurant in Honolulu (001 808 949
2526; alanwongs.com). Nearly every state has something
gastronomic to shout about. California has over 350 different crops
and some terrific wines. New England is justly renowned for its
seafood – the annual Maine Lobster Festival (001 207 596 0376; mainelobsterfestival.com) is world famous and
the state is also home to that most American of fruit, the
cranberry.
Colorado breweries produce more barrels of beer annually than
any other state and you'll find a high concentration of craft
brewers in Fort Collins, Boulder, Denver and Colorado Springs.
Indianapolis, in the heart of rich agricultural land, is at the
forefront of America's farm-to-table movement, with Indianapolis
City Market (001 317 634 9266; indycm.com) and Broad Ripple Farmers
Market (
broadripplefarmersmarket.org) popular choices to
browse the produce.
Combined, the unidentical twins of North and South Dakota are
the same size as Norway, with a sparse population of just 1.5
million people. That leaves plenty of wide open spaces, which is
perhaps why Scandinavian migrants were attracted here. Among the
many venues where you can get a taste of the Nordic homelands are
Magic Morsels in Minot, North Dakota (001 701 509 4794) – serving
up Norwegian lefse, a potato flatbread, and Titan's Family
Restaurant in Frederick, South Dakota, known as "little Finland",
where locally hunted venison may be on the menu.
Good new restaurants are opening across the country, including
Aviary in Portland, Oregon (001 503 287 2400; aviarypdx.com), The Catbird Seat in Nashville
(001 615 810 8200; thecatbirdseatrestaurant.com) and Oxheart in
Houston (001 832 830 8592; oxhearthouston.com).
There are burgeoning restaurant scenes in Richmond, Seattle,
Minneapolis, Louisville, Santa Fe, Austin and San Diego. You'll
find a restaurant run by just about every American celebrity chef
in Las Vegas, including Mario Batali's B&B Ristorante (001 702
266 9977; bandb ristorante.com) and Thomas Keller's
Bouchon Bistro (001 702 414 6200; bouchonbistro.com).
Numerous culinary tours explore the country's incredible bounty.
Seattle Food Tours (001 206 725 4483; seattlefoodtours.com) offers a Taste Pike Place
guided walk through Seattle's food markets. Milwaukee Food Tours
(001 800 979 3370; milwaukeefoodtours.com) offers a range of walks,
including a tour of the Village of Wauwatosa that includes tastings
from local French, Italian and Dutch restaurants, a visit to an
olive oil shop and the local farmer's market. Alternatively, you
can discover Columbus Ohio's authentic Mexican street food scene
with the "Taco Truck Tour" from the Columbus Food Adventures (001
800 838 3006; columbusfoodadventures.com).
And that slice of Mom's apple pie? Head for the Grand Traverse
Pie Company, Traverse City, Michigan (001 231 922 7437; gtpie.com)
For further information, visit DiscoverAmerica.com
Mordern American cuisine
Since opening in 2010, Husk, the restaurant in Charleston (001
843 577 2500; huskrestaurant.com) has been showered with
plaudits. Chef Sean Brock's daily-changing, market-driven menu is
created solely from ingredients found in the southern states and
might include cornmeal-dusted catfish, with Anson Mills purple cape
beans, yellow squash and sweet creamed corn.
Housed in a late 19th-century mansion complete with walled
garden, Volt in the historic town of Frederick, Maryland (001 301
696 8658; voltrestaurant.com) is about as fine as dining
gets. Eat in the chic dining room where the modern assemblies might
include foie gras with strawberry, rhubarb and coconut, or book
well in advance for one of the eight kitchen counter seats, where
diners are served an epic 21-course tasting menu.
With just 28 seats and charming rustic features, Bondir,
Cambridge, Massachusetts (001 617 661 0009; bondircambridge.com) has a cosy farmhouse feel.
It's the perfect setting for chef Jason Bond's daily changing menu,
which highlights New England produce such as butter poached
Scituate lobster and smoked Wellfleet oyster.
Festivals and events
From 10-13 January 2013, Taste of the South, Blackberry Farm,
Walland, Tennessee (001 800 557 8864; blackberryfarm.com) celebrates Southern cuisine
with cooking demonstrations from some of the region's best chefs,
including Vivian Howard of The Chef and the Farmer in Kinston (001
252 208 2433; chefand thefarmer.com).
Pebble Beach in Monterey County will be at the epicentre of US
gastronomy between 4-7 April 2013. The line-up for the sixth annual
Pebble Beach Food and Wine (001 866 907 3663; pebble beachfoodandwine.com) has yet to be
finalised, but previous events have included cookery demos from the
likes of Jacques Pepin, gala dinners cooked by teams of celebrity
chefs and wine tastings with notable producers, including Caymus
from the Napa Valley.
The Tales of the Cocktail festival, New Orleans (001 504 948
0511; talesofthe cocktail.com) from 17-21 July 2013 is
one of the largest events of its kind in the world. The schedule
offers the opportunity to sample the creations of some of America's
leading "mixologists" and bartenders, including Joaquin Simo of
Death & Co, New York (001 212 3888 0882; deathandcompany.com).
Winecountry
The Judgement of Paris in 1976, when Californian wines were
rated above their French counterparts in a blind tasting, put
American wine firmly on the map. The Napa and Sonoma valleys in
California are must-visits, along with Mendocino and Santa
Barbara.
While California produces about 90 per cent of America's wine,
it's not the only region worth exploring. With more than 700
wineries, Washington state (
washingtonwine.org) has 40,000 acres of vineyard
planted in areas as diverse as the beautiful, temperate Puget Sound
to Red Mountain in the southeast corner of the state, where the
daytime temperature averages 32C and helps to produce some of the
state's highest quality grapes. On 17 November, Washington state's
top winemakers, including Chateau Ste-Michelle, Woodinville (001
425 488 1133; ste-michelle.com), will be pouring samples of
their wares at 20 Something: the New Vintage, Fremont Studios,
Seattle (
thenewvintage.org).
Neighbouring Oregon is noted for its superb pinot noirs. Oregon
Wine Tours (001 503 681 9463; orwinetours.com) offers a one-day minivan tour
of some of the best producers in the Willamette Valley, such as
Styring, Newberg (001 503 866 741; styringvineyards.com). The starting price of
$350 (£220) for one to two people includes a tailored tour and
tastings.
Comfort food classics
You'll have to travel to Key West in Florida, the country's most
southerly point, to taste an authentic version of the iconic key
lime pie. At Kermit's Key West Key Lime Shoppe (001 800 376 0806; keylimeshop.com) you'll get a Graham cracker pie
crust with condensed milk, eggs and lime juice, topped with
delicious whipped cream.
If you want to compare the best chilli dogs in Detroit, you
won't have far to travel. Lafayette Coney Island (001 313 964 8198)
and American Coney Island (001 586 219 0995; americanconeyisland.com) have stood side by side
on Lafayette Avenue for more than 70 years. Both serve frankfurters
topped with ground beef chilli sauce and chopped raw onions in warm
steamed buns, a variation on the American classic that was created
in the city.
At Lunchbox Laboratory, Seattle (001 206 621 1090; lunchboxlaboratory.com) Scott Simpson is putting
a modern twist on the American burger. The Dork burger is made from
duck and pork, while Capt' John's Flyin' Hawaiian features a lamb
patty and pineapple mayonnaise. Traditionalists may prefer the
Burger of the Gods, made with ground sirloin, rib eye, and prime
rib topped with candied onions.
The religion of BBQ
To say that Americans take barbecue seriously is an
understatement. From the hickory-smoked pork spare ribs at
Dreamland Drive-Inn Barbeque Inc in Tuscaloosa, Alabama (001 205
758 8135; dreamlandbbq.com), to the dry-rubbed, mesquite
wood smoked brisket at Bob's Smokehouse in San Antonio (001 210 333
9548; thesmokehousebbqsa.com) barbecue attains a
near-religious status with the pit masters – chefs who tend the
meat for hours in pit ovens.
Each region has its own take on barbecue. Vera's Backyard
Bar-B-Que, Brownsville (001 956 546 4159) is only open on weekends
and is one of the only places to prepare barbacoa, a Texan
speciality. The picked meat is cooked over mesquite and ebony
branches for eight hours in a pit and is served with corn tortillas
and salsa – eaten for breakfast.
The Rendezvous Restaurant in Memphis (001 901 523 2746; hogsfly.com) is the home of dry ribs; something
of an anomaly in America barbecue. They're grilled over charcoal at
high heat and only seasoned with vinegar, salt, spices and a secret
blend of seasoning once they're done, rather than during cooking.
They may not be traditional, but that hasn't prevented the likes of
Justin Timberlake from enjoying them.
