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Feasting on Asphalt

As a child traveling cross-country with his parents, from California to Georgia, young Alton Brown saw first-hand how regional food in America changed with the landscape. The seeds for a future television show were planted on that fateful trip. Several decades later, this experience of a 7-year-old boy took root as Alton pitched a new travel food show idea to Food Network executives.

Feasting on Asphalt, adult Alton’s cross-country journey on a motorcycle, sought to re-discover real American food. Through his travels from the Atlantic seaboard to the Pacific Ocean, Alton found what he feared was lost—authentic food. What Alton showed us in Feasting on Asphalt was not the corporate restaurant chains sprawling across America, but honest food prepared by people with a passion for it.

Feasting on Asphalt opening monologue:

Nothing plucks the heartstrings of the American Spirit like an open road. Oh, I’m not taking about those rivers of concrete, which lure us with stable speeds and zero surprises. I’m talking about the highways and byways that really stitch this crazy quilt of a county together. Why, on roads this anything can happen. Consider cuisine. Interstates give you culinary conformity. But out here favors change with the contours of land. And words like hospitality take on old meanings. Why, I bet down around that curve there’s a café, diner, tearoom or truck stop where the waitress still call you hun and the cooks… actually cook! How do I know? I don’t. But I got a map and a motorcycle and a month to find out. I'm Alton Brown and this is Feasting on Asphalt.

Feasting on Asphalt Rules:

1. Stick to back roads and clear of Interstates whenever possible
2. Will not eat at national chain restaurants
3. No whining
4. If no place to eat, fend for self—camping and cooking or kindness of strangers

Feasting on Asphalt Crew:

* Alton Brown: host, mastermind
* Tom Munroe: producer, security, omnivore
* Jean Claude (JC) Dhien: photographer, motorcyclists extraordinaire, fashion plate
* Jared Rolston: motorcycle maintenance, recon, intelligence
* Ramon Engle: cameraman, protocol, dairy enthusiast
* Lamar Owen: cameraman, lighting man, wheel man
* Mike Clark: sound recordist, navigator, finicky eater

Episode 1:
The South Shall Fry Again

The journey begins on the Atlantic coast, Isle of Palms, SC, here Alton Brown explains the concept for the trip and the show.

City	Location and people Alton met	Food	Highlights
Isle of Palm, South Carolina	Beach		Opening and going over the "rules"
Mt. Pleasant, South Carolina	Jack's Cosmic Dogs	Hot dogs Properly made fries	The only place Alton was familiar with on the whole journey because it was a good example of what he’s looking for on the trip.
Mt. Pleasant, South Carolina	Pitt’s Pharmacy Jordan, Soda Jerk	Egg salad sandwich Chocolate malted
Savannah, Georgia	Streamline Diner	“Upscale coffee” A real diner that doesn’t serve real diner food	A restored 1938 Streamliner Diners are not railroad dining cars
Gilsonville, South Carolina	Robert Lee Smalls Store	Pickled pig's foot	“I’m hungry and this is authentic.” After a few bites, the pickled pig foot ends up in the trash
Washington, Georgia	The Biscuit Place Jennifer Owner, Phil	Pork tenderloin biscuit	Alton does his old job (cameraman) while Jennifer makes biscuits
Toccoa, Georgia	The Chicken Basket	None	A place Alton remembered from childhood. The restaurant was closed. Liver diner, Alton’s dad’s choice Gizzard dinner, Alton’s mom’s choice Alton wasn’t so “advanced” had the fish dinner, double hushpuppies crinkle cut fries
Toccoa, Georgia	Shirley’s Soul Food Cafe Owner, Shirley C	Dark meat fried chicken rutabaga beans collar greens cracklin’ cornbread	“This is a plate of eatable Southness. This what my people ate.” “Don’t even look at my cobbler. You’re looking at my cobbler. Stop it.”
Spartanburg, South Carolina	Hobo Holler Produce	Watermelons
Charlotte, North Carolina	21 South Drive-In	Super Boy Fish sandwich BBQ sandwich grilled ham and cheese hot dog chocolate shake iced tea onion rings fries	A real drive-in

Commercial bump quotes:

“You can find your way across this county using burger joints the way a navigator use the stars.”
Charles Kuralt

“Today the American road has no end; the road that went nowhere now goes everywhere.”
Henry Ford, II

“Oh, public road, you express me better than I can express myself.”
Walt Whitman

“We should look for someone to eat and drink with before looking for something to eat and drink.”
Epicurus

“Part of the secret of success in life is to eat what you like and let the food fight it out inside.”
Mark Twain

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Episode 2:
I Smell Pork

Commercial bump quotes:

“That’s all the motorcycle is, a system of concepts worked out in steel,”
Robert M. Pirsig

“Feed the poor and get rich or feed the rich and get poor,”
Colonel Harlan Sanders

“I’ve run less risk driving my way across country than eating my way across it,”
Duncan Hines

“This highway is replete with culinary landmines disguised as quaint local restaurants that carry such reassuring names as Millie’s Pop’s and Cap’t Dick’s.”
Bryan Miller

“A good traveler has no fixed plans, and is not intent on arriving,”
Lao Tzu

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Episode 3:
High Plains Feaster

City	Location and people Alton met	Food	Highlights
St. Louis, Missouri	Forrest Park, location of the 1904 World’s Fair Food historian, Pam V		Myths of foods started at 1904 World's Fair Hamburger—not started there Hot dog—not started there Iced Tea—not started there Dr. Pepper—tested at the Fair Puffed rice—displayed how it was made Ice cream cone—waffle cone started after the Fair Grapefruits—Florida displayed the citrus fruit
Weaubleau, Missouri	Weaubleau Motel (Tourist court)	Coffee
Florence, Kansas	Chuck Wagon Restaurant	Pie	"Pie cannot lie"
Florence, Kansas	Spring Fling	Beef Brisket	At the town’s auction, Alton bought: 3 pies, 2 cakes, a blanket and a road sign for $1000
Florence, Kansas	Harvey House Museum	Ate dinner but never told what it was
La Junta, Colorado	Woolworth’s lunch counter	Closed
La Junta, Colorado	Copper Kitchen Café Two unnamed cooks Waitresses, June and Norma	Chili?	Alton called it Cooper Kitchen
Pikes Peak, Colorado	Campground	Campground Coffee Made with Pikes Peak snow	Cameraman (Ramon?) out of scene: “Did you just knock snow in there?” Alton: “Shut up. Shut up you! You’re just a cameraman. You’re little people. I can’t…” Alton screams
Somewhere in Colorado	Campsite by a lake		Alton's sleeping bag wasn't rated for the extreme cold
Somewhere in Colorado	?	Sourdough pancakes	“Here’s to not freezing to death.”
Mancos, Colorado	Ted's Taco Owner, Ted	Frybread Tourist killer Green chili Burrito	Alton makes frybread
Mexican Hat, Utah	Mexican Hat Lodge Owner, JD	Swinging steaks Beans Hot slaw

Commercial bump quotes:

“Few can foresee whither their road will lead them, til they come to its end,”
J. R. R. Tolkien

“The highway was their home, and movement their means of expression,”
John Steinbeck

“It is not down any map; true places never are,”
Herman Melville

“The best alarm clock is sunshine on chrome,”
Author unknown

“The average American spends a lot of his leisure time cruising the highway. That’s why gas stations, roads, motels and remote inns are American through and through,”
Simone de Beauvoir

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Episode 4
California or Bust

Commercial bump quotes:

“We wander for distraction, but we travel for fulfillment,”
Halaire Belloc

“Only he who has traveled the road knows where the holes are deep,”
Chinese proverb

“Life doesn’t happen along the Interstates. Its against the law,”
William Least-Heat Moon

“I travel not to go anywhere, but to go. I travel for travel’s sake. The great affair is to move,”
Robert Louis Stevenson

“The road is life,”
Jack Kerouac

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This site is NOT affiliated with Alton Brown, Be Square Productions or the Food Network.
Strictly a fan site
Last updated: October 15, 2008

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