One of the things we enjoy most about traveling is trying food from the places we visit.
When we are moving from one campground to another, we will sometimes stick with a familiar chain simply because it is easy. But once we settle into an area for a while, we much prefer finding the local places.
Sometimes we find them ourselves.
Sometimes someone tells us, “You have to try this place.”
And when we are work camping, those experiences have another benefit — they give us places we can genuinely recommend when guests ask where they should go for breakfast, lunch, dinner, or just something good nearby.
This summer in the Adirondacks has given us quite a few places to recommend.
One of Our First Local Finds
One of the first local places we tried after settling into the area was Wise Guys Bar & Grill.
It has more of a casual sports-bar feel, which made it an easy place to stop in, relax, and get a good meal.
The food was good, the atmosphere was comfortable, and it quickly became one of those places we knew we could recommend when someone asked where to grab a casual meal nearby.
Finding places like this early in a stay is one of the things we enjoy about being in one area for a while. Before long, you start building your own little list of favorites.
A Place We Had Been Wanting to Try
One of the places that stayed on our list for a while was Big Mountain Deli & Creperie in Lake Placid.
It is a small local spot right on Main Street, and we had been hoping to try it while we were here.
We finally did, and it was absolutely worth the wait.
The food was excellent, and it was exactly the kind of place we enjoy finding when we spend time somewhere — small, local, casual, and memorable.
Sometimes You Just Need a Burger
Another stop was Noon Mark Burger & Pie, also along Main Street in Lake Placid.
There is something about a good burger from a local place that just hits differently after a day of sightseeing or exploring.
This one definitely did the job.
Pizza With a Familiar Name
We also made our way to Lake Placid Pub & Brewery, where they brew their own beer and had a pizza on the menu labeled Detroit style.
Having lived in Michigan myself, I had a pretty good idea of what I expected when I saw that description.
Was it exactly the Detroit-style pizza I remembered?
Not quite.
But it was pretty close — and more importantly, it was very tasty.
That made it fun in its own way. Sometimes part of trying food while traveling is seeing how another place interprets something familiar.
And even when it is not exactly what you expect, it can still be really good.
We Still Like Cooking at Home
Of course, eating local does not mean eating out all the time.
We also really enjoy cooking.
After enough travel days, restaurant meals, and sightseeing stops, sometimes staying home and making dinner ourselves sounds even better.
A good steak at home is pretty hard to beat.
And when we cook, we tend to make the kind of meals we actually look forward to eating — simple food, lots of flavor, and plenty of vegetables on the side.
That balance works well for us.
We enjoy going out and trying something new, but we also enjoy staying in and making something ourselves.
Food Becomes Part of the Memory
One of the things we have learned while traveling is that food becomes part of how we remember a place.
We might remember a beautiful lake, a mountain view, or a trail we walked.
But we also remember the little diner we found, the pizza place someone recommended, the local brewery we stopped into, or the meal we cooked after a long day of exploring.
Those things become part of the story too.
And one of our favorite things to do when we arrive somewhere new is ask a simple question:
Where do the locals like to eat?
Because more often than not, that is where some of the best discoveries begin.
