Location Taken: Ontario, Canada
Time Taken: June 2010

This is another one I can’t fully place. It was where we had breakfast the morning after we left Thunder Bay (we stayed in a random hotel somewhere to the west of it along the Trans-Canada), and we had lunch in Kenora, which is even further west. Those are the only two data points I can fully place on the map, and they’re nearly 300 miles apart. In between is lightly populated forest lands, the land a bit too full of lakes for a heavy farming population. I could theoretically search all along the 300 miles of road until I find this restaurant, but that would take far longer than I’m willing to for a feature I’m not sure anyone else uses.

There’s always a bit of an internal debate about whether to eat at a chain restaurant or a local restaurant on trips. The chain ones have a lot of advantages, with the biggest one being knowing what to expect. You can go in there, order, and have the exact same food you could get at the franchise by your house, hundreds of miles away. The problem, of course, is that you get the exact same food as you could by home. Local restaurants, on the other hand, are much more varied. Some have iffy food, some have marvelous food, most are in between. You might have an idea of what they serve based on how they present their cuisine out front, but there’s a good chance for something oddball to show up on the menu. I had my first taste of poutine, the classic Canadian dish of french fries, gravy, and cheese curds, at a Chinese restaurant in Maple Creek, Saskatchewan. Either that, or the one in Moose Jaw, but I’m pretty sure it was Maple Creek.

This particular restaurant was one of those roadside stops in the middle of nowhere. Hence the name “Family Restaurant” and the associated gas station. There’s no other restaurant around, so there’s no real reason to distinguish yourself any further. Like most “Family Restaurants” I’ve encountered, they served a standard American (and presumably Canadian) breakfast. Eggs, pancakes, bacon, ham, that sort of thing. I had the oatmeal. It was really good oatmeal.

I think I’ve found most of the best meals I have on long trips at the small local restaurants, but I still tend to eat at the chain ones. Why? Well, some of it is the whole knowing what you’re getting thing. It makes it easier to say if everyone in the car will find something to eat there. Mom doesn’t care much for Mexican and has trouble with a lot of other cuisines, I can’t stand burgers and find most Italian places boring, and Dad doesn’t care so long as it’s cheap. The chain restaurants let me say “Oh, I suppose it’s an Italian place, but they have that really good soup” or the like. Chain restaurants also are much more likely to advertise their food on the side of the highway, and have much more prominent signs in general, so we can debate about eating there sooner (so we can make the turn-off in time), and then actually find the place, which is not always the case with local restaurants. Local restaurants also tend to be situated where the locals can get to them easiest, on main streets and near working areas, while the chains are better situated for visitors, hanging out near the highways.

Still, there’s nothing quite like taking a gamble on a small local restaurant and discovering that your dinner is solidly delicious.

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