James Carter

Crinkle-cut fries buried under crumbled garlic and Parmesan should not be worth a detour, yet here we are.…

By James Carter · Oct 3

Halfway up a twisting mountain road, cars line the shoulder for a quarter mile, and people stand in…

By James Carter · Oct 2

Olallieberry was a word I had never said out loud until a hand-lettered menu on the California coast…

By James Carter · Oct 1

Butter cookies in a bucket were the first clue that this stop would be different from every other…

By James Carter · Sep 30

Warm corn is the first thing that reaches you, long before you ever see a menu board. At…

By James Carter · Sep 29

A cartoon pie statue standing out front was the first clue that my quick coastal detour was about…

By James Carter · Sep 28

Pink marzipan domes lined up behind glass were the last thing I expected to find on a busy…

By James Carter · Sep 27

Five wooden bridges rise out of a cornfield near Sacramento, and the first time you cross one, you…

By James Carter · Sep 26

Cash in one pocket and an empty stomach were all I needed on a gray morning when a…

By James Carter · Sep 25

Butter hit me before the door even closed behind me, a warm, sugary cloud that seemed far too…

By James Carter · Sep 24

Apples grow within sight of the oven at one small roadside bakery in California, and you can almost…

By James Carter · Sep 23

A warm, smoky smell floats out of a modest building on the west side of Los Angeles, California,…

By James Carter · Sep 22

My detour started because I was hungry, not because I planned to fall in love with a wheel…

By James Carter · Sep 21

A pot of deep red chile sauce bubbling away for hours is not something you expect to change…

By James Carter · Sep 20

My first real taco truck moment came when the smell of charred pork on a spinning spit pulled…

By James Carter · Sep 19

A wrong turn on a country highway in California once led me to a wooden shack with peaches…

By James Carter · Sep 18

Walking through blistering desert one minute and then stepping into deep green shade the next feels almost like…

By James Carter · Sep 17

My favorite kind of afternoon starts with cold hands and ends with a mug of something warm and…

By James Carter · Sep 16

My favorite summer memory involves a warm tomato eaten straight from the vine, still holding the heat of…

By James Carter · Sep 15

My stomach growled the moment I caught the smell of fresh dough drifting down a quiet street in…

By James Carter · Sep 14

Foggy mornings in the California flatlands have a funny way of pushing you toward the mountains, and one…

By James Carter · Sep 13

My rubber boots were still crusted with salt from the last trip when I realized California hides tiny…

By James Carter · Sep 12

Salt spray on your face, wooden steps creaking underfoot, and then suddenly the whole Pacific opens up beneath…

By James Carter · Sep 11

Some of the best meals in California happen when you least expect them, tucked inside an old building…

By James Carter · Sep 10

Some of the best meals in California hide inside places you’d almost drive right past. Tucked along a…

By James Carter · Sep 9

Some of the best food memories in California start when you least expect them, in a shop you…

By James Carter · Sep 8

Somewhere in the high country of California, tucked along a two-lane mountain highway, there’s a little cafe that…

By James Carter · Sep 7

Some of the best coffee in California hides in tiny towns you would blow right past if you…

By James Carter · Sep 6

Somewhere along the foggy northern edge of California, past bluffs and boat-dotted harbors, sits a place that looks…

By James Carter · Sep 5

Some of the best breakfasts in California hide behind plain doors and dusty parking lots you might zoom…

By James Carter · Sep 4

Somewhere in Humboldt County, California, there is a small shop that smells like warm caramel the second you…

By James Carter · Sep 3

Sometimes the best meals hide in the busiest corners, where a line snaking around the block tells you…

By James Carter · Sep 2

Some of the best meals in California happen when you least expect them. Picture pulling off the road,…

By James Carter · Sep 1

Some of the best meals in California hide in plain sight, waiting for hungry travelers who take a…

By James Carter · Aug 31

Some mornings you stumble onto a place that smells so good you almost forget where you parked. Tucked…

By James Carter · Aug 30

Some of the best meals in California hide in the least fancy spots, like a parking lot corner…

By James Carter · Aug 29

Some of the best meals hide inside busy food halls in California, tucked between other stalls where the…

By James Carter · Aug 28

Some of the best food discoveries in California happen when you least expect them. You wander into a…

By James Carter · Aug 27

Some of the best meals in California hide behind the plainest storefronts. On a slow wander through a…

By James Carter · Aug 26