Travel the blue roads of Utah and discover that hand-painted signs boasting of homemade cooking replace the glaring neon of fast food chains. Few golden arches risk the roller-coaster business patterns that may smother rural eating stops during the off-season.
In rural Utah, there's a gas station with pop and penny candy, a post office, a corner grocery, maybe a few shops, a motel and probably a burger stop, but occasionally a full-service restaurant blesses the population.Despite weather conditions that barricade little-used roads and inhibit steady business, remote eateries provide a plate full of original, homestyle cooking.
Dinner rolls and deep-fried crusty scones that border on loaf-size or juicy fruit pies tagged with county-fair blue ribbons rise from backroad eating sites.
Criss-cross the state to discover gold mines of gastronomic adventure in the most unsuspecting locations.
You've heard about the pickle or pinto bean pies in Bicknell, the lodge at Flaming Gorge and the Southwestern specialties at the Bit and Spur in Springdale, but the list goes on . . .
Whatever the exact name or location, the outlying restaurant is bound to be on Main Street in any town, often because Main Street is the only street in town.
Consider the Family Tree on Main Street in Santaquin, for example.
Nan Smith turned her Payson High School cafeteria experience into a family business with her son, Jesse, when she was widowed in 1984.
"It was either get two or three jobs working for someone else and have no benefits or work for myself," Nan explained.
Smith invited the whole family to participate; of the 31 current employees, more than 20 are immediate family members. Grandma Jen tends the cash register, while assorted relatives, (whose portraits don the walls) get out the hefty, family-style meals.
French bread loaf-size sweetened scones compliment "no packages or mixes" entrees that Smith describes as "not a bite of diet" fare.
"Nobody that's on a diet eats here," she boasts, "unless they cheat."
On her doctor's advice, Nan instituted a "lighter fare menu," but all that really does is skip the scone as a part of the order. There's still a hefty portion of meat or fish, a baked potato with sour cream and the remaining every-square-inch of the serving platter stuffed with vegetables.
A northerly route off I-15 leads to Brigham City and a candy counter stuffed full of Almond Cream Toffee, a candy the Idle Isle's been making almost since it opened in 1921.
Knudsons and Calls hung a shingle over a candy and ice cream store that's grown into a three-meal-a-day stop for Box Elder County natives as well as out-of-town regulars.
"I don't know how much of that candy we sell a year, says Rich Van Dyke, current owner and grandson of the founding family, "but I do know I sell all I make. I guess we use about 20,000 pounds of sugar a year, then nuts and cream and chocolate on top of that. At Christmas, I wonder if I can make any more."
Trademark toffee bites complete a meal at the Idle Isle, but "down-to-earth' home cooking fills the multicourse bill.
Van Dyke's customers put away pounds of pot roast, prime rib and roast turkey, but always save room for Idleberry, fresh strawberry or fresh peach pies.
"We use as much local produce as we can get," Van Dyke explains. "The neighboring farmers have been good to us over the years and we like to use their products. We even make apricot marmalade to serve with our rolls."
Rolling the wheels south and east leads you to the undisputed "best burger" in the state at Ray's Tavern in Green River.
Bob Scott, not Ray, runs the restaurant that features an extra lean, special blend char-broiled burger that's "nothing fancy," but couples with real potato fries and condiments on the side.
"We don't let our burgers sit around and soak up sauce," Scott says. "They come out to you clean with everything off to the side so you can dress it up any way you want."
Scott's run the burger plus stop for more than 20 years, building from a business that catered to river runners and boatmen, but now includes heavy family and recreational traffic on the Moab outdoor exploration run.
Teriyaki chicken and a 45-minute pork chop extend the burger business, but most folks grab the burger and run.
"We get them backed up some on weekends," Scott explains, "but we always say how long they'll have to wait. Sometimes it's amazing that we have a house full waiting 45 minutes for a burger so we must be doing something right."
Mark Leavitt made the right decision when he expanded the family trout farm business to a restaurant and inn on U-24 in Loa. The Road Creek Ranch Inn opened only three years ago, but quickly increased business at the adjoining restaurant.
"The original building was a farmer's co-op built back in 1912," Leavitt reports. "It's seen a variety of businesses since, like egg candling, an IFA, and a grocery store, but then it was boarded up for at least 15 years before we opened a little 15-seat eating place."
Now a full-service restaurant, Road Creek claims a chef with more than 10 years Park City experience.
"Rod Weiss decided he wanted to be a fly fishing guide," Leavitt explains, "and it just happened that we needed a chef. He's found the best of both worlds now; he's a guide in the daytime and cooks at night."
The get-away site draws fly fishermen from many locations as well as folks who book weekend retreats.
"We just had a couple from England here for the third time and they rescheduled for December," Leavitt says. "They make this a headquarters while they explore the parks. Can you imagine Loa as a destination point from London?"
That's part of the surprise package on the blue road diners: distinctive, home-style cooking and a bundle of striking rural scenery.
Add the neighborly hometown restaurants to your summer-see-the-sights-of-Utah itinerary.