“500 Things to Eat Before It’s too Late: and the Very Best Places to Eat Them” ($19.95, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt) should not be read by the hungry. Jane and Michael Stern have been making it tough to take in anything they write without a hot, juicy, cheese-oozing burger nearby since the ’70s, when they put out the first edition of “Roadfood,” and this sort of a “best of” food from the road is just as enticing. From biscuits made in the South to cherry pies in the Midwest and mid-Atlantic crab cakes, the dishes are described so well your mouth will water. How about ham that is “glistening pink hot off the grill, golden brown in a few splotches, bubbled up in the center and crisp at its edge” from Taylor Ham in New Jersey, or “green chili, radiating full vegetable taste, spilled all over the eggs and laced with thick veins of melted cheese” from the Frontier in Albuquerque? Lengthy descriptions, followed by addresses, phone numbers, and websites in the rare cases they have ’em. This is a good one to keep in the glove compartment.
Kyle Wagner
