EYW Blog

We always wish we had more time to explore the nooks and crannies of the New England coast, the quaint downtowns and salty enclaves nestled between our usual destinations of New Haven, Providence, Boston, and Cape Cod. But until we make that rambling road trip happen, we are content with stopovers for good grub on our way up the coast to visit the Cape every summer. Recent years have taken us to Cranston for an icy Del’s lemonade and to Fall River for our favorite Portuguese pastries, but this year we had seafood on the brain. Here are a few great new-to-us spots:
 

Abbott’s Lobster in the Rough
Generally the first thing that comes to mind when we’re in the car, driving north...

A brief interlude to pay homage to a beloved car and that most freeing of pursuits: the road trip.

“I may not have gone where I intended to go, but I think I have ended up where I intended to be.” –Douglas Adams

Last week Scott and I received word from Sydney that our beloved Betsy—a 1984 Ford Laser we bought in Melbourne in 2003—was headed for the scrap yard. In an instant, a flood of memories, some of the best of our shared life, rushed forth—a testament to the role this car, and the epic road trip we embarked upon in it, played in our collective traveling past.

It was April 2003. We’d already quit our New York advertising jobs, put all our stuff in storage, spent a month...

Inside the now-defunct Billy's Cafe, Fall River. Photos by Scott Rosen.

Fall River, Massachusetts, is the kind of town most people drive through to get someplace else. Once a center of textile manufacturing, it’s long since fallen on rough economic times, and is now rather gray and desolate in stretches, even despite the picturesque Braga Bridge and “Gates of the City,” the latter a gift from its sister city in the Azores. For us, it’s usually a pit stop en route to Cape Cod. Fortunately, there’s always been something in Fall River that makes pulling off the highway worth our while: killer Portuguese food.

Pastéis de nata from a Fall River bakery

Fall River, along with other...

Felisa Rogers drove from Oregon to Oaxaca (and back) this winter in search of the perfect down-and-dirty, no-nonsense torta. Here are a few of her favorites.

A torta in Mexico City

The delights of driving the length of Mexico are manifold, but in my world, the taco and the torta reign supreme. On a recent 6,500-mile odyssey to Mexico and back, an unspoken mission developed: I’d find the best tortas, from the best hole-in-the-wall torterias.

Many classy restaurants in Mexico serve tortas, or sandwiches, but I see no reason to order a torta at a nice restaurant. The primary point is the price—typically, any establishment in Mexico that calls itself a restaurant is going to...