Places To dine

Inside the international airport.

I feel your pain. We traveled in the western U.S. and sought out local mom and pop restaurants rather than the chains, if we wanted that we could have stayed home. We found some that were less than memorable but many we would go back to.

I feel your pain. I live in a place where folks wait for hours in line to get a new fast food burger or a greasy donut.

The local places are out there - you just have to move off the highways more. You might try asking at a grocery store for some recommendations on local restaurants.

The mom and pop places are dying off replaced by fast food and chains. Some small towns still have restaurants that have home cooked food. On Wednesday's Romeo Riders pick a small town to ride to for lunch. Some are very good others mediocre.

Where my seasonal is at there is a grocery store with a deli that still makes homemade food from fresh ingredients.

Triple D website has many cool spots. We actually ran into the Goldwing couple a few years back that had been to all of them at the time.

Do a Google Search for the city-town you are interested in and add "Restaurant" to the search. Not all of them will have web sites, but Yelp would have them listed, and they'll be listed or identified on Google Maps. You will find you will need to get away from the main tourist areas to find them. Another thing, they are very seldom, if ever, open 24x7. Usually just a short window of time before lunch to around 6 or 7 pm. And expect a wait period to get a seat. The locals know these places and support them.

There are still many Mom-and-Pop restaurants in Indiana, but they are all small country towns or at some obscure location in somewhat larger towns or cities (at least in Indiana they are). Google works well locating them, but you won't find them anywhere near the main drags or interstates any more it seems. The big chains have monopolized those locations.

We don't drive interstates anyway, unless it's completely unavoidable for where are destination point is. Maybe that's how we find these places. It seems they are never on the main drags.

We enjoy the Black Bear Diner in Bullhead City. It's a chain but does not have the atmosphere of MacDonald's.
The Wagon Wheel restaurant in Needles CA is a great place to eat.

I do a Google search for `________ restaurants' and put the desired location in the blank space. Then take your pick and check out the reviews.
When we travel we like the `home cooking' places usually family run.

It's funny, but it seems in small towns anymore, the only way to avoid the chains is to look for the local Mexican, Chinese, or Italian/pizza restaurants. And a lot of the time the best of those are found in small strip shopping centers.
The other possibility many overlook is Hotels, Some chain hotels still require a restaurant, Quality Inn for example will usually have one.
Non ethnic specialized food is disappearing fast from all but the major chains.

Yesterday, South East Nebraska, DW touring quilt shops. 3 small towns, each listed 2-4 non-chain restaurants on GPS. None open when we started looking for lunch, about 11:30. And most had "For Rent" signs on the buildings. Finally ate at a chain about 2. I wonder if floods are hurting? Or the trade war?
Over the years, when I had time, I have asked utility or city workers where to eat lunch. But as the workers have got younger, they only know of the chains.
When wife and I first started to vacation together we decided to hunt for restaurants the locals used. If we had a good meal, next find another local. But if we got a meal we did not like, go to chain so we knew what we would get...