As the Democratic candidates wind up their extended stay in the state of Pennsylvania, Senator Barack Obama took time off from campaigning to serve as a guest on Monday's episode of The Daily Show. Although most things out of Jon Stewart's mouth are very tongue-in-cheek, his Roadfood recommendation of Primanti Brothers at the end of the interview was one thing that was entirely sincere. Sure, he lacks the culinary vocabulary of Jane and Michael Stern, but we'd still be willing to make a trip to Pittsburgh for food that is "crazy good!"

With the Roadfood.com tour of Texas only a week away, I've been thinking a lot about barbecue and revisited this video I made a while back at Smitty's (formerly Kreuz) in Lockhart, Texas. It now looks like Bud Royer of Round Top will be bringing us a bunch of pies to have for dessert after we enjoy Smitty's great barbecue.

As die-hard fans of the Yankee Doodle Coffee Shop in New Haven, Connecticut, we were crushed when we received news of their unexpected closing on January 29th of this year. However, within days, a fund-raising group had been formed (Save the Doodle: www.thedoodle.com) and the word on the street was that the 12-stool diner would likely re-open in a new location around the corner. When we recently turned to the 'net to see if there was any new news about the re-opening, we came across this video of the Lancraft Fife and Drums Corps of North Haven playing Yankee Doodle (which happens to be the state song of Connecticut!) in front of...well...the Doodle. The performance was part of an effort to raise awareness about the Save the Doodle campaign (Warning: this is definitely amateur photography. If movies like the Blair Witch Project and Cloverfield make you queasy, you may want to close your eyes and just give it a listen!)

Several years ago comedian Bill Kirchenbauer put together a pilot for a "Road Food" television program.  None of the networks picked up on the idea from what I can only assume that he was ahead of his time.  Today you will find several shows on the Travel Channel and Food Network covering the same material.

Bill will be joining us at Threadgill's on Friday night of the Roadfood eating tour.  Registered users of Roadfood.com can still pickup tickets.