Alton Brown On His Favorite Food Around The Country — And Why He Won't Tell You Where To Get It – Exclusive

Alton Brown says he's not naturally a good cook. But he understands the science behind a good meal. Since the early days of Food Network's "Good Eats," (and "Good Eats'" return, in 2019) Brown has educated audiences and hosted competing chefs with his trademark humor on a handful of network shows. He's also produced 10 books over that timeframe, including his latest, "Food for Thought: Essays and Ruminations," which came out in February. Now, he's touring around the country, making more than 60 stops with what's described as a culinary variety show called Last Bite.

One would think that with Brown's culinary chops and the chance to visit some of the United States' most iconic food destinations in quick succession, the tour would be a buffet of, well, good eats. However, that's not the case. When The Takeout caught up with Brown while he was stopped in New Hampshire, eager to get some of his top recommendations for restaurants around the country, those he loved or looked forward to during his tour, he quickly shut that down. While he has lots of favorite foods to rave about, he's not going to tell you where he gets them. In fact, he's not even doing all that much dining out while on the road anyway — and he has pretty good reasons for both.

This Q&A has been edited for clarity and length.

We want to talk about some of your favorite places to eat around the country while you're on tour.

You're going to hate this... Every time I went on tour [in the past, I would] gather up recommendations from people for the places to eat in their communities. You learn so much about a community by the food that they hold up as theirs, and it doesn't matter if it's good. It isn't sometimes actually very good, but it's theirs. There's always an identity story tucked away in that.

On my last tour, Beyond the Eats — I'm not going to say what city it was — but everybody was like, "Well, you've got to go to here. You've got to go here. You got to go here." And I went to this place for lunch on the day of the show, and I ate what everybody told me I had to eat, and I ended up with such bad food poisoning that I almost missed two shows.

So, I don't eat anything anymore in the cities that I'm touring [in]. I basically live on cans of sardines. Occasionally, if we bring in late-night food from someplace, if there's something that's just been cooked to death, I'll eat it because I'm so freaking hungry, but I can't risk getting sick. I can't because there's no stand-in. There's no, "Tonight the part of Alton Brown is being played by X." So I haven't eaten in one single city on the tour so far.

Okay. Can we talk about some of your favorite places around the country that you've eaten at in the past?

Instead of naming places — because places change hands, places close — what I would rather talk about is the kind of food that I find cities and towns will hold up as things that they're proud of. Typically, they're multi-generational restaurants. It can be a frozen custard place out on the edge of town that has become the touchstone for everyone in that community. Or it's a pizza place, or it's a meat and three cafeteria.

There'll always be, no matter how big or small the town, a few places, usually no more than three, that the locals will be like, "If we had a flag, this place would be on our flag." What I have found so interesting through the years is that, in some cases, the restaurants that are most defended as being the most critical to the identification of the town had the crappiest food.

The reason for that, I have come to believe, has to do with there's a point to which the identity of the community is no longer based upon the quality to an outsider. For instance, there's a town in Mississippi... where everyone absolutely raves and goes on and on about this one particular barbecue place. It's a barbecue place that's been there for three generations. It's a very interesting crossroad — racially, socioeconomically. It's almost like when you were a kid, if you ever played a schoolyard game where there was a safe area, like a safe zone [or] your time-out place — there are places that are like that, especially in the South. The food was horrendous... I mean, I'm telling you, the food is terrible. I know what I'm talking about. But its value to that community was ginormous.

And besides, there's a danger. If the food that you identify with the most [as a town] is really good, what happens when everyone starts to co-opt it? Look what happened to Buffalo, New York. The Buffalo wing took over the entire country, and most Buffalo wings are terrible. In fact, the place that invented Buffalo wings in Buffalo, New York, is terrible, but there are other places that really make great Buffalo wings.

When you're thinking of these different places and cities you're going to, are there any you feel are not really known for their food yet but are going to be one day?

Nothing's under the radar anymore. It's so difficult to find a place that's under the radar because so many seasons of "Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives" had to go find these places. Everyone's been discovered. It's so difficult now to find a place that's under the radar. I want them. I crave them because they're doing it for a reason besides social media notoriety. They are few and far between... I know a lot of little restaurants that make the food they make because it looks good on Instagram. No other reason. Or they're losing money on a dish because it's Instagrammable, not because it tastes good.

That whole kind of hidden, wonderful jewel of a meal has become incredibly difficult to find. It's kind of depressing to me because when I made my road show ... called "Feasting on Asphalt," it was a cross-country motorcycle [road trip] where we had no plans, nothing but a compass heading, and we discovered really great food.

I came to the conclusion that, you know what? There's really good food in every city in America now... but undiscovered? That's really difficult now.

When I think of cities on your tour route that are up-and-coming in terms of their food scene, I think of cities with very distinct food scenes, like Pittsburgh and Cincinnati.

Pittsburgh and Cincinnati are fantastic food towns. Oh my gosh. Some of the best Italian food in this country is served in Pittsburgh. Cincinnati has got an unbelievable food scene [from] the whole German influx there... Those food towns alone, I would say, rival New York and Los Angeles. You've got to look for it, though. You do have to put some effort in.

You do, especially compared to some of the other cities on your tour that might be known for their barbecue or pizza.

You've got to be aware of those places. Anytime you say, "such-and-such is known for," I can almost guarantee you the quality has gone downhill. The second you say, "something-something is known for," I immediately take a step back because the sheer act of being known changes the dynamic of the food.

Would you say then that the best place to go for barbecue now is somewhere less known versus a St. Louis, Kansas City, or Memphis?

The best barbecue in the United States is in western Kentucky.

Where at in western Kentucky?

I'm not going to freaking tell you. I'm not telling you the name of the place. No, not doing it. I am not doing it. You know why? Because the guy that runs that place is probably perfectly happy with business exactly the way it is. Not everyone wants notoriety, and I am not going to do that without that person's permission.

But I'll tell you this. It's mutton. They're serving mutton, not pig and not cow. They're serving mutton. You know why? Because you can still get mutton that tastes like something in America. It's very difficult to get pork that tastes like anything in America, which is why everybody uses so much barbecue sauce.

What about with pizza? Beyond Chicago or New York City, is there another city doing it well?

There is very, very, very good pizza in Chicago, and it's all on the South Side. It's deep in the South Side. Not going to say where, but I know where it is. I can get to it, but I'm not going to tell you what it is because I don't want them to have to deal with that... There is really, really good pizza in Des Moines, Iowa. There is really good pizza in Omaha, Nebraska.

What's their style?

To me, pizza all breaks down into how it's cooked... Most of the Chicago pizza that I really like down on the South Side is what I call deck pizza. It's cooked in deck ovens the way New York slice pizza is, as opposed to Neapolitan or a real, real, real high-heat wood-fire oven, which is a completely different style, or a deep-dish style, like the Pizza Uno style of Chicago, which I think is more fondue than pizza, personally, but some people like it.

So I'm going to call it deck pizza. The real differences come down to really small eccentricities in dough fermentation, sauce style, and toppings.

You could drop me in any part of the United States, and I'd like to think that after three pizzas, I'd be able to tell you where I was exactly, but I've gotten rusty. I need to clean up my pizza game, most likely. I'm obsessed with pizza.

Is there any meal or restaurant that, after you finally get to go back home, that you're looking forward to, since you, as you said, are living off cans of sardines?

Can I be really honest with you? I just want my wife to make me dinner. I find a meal made for you by someone who loves you to be so much more satisfying than anything a restaurant can sell you... I got into the whole food science thing because I'm not naturally a good cook. I'm not, but if I understand it, I can do it.

My wife doesn't actually know anything about food and yet is the most wonderful cook that I've ever known. She's the most natural. She's like a witch. When she just decides to make me a pot of soup, it's always the best thing I've ever eaten. So, I really just want to go home.

Is there a particular thing that she makes that's your favorite?

She makes this cauliflower curry soup that just warms me down to the bottom of my cold little soul. She brings me that dish, and she puts it in front of me, and it's so steamy, and it's wonderful, and I feel so loved when she makes that soup for me.

In the end, I think that if Americans felt more love when they got fed, we wouldn't be so obese. We wouldn't be so looking for love in the wrong place. Because you know what? Nobody in a restaurant is ever going to love you. There's no restaurant chef that loves you. They're going to feed you as much fat, salt, and flavor as needed to get you to come back and spend more money. When you are fed out of love, that's actual nourishment.

Last question: What did you actually eat for dinner last night?

We had a day off yesterday... and the problem with having Mondays off... is that most of the good restaurants in any given town are closed on Mondays. That's just the general rule in food service. So, an associate of mine and I went and had a hamburger, like a smash burger at a bar because that's what was open.

See upcoming stops on the Alton Brown Live: Last Bite tour at www.altonbrownlive.com.