As travelers in search of America’s most delicious food served in the most memorable restaurants, we seldom spend more than $25 on a meal for two. Usually, it is less than that. Don’t misunderstand: we love slicing into prime porterhouse at Peter Luger in Brooklyn and dallying over an impeccable lunch at The French Laundry in California wine country, even if those rarified experiences easily tally triple digit prices. But in today’s economy, with business travelers’ food stipends whittled to the bone and most of our own personal budgets on a tight leash, the big splurge is a rarity. Dining on a budget is reality.

That’s just fine in our book, because it has long been our contention that the meals most expressive of what is good and special about American cuisine are the casual ones, not the big deals. We are a nation that does our best when we can be informal, and that’s exactly the way some of our most wonderful food is served. Nowhere else on earth can you savor barbecue the way it’s slow-cooked in and around Austin, Texas, where butter-tender brisket* is cut to order and presented to you at the counter wrapped up in butcher paper that then serves not only as a plate, but as a drop cloth for all that will ooze and spill when you sit down to eat it—with your fingers or maybe the flimsy plastic fork provided. There’s not a chef in Naples who can make Neapolitan pizza to compare with the masterpiece pies served in the extremely humble pizzerias of Boston, New Haven and New Jersey.* Likewise, you will be eating spectacularly well (and get change from a $10 bill) when you sit down to a plate of carne adovada* (chile-saturated pork) in Albuquerque, fried chicken* in Nashville, a half-yard-long catfish po boy* in New Orleans and the glorious pig sandwich* of Memphis.

For business travelers, these low-cost local specialties turn what could have been a bland trip into an unforgettable memory. The dining experience offers the kind of ambience, personality and local color that all the money in the world cannot buy. If you like oysters, you haven’t lived until you’ve visited a place called Bowen’s Island* outside Charleston, South Carolina, for an oyster roast, where local bivalves are cooked over an open fire, then delivered to you by the shovelful (literally). As you gobble down the nuggets of sweet marine meat, you toss shells into the trash can located beneath a hole in the center of each wooden table. Not too long ago, on a hunt for the best crawfish in Cajun country, we spent an evening at a friendly roadhouse called D.I.’s*, where the spiced, boiled crawdads arrived piled high on beer trays to the tune of live Cajun zydeco music being hummed, strummed, drummed and fiddled on the restaurant’s makeshift stage. If you check this out next time your job takes you to these parts, we promise you’ll totally forget you are there on business.

We recently entertained a documentary film crew from Germany who were interested in seeing what and how Americans eat. They were on their way to Boston, so we took them a roundabout way through the White Mountains of New Hampshire and stopped in the heart of the sugar bush at Polly’s Pancake Parlor.* They loved the elegant whole-grain and cornmeal pancakes and, to them, the maple syrup Yankees take for granted was a kind of exotic Holy Grail. They were flabbergasted by all the fantastic things Polly’s does with sap from the trees outside, turning it into syrup, sugar and a thick creamy-sweet spread, as well as boiling it with local apples to make an amber-hued “maple hurricane sauce” for topping pancakes, waffles, ice cream or anything else in sight. These visitors enjoyed a meal utterly unique to America. At $10 for all you can eat, it is our nominee for the most deliciousness for the least amount of money.

Some places, like Polly’s, have earned exalted reputations and are culinary landmarks. Others, like D.I.’s, are little-known, except by regulars. And now you can consider your executive-self in the know! In future blog postings, we will offer tips about how to find the obscure culinary gems, how to avoid the tourist traps and, of course, how not to spend a lot of money doing so.

EXACT WHEREABOUTS:

* Brisket: Louie Mueller’s, 206 W. 2nd, Taylor, TX (512) 352-6206
* Pizza: Santarpio’s, 111 Chelsea St., East Boston, MA (617) 567-9871
Pepe’s Pizzeria Napoletana, 157 Wooster St., New Haven, CT (203) 865-5762
De Lorenzo Tomato Pies, 530 Hudson Street, Trenton, NJ (609) 695-9534
* Carne Adovada: Frontier, 2400 Central SE., Albuquerque, NM (505) 266-0550
* Fried Chicken: Prince’s, 123 Ewing Dr., Nashville, TN (615) 226-9442
* Catfish Po Boy: Parkway Bakery, 538 Hagen Ave., New Orleans, LA (504) 482-3047
* Pig Sandwich: Cozy Corner, 745 N. Parkway, Memphis, TN (901) 527-9158
* Bowen’s Island: 1870 Bowens Island Rd., Charleston, SC (843) 795-2757
* D.I.’s: Highway 97, Basile, LA (337) 432-5141
* Polly’s Pancake Parlor: Route 117, Sugar Hill, NH (603) 823 5575