{"id":807,"date":"2016-10-05T15:23:51","date_gmt":"2016-10-05T19:23:51","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.agooddish.com\/?p=807"},"modified":"2016-10-05T12:24:57","modified_gmt":"2016-10-05T16:24:57","slug":"planning-to-find-a-good-meal-on-the-road","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.agooddish.com\/?p=807","title":{"rendered":"Planning to find a good meal on the road (and getting lucky)"},"content":{"rendered":"<figure id=\"attachment_811\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-811\" style=\"width: 736px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-811\" src=\"http:\/\/www.agooddish.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/fish-stew-e1475683051642.jpg\" alt=\"Chupe de Mariscos (Seafood Chowder)\" width=\"736\" height=\"613\" srcset=\"http:\/\/www.agooddish.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/fish-stew-e1475683051642.jpg 736w, http:\/\/www.agooddish.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/fish-stew-e1475683051642-300x250.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 736px) 100vw, 736px\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-811\" class=\"wp-caption-text\"><span style=\"color: #333333;\">Chupe de Mariscos (Seafood Chowder) <em>Mez\u00f3n Tapas Bar &amp;Restaurant<\/em><\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #333333;\">Finding a decent place to eat while driving on the highway is often a challenge. Recently, I met my mother for lunch in Danbury, Connecticut on a strip of road that one could find almost anywhere in the country running alongside an interstate. There were plenty of chain stores, gas stations and and I thought our choices for lunch would be between the local diner and a sub shop. Happily, I was wrong.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone wp-image-809 size-medium\" src=\"http:\/\/www.agooddish.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/bar-e1475682802505-300x295.jpg\" alt=\" \" width=\"300\" height=\"295\" srcset=\"http:\/\/www.agooddish.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/bar-e1475682802505-300x295.jpg 300w, http:\/\/www.agooddish.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/bar-e1475682802505.jpg 606w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-810 size-medium alignright\" src=\"http:\/\/www.agooddish.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/mezon-e1475682880217-300x230.jpg\" alt=\"mezon\" width=\"300\" height=\"230\" srcset=\"http:\/\/www.agooddish.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/mezon-e1475682880217-300x230.jpg 300w, http:\/\/www.agooddish.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/mezon-e1475682880217.jpg 721w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #333333;\">I am often leery of online reviews &#8211; you need to read them questioningly. This time a little research in advance proved rewarding.\u00a0Yelp and TripAdvisor steered me to<a style=\"color: #333333;\" href=\"http:\/\/www.mezonct.com\"><em> Mez\u00f3n Tapas Bar &amp; Restaurant<\/em><\/a>, set back slightly from the hum of route 6 on one side and the roar of I-84 on the other. Inside there was music playing (which they very accommodating turned down when my mother asked them to) and plenty of space between tables. The restaurant is divided into 2 rooms, one with a bar and the other more of a dining room. Since it was lunch, we ate in the bar and watched it fill up quickly with locals. Our waitress was friendly and patient, explained the &#8220;Spanish\/Latin\/Caribbean fusion&#8221; menu, kept our water glasses full and even got the chef to write down the ingredients in a sauce Mom liked.<\/span><\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_814\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-814\" style=\"width: 712px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-814 size-full\" src=\"http:\/\/www.agooddish.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/yucca-e1475683613239.jpg\" alt=\"Yucca Fries - crispy and tender\" width=\"712\" height=\"401\" srcset=\"http:\/\/www.agooddish.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/yucca-e1475683613239.jpg 712w, http:\/\/www.agooddish.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/yucca-e1475683613239-300x169.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 712px) 100vw, 712px\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-814\" class=\"wp-caption-text\"><span style=\"color: #333333;\">Yucca Fries &#8211; crispy and tender<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<figure id=\"attachment_813\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-813\" style=\"width: 572px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-813\" src=\"http:\/\/www.agooddish.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/grilled-asparagus-e1475683416443.jpg\" alt=\"Grilled Asparagus\" width=\"572\" height=\"288\" srcset=\"http:\/\/www.agooddish.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/grilled-asparagus-e1475683416443.jpg 572w, http:\/\/www.agooddish.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/grilled-asparagus-e1475683416443-300x151.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 572px) 100vw, 572px\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-813\" class=\"wp-caption-text\"><span style=\"color: #333333;\">Grilled Asparagus<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p><span style=\"color: #333333;\">Everything we tried was delicious. From the yucca fries ($5) and grilled asparagus ($5) to the fish tacos (3\/$14) and seafood stew($14) with sea bass and rice, the food was well seasoned and flavorful without being over salted, my main complaint with most restaurants. We didn&#8217;t order them but the sandwiches looked appealing and there were many tapas, salad and meat choices, as well. Prices were quite reasonable for lunch and portions were generous. If you are heading north to see the changing leaves, to ski or for any other reason, remember Mez\u00f3n. I&#8217;m happy to know a tasty place to stop off the highway and you will be, too. And for those of you who live too far afield for this specific information to be of any use, remember to do a little research before getting in the car. You, too, may be rewarded with a surprisingly pleasant meal en route.<\/span><\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_812\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-812\" style=\"width: 803px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-812\" src=\"http:\/\/www.agooddish.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/fish-tacos-e1475683164795.jpg\" alt=\"Generous Fish Tacos\" width=\"803\" height=\"573\" srcset=\"http:\/\/www.agooddish.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/fish-tacos-e1475683164795.jpg 803w, http:\/\/www.agooddish.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/fish-tacos-e1475683164795-300x214.jpg 300w, http:\/\/www.agooddish.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/fish-tacos-e1475683164795-768x548.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 803px) 100vw, 803px\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-812\" class=\"wp-caption-text\"><span style=\"color: #333333;\">Generous Fish Tacos<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #333333;\"><em>Mez\u00f3n Tapas Bar and Restaurant<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #333333;\"><em>56 Mill Plain Road, Danbury, CT 203-748-0875<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/mezonct.com\">mezonct.com<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>&nbsp; Finding a decent place to eat while driving on the highway is often a challenge. Recently, I met my mother for lunch in Danbury, Connecticut on a strip of road that one could find almost anywhere in the country running alongside an interstate. There were plenty of chain stores, gas stations and and I [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":811,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false,"jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false}}},"categories":[20,22],"tags":[],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"http:\/\/www.agooddish.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/fish-stew-e1475683051642.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p7bOe4-d1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.agooddish.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/807"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.agooddish.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.agooddish.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.agooddish.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.agooddish.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=807"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"http:\/\/www.agooddish.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/807\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":818,"href":"http:\/\/www.agooddish.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/807\/revisions\/818"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.agooddish.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/811"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.agooddish.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=807"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.agooddish.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=807"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.agooddish.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=807"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}