Skip The Tourist Traps With Rick Steves' Secret To Finding Traditional Local Food

Many of us travel with our tastebuds leading the way. From all the different, amazing rice dishes around the globe to assorted pancake preparations in various regions, there is literally a world of delicious, fascinating food out there to try. That's reason enough to plan excursions near and far, but if you're going through that work and spending the money to do so, you want to know that you're getting the real deal when it comes to regional dishes, right? One of our favorite authorities on how to get the most from your travels, Rick Steves, has sage advice for avoiding tourist traps and finding genuine, traditional eats wherever you are.

It's as simple as making a right or left turn, really. In an interview with Travel & Leisure, Steves says that he typically eschews a city's main drag that might be loaded with tourist attractions or lined with luxury shops. This often means the restaurants on that street — commonly not even locally owned — are serving up watered-down, visitor-friendly cuisine or that they're incredibly pricey and hard to get a table at, or both. You want to eat where the locals eat in order to get a feel for the real food, the real culture, and the real atmosphere. So just turn off that busy road and find the smaller eateries on side streets. They promise to be a little to a lot more affordable, you're more likely to get in quickly, and you'll know you're getting the true cuisine.

When you find a spot that's "just packed with locals eating, that's going to be a great dinner," Rick Steves said in the same interview of those side-street restaurants. A local crowd is always a good sign that you've steered clear of an overpriced, not-truly-local meal. And locals tend not to hang out on streets where there are more tourist attractions than businesses they need or want to frequent in everyday life. For example, want to find the absolute best pizza in New York City? You won't track it down at a Sbarro in Times Square. Follow real New Yorkers to Scarr's Pizza on the Lower East Side, L'Industrie Pizzeria in Williamsburg, Lucali in Carroll Gardens, or L&B Spumoni Gardens in Bensonhurst.

You always want to explore new places with safety in mind, so it's not a bad idea to map some of this venturing out beforehand. When you're looking at where the theater or museum you're going to is and seeking a place to eat afterward, zoom into some of the side streets around it rather than looking at the restaurants in the destination's immediate vicinity. It's also an excellent idea to befriend a server or bartender at one of your early finds — they'll likely be happy to let you in on where locals love. Take another Rick Steves tip and skip your hotel's continental breakfast in places like Europe – often inauthentic — so that you can get walking and asking locals for their recommendations.