Alice Eats: P&H Truck Stop

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Route 302 & I-91 - (exit 17 off I-91), Wells River 429-2141

After hours spent on the open road, a trucker needs some great grub to break up the day. It's the same for me, except my open road is the 7 Nights guide. Our sedentary lifestyles should preclude us from eating big, fat, rich meals, but when faced with a place like P&H, resistance is futile.

Mine is one of the only cars in the lot at P&H – every other vehicle is an 18-wheeler. There's a small store out front selling all the basics. Upstairs, there are showers for drivers grubby after a long haul. Clearly many trucks have come a good distance – the menu is in French as well as English.

And what a menu it is.

Breakfast is served all day and many options include home-baked pastry. The french toast I tried as part of The Truckers Special ($9.99) was Texas-thick and incredibly airy. The toasted maple nut bread seemed redundant on the plate, until I tried it. Spread with apple-cinnamon jelly, it was a fabulous meal in itself. A pair of eggs arrived perfectly over-medium, hash browns crisp on the outside and tender inside, and sausages juicy and tangy.

There's an array of burgers on the menu, all named after trucks, but I went for a frequent special instead. My patty of Blue Mountain elk ($7.59, pictured) was so magnificently seasoned it required no ketchup. I requested it medium rare. It came to me medium well, but sufficiently juicy that I forgave the busy line cooks.

My favorite dish at the P&H was their kitchen's take on chicken-fried chicken ($8.59). The meat was juicy on the inside and the thick crust remained crispy even under a layer of yellow gravy. The side of mashed potatoes had to have been 60% butter. I usually don't especially care for non-garlic, non-smashed potatoes, but these blew my mind.

After 3.5 meals, I didn't have room for dessert, so I stocked up at the bakery counter. The coconut cream pie was wonderfully airy, as was the maple and chocolate glazed doughnut. I found my blueberry corn muffin too moist. I felt like Mr. Ed trying to remove it from the walls of my mouth. The cream puff overflowed the burger-sized container in which it came. Although I ate it three days after buying it, that too was light and luscious. That said, my favorite dessert at the P&H was still the mashed potatoes.

Comments

[Madeleine]

I'm SO GLAD you finally reviewed this place! You should have gotten some pie or a loaf of their homemade bread, too -- although I'd not surprised you held off for this trip.

I went to Lyndon State College, and trips to P&H were a monthly Saturday night (late night, like 2am late) tradition. We'd load up the car with hungry kids, stuff ourselves with sides of homemade toast and slabs of pie, and ride home satiated and smiling! Good memories :)

[Lou McKenna]

Hooray for P&H, I used to work there as a summer job!! My favorite was always the Reese's Pie, SO good!