For hungry photographers

As I was looking for the next great shot on the road last week, it occurred to me that "people's gotta eat." (Sorry, that's an inside joke that a few people that know me will get.)

So I thought regardless of their photographic potential, I would throw out some of my favorite places to pick up a decent meal in South Dakota. I will continue this as we go along, but here are the first two that popped into my head.

In the southeast corner of the state, Charlie's Pizza is at 804 Summit Street in Yankton and has been around for as long as I can remember. This is my favorite pizza anywhere. The crusts are thin and extra salty, which gives them a very distinct and unique flavor. Decor leans toward old movies at Charlie's, and the menu titles reflect that as well. I highly recommend the shrimp, crab, black and green olives known as "Marilyn's Mermaid Heaven."

For the photographer on the go, gas station food isn't out of the norm. When you got up later than you wanted to get to that perfect location before sunrise, or are grabbing a quick bite in the middle of a productive day of shooting, even "fast food" sometimes isn't fast enough.

So if you are shooting in the Deadwood-Lead area of the northern Black Hills, stop by Fresh Start Convenience Store on Highway 14 in Central City. This is as far as I know the only place you can get the local delicacy known as King's Pasties. (That's "pass-tees," not "paste-ies.")

King's Grocery used to serve the miners who spent their working hours deep underground in the Homestake Gold Mine in Lead. Pasties were what the miners packed in their lunch pails as they descended into the tunnels. After the mine closed in 2002, so did the grocery store. However, the pasties were so popular that a continuing outlet for them was found at the Fresh Start.

So what's a pasty? It's like a meat pot pie without the pot, or a pie crust with some kind of filling rolled up inside and baked. My favorite is beef, potatoes and onions, but you can also get a pizza pasty, a sausage and sauerkraut pasty, or a breakfast pasty with eggs, cheese, etc.

Pasties were apparently imported from tin mines in Cornwall, England to the copper mines of the Upper Peninsula of Michigan, where they have become an even bigger deal than in South Dakota. Somewhere along the line, I'm guessing miners from Michigan came to Lead to work the gold mines, and the rest is culinary history. If you are really interested, check out: http://www.absolutemichigan.com/dig/michigan/real-michigan-food-the-pasty/.