Destinations: Car-culture dining

Offbeat locations have become so commonplace for ambitious restaurants that today’s newcomers “can no longer trade on novelty factor alone,” said Phoebe Lovatt in FirstWeFeast.com. Though three of the coolest restaurants we know of encourage customers to think of them as roadside pit stops, there’s a lot more to them than their backstories.

Xiao Bao Biscuit Charleston, S.C. Pull up to this whitewashed former gas station, now dressed up in dashes of Carolina blue, and you’ll be able to feast on “an exciting mix of Thai, Chinese, Vietnamese, and Laotian dishes,” many of them given “savvy” Southern-style spins by the husband-and-wife team of Joshua Walker and Duolan Li. 224 Rutledge Ave., (843) 743-3880

Olio/Elaia St. Louis. Israeli-American chef Ben Poremba runs two Mediterranean-inspired restaurants in one roadside complex. At Olio, a converted 1930s Standard Oil station, he serves “simple but delicious” small plates like bay-scallop ceviche; at Elaia, which is tucked into an attached home, the changing menu features more-ambitious fare, like pig ear all’Amatriciana. 1634 Tower Grove Ave., (314) 932-1088

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BullValley Roadhouse Port Costa, Calif. The newest foodie destination in the San Francisco Bay area is a “ramshackle dock town��� where a handsome annex to a run-down Victorian hotel plays at being a rough-and-tumble roadhouse. Don’t be fooled: “Serious cooking is going down in the Bull Valley Roadhouse, and it’s of the ‘braised lamb shank, roasted eggplant, heirloom tomato, Jimmy Nardello peppers’ variety.”

14 Canyon Lake Dr., (510) 787-1135