http://www.lawrence.com/users/photos/2013/aug/28/260657/

The fall issue of Kansas! magazine, its food edition, features the mag’s 20 favorite restaurants statewide, and four of them are in Lawrence. Locals won’t be in for any surprises here; those four restaurants are the oft-touted 715, Free State Brewing Co., WheatFields and the Burger Stand.

But get a few hours away, and there are plenty more spots the magazine promises are worth a try. I’ve been to a handful, but here’s a few of the ones I hadn’t heard of and would totally stop at on my next road trip: Gella’s Diner & Lb. Brewing Co., a craft brewery and pub in Hays; Pho Hoa One, an authentic Vietnamese spot in Garden City; the Brookville Hotel, serving legendary skillet-fried chicken in Abilene; and Beethoven’s #9, a southern German restaurant in Paola (what?!).

The magazine also has a story on Wichita’s food truck scene — the city has nearly a dozen, enough for a monthly food truck rally — and features on three Kansas natives and restaurant chefs nominated this year for James Beard Foundation honors — Scott Benjamin of 4 Olives Restaurant and Wine Bar in Manhattan, Carl Thorne-Thomsen of Story in Prairie Village and Colby Garrelts of Rye in Leawood.

P.S. Kansas! magazine is sold at bookstores and museum gift shops across the state. For more information or to subscribe, go online to travelks.com/ks-mag. Sunflower Publishing publishes Kansas! magazine and is owned by the World Company, which also owns the Journal-World.

Tips welcome!

Try something unusual or know of something interesting going on at a Lawrence restaurant? Send me an email at sshepherd@ljworld.com or contact me on Twitter @saramarieshep. For more local food and restaurant news, click here.