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If the cost of gas makes the haul out to Howard County's pick-your-own Larriland Farm seems unwise, even for a cooler-load of luscious strawberries, allow us to sweeten the pot by giving up our favorite post-picking lunch spot. Not even 100 yards to the east of the traffic circle at state highways 94 and 144, between I-70 and Larriland, sits Town Grill, crammed into the back of the cluttered convenience store half of a Citgo station. As the generic name suggests, Town Grill offers standard eat-in and takeout breakfast and lunch options, as well as a sampling of Latin staples such as tacos and pozole, none of which we've tried thanks to the pair of trailer-mounted smokers parked beside the building. The pit beef (sandwich $5.49, sub $6.99) delivers thinly sliced smoky beef with barbecue sauce on a fluffy roll, the perfect belly filler after a morning of stooping in the fields. Likewise, the pulled pork (sandwich $5.99,sub $6.99) is serious business, a pile of smoky pig shreds in more of that good sauce. The coleslaw side (99 cents) is serviceable, not special, but we happily can't say the same about the perfectly done hand-cut fries ($1.79), never mealy and soon gone. Maybe it's not worth the drive in and of itself, but if you're out that way with good things to eat on the brain, it's a godsend. And there's a real-deal 10-percent-milkfat ice cream vendor on the premises, too.

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