Pod Insights The Sporkful A Southern Gas Station Road Trip About this episode The South is known for fantastic gas station food, and on today’s show, Dan takes a road trip from Birmingham to Memphis to try some out for himself. He travels across Alabama and Mississippi, eating pimento cheese sandwiches, tacos, fried chicken on a stick, sushi, and a very specific regional pasta dish.
Transcript Speaker names marked ? are inferred from speaking time and the show’s known hosts — they are not voice-verified.
0:00 Dan Pashman? As we turn to fall and the weather starts to cool down, I think of things like crunching leaves. I think of sharing from the sidelines of a soccer game, walking the dog in the woods. And when I think of doing all those things, I'm usually wearing something from LL Bean. Whether it's my puffer vest, my puffer coat, my scarf, whatever you're doing outside this year, you probably need something from LL Bean, whether it's their boots, their Scotch plaid flannel, their rugged field coat, or more. Grab the layers and people you love and get outside. Visit llbean.com to shop the fall collection. LL Bean, be an outsider. Start the day strong with Quaker protein products. Quaker makes it easy and delicious to get a good source of protein. No matter what the day has in store, Quaker protein products give you a variety of ways
0:44 Dan Pashman? to reach your protein goals. Oatmeal, granola, bars, and rice snacks in flavors you already love, like maple and brown sugar and blueberries and cream. Quaker protein helps fuel you to start whatever's next. Get your protein with Quaker. Available at a store near you.
1:02 Dan Pashman? Would you say pimento or pimento? How hard do you pronounce the T? I'm trying to, I'm trying to assimilate here.
1:07 Speaker 01 Pimento, yeah.
1:08 Dan Pashman? Yeah.
1:09 Speaker 01 Yeah.
1:09 Dan Pashman? So, all right.
1:10 Speaker 01 Actually, I won't even tell you how bad I had misspelled the sign. So that's a whole nother thing.
1:16 Dan Pashman? Right.
1:16 Speaker 01 Yeah. That's like, you know.
1:18 Dan Pashman? All right. So I'll say it again. One pimento cheese sandwich.
1:21 Speaker 01 Okay. You could live here.
1:24 Speaker 01 You can be tall.
1:30 Dan Pashman? This is the Sporkful. It's not for foodies, it's for eaters. I'm Dan Pashman. Each week on our show, we obsess about food to learn more about people. And this is our Sporkful Month in the South. Last week, I talked with legendary Memphis restaurateur Karen Blockman Carrier. She shared so many great stories. She talked about growing up in a kosher home in Memphis and throwing a party in high school where one of her friends unwittingly started frying up some bacon. And then, right then, Karen's parents walked in the door. You'll have to listen to find out what happened next. But Karen has cooked for Jack Nicholson and Tom Cruise. She's got stories about that. And she was also so thoughtful discussing how her background as an artist informs her work in food. I hope you check that one out. Today, we have a very different story from the South.
2:14 Dan Pashman? Because before I was in Memphis, I was in Birmingham, Alabama. I went to Birmingham in part because there's a legendary coconut cake there, which I had to eat. It's a coconut pecan cake with a creme anglaise made by the pastry chef Dol Miles at Che Fun Fun, and it was phenomenal. But also, starting in Birmingham would allow me to take a road trip to Memphis via Alabama and Mississippi, stopping in a series of restaurants in gas stations, something the South is famous for. And I should say, this is an episode I've been wanting to do for years. I mean, first off, I love a road trip. And also, I've been hearing about all the great food at southern gas stations for a long time. Finally, I would have my chance.
2:55 Dan Pashman? But before I left, I wanted to learn more about how this came to be a thing in the first place.
3:00 Speaker 02 We are a car-centric culture in the South. We drive a lot. And on our way to somewhere else, you know, we stop and we get gas and we use the bathroom at the gas station and we get snacks at the gas station. And often, you know, we have breakfast or dinner there as well.
3:16 Dan Pashman? This is Kate Medley, a photojournalist who was born and raised in Jackson, Mississippi. Growing up, she says, everyone knew about gas station restaurants, so it didn't seem noteworthy. While she worked toward her master's in Southern Studies at the University of Mississippi, she'd get Indian food from a BP in town. But eventually, she decided that the quality and variety of food at southern gas stations was important. So Kate spent 10 years documenting these places. The result is her book of photography and essays that came out in 2023 called, "Thank You, Please Come Again." And for Kate, it's not just about food. It's also about the folks who run these gas station restaurants.
3:50 Speaker 02 These are the people who are literally keeping us going as we move around the South and beyond. And they're really good at what they do. They're a really integral part of our communities.
4:02 Dan Pashman? Kate says larger changes in the gas station business over the last 30 or 40 years led to the proliferation of these restaurants.
4:09 Speaker 02 You know, I mean, when we look back on the history of gas stations, there's a time that, you know, probably you and I remember where there were... The old mechanics bays in every gas station. And, you know, I think as, as time went on and we see that function set apart from the gas station, removed from the gas station.
4:28 Dan Pashman? The gas station stopped being a place that you would take your car to get it fixed.
4:31 Speaker 02 Correct. Around that same time, you know, we see, you know, convenience store food. The food, the beverage, the cigarettes, the interior offerings became a big profit driver for these businesses. And increasingly, you know, the interior spaces are getting bigger.
4:48 Dan Pashman? In large parts of the country, certainly here in the Northeast where I've spent most of my life, it kind of stopped there. Like, yes, I've noticed that convenience stores and gas stations have gotten bigger and nicer on average, but the food hasn't exactly gotten any better. In the South, the food got better.
5:02 Speaker 02 I would agree. You know, they are crafting their menu and their menu is changing based on, you know, what their customer is coming and saying, well, dang, I wish y'all, you know, had this burger today, or I wish that y'all were selling tacos now. Well, maybe they'll start selling tacos because, you know, Joe Schmo asked for it. You know, you look at a place like the Mississippi Delta and some of these gas stations, they're the only commercial entity for 30 miles. And so they have to be the everything to everybody. They have to be where you fill up your tank. They have to be where you get your live bait. And in some cases, you buy your ammunition, but certainly, you know, you have to be able to buy basic groceries. You want to be able to buy hot food.
5:44 Speaker 02 You want to be able to buy your beer and you want to be able to, you know, have, have a community moment while you do that. These are spaces where people sit around and they talk about the weather and they talk about the economy. They talk about politics. It's often in these rural areas, the only place where people are gathering and sitting around inside on a Tuesday morning.
6:13 Dan Pashman? I was ready to set out on my road trip to experience a bit of Southern gas station food culture for myself. And I wouldn't just be dining on the classic meat and threes you might associate with the region, although there are plenty of those. My itinerary included sushi, tacos, a very specific regional pasta dish and more. I rented a car and skipped breakfast.
6:38 Dan Pashman? Now, not gonna have to go far from our first stop. It's right here in Birmingham. I was looking for Max one stop, a takeout place in a Texaco gas station right in the heart of the University of Alabama at Birmingham. Oh wait, I think I just took a wrong turn. Did I?
6:54 Dan Pashman? As we heard, a lot of the South's best gas station eateries are in more rural areas. And I had some of those on my list. But there are spots in cities that serve the same purpose. After a few loops, I found Max. Inside, it mostly looks like a typical convenience store. A few rows of chips and candy bars, a wall of coolers full of soda and beer. But by the counter, where you might expect to find bubble gum, you'll instead find freshly baked cinnamon buns. If you look past the counter, through an open door, you can see into the kitchen. Yes, in the back of this convenience store, there's a full, working kitchen with two or three people chopping, grilling, and frying. And above that doorway is a menu that includes a jalapeno burger, chicken finger po'boy, homemade chili, and a chalkboard that displays the Wednesday special. Sadly, I was there on a Tuesday.
7:39 Dan Pashman? But from what I saw on Facebook, the Wednesday special could be any kind of meat and three situation. One week recently, it was baked lemon chicken with collard greens, squash casserole, and cornbread.
7:59 Dan Pashman? That helpful person is Heather L., who runs Max with her husband, Alan. She inherited the business from her parents. She'd been working at Max for 37 years.
8:07 Speaker 01 We've always been in the gas station, service station business. Then, probably around 85, the convenience store kinda boomed off. And so my dad started this, so it's been a long 37 years.
8:22 Dan Pashman? So you must be almost 40 now.
8:24 Speaker 01 Oh, you are so kind. So very kind. No, I'm almost 56. So, yeah, a life and one job. I think that's probably... I should get a prize for that. That doesn't happen a lot.
8:37 Dan Pashman? Right, right. When you first started working here... Did you think you'd be here for thirty something years?
8:44 Speaker 01 No, I actually had a desire to be in either fashion, home decor, something along those lines.
8:54 Dan Pashman? But as an only child, Heather always expected she'd have some role in the family business. She just didn't realize it would be such a big one.
9:01 Speaker 01 Back in the late eighties, early nineties, it just took off and it just consumed me. So, yeah, I was like, well, I'll just do this.
9:10 Speaker 01 I'll stay here.
9:11 Dan Pashman? What was it about it that pulled you in like that?
9:15 Speaker 01 Um, to tell you the truth, I think it really has been a lot of just dealing with the people. I mean, most of our customers are lifelong customers that we've had. I would say that a lot of them come in two to three times a day. So, we know them probably more so by name than I get to spend with some of my friends.
9:37 Dan Pashman? As I said, Max is in a busy metro area by the University of Alabama Birmingham, or U A B, which includes a major hospital. In the time I was there, I saw customers in hospital scrubs, construction workers, cops, a mother visiting from Atlanta, whose daughter wanted her to try Max. Almost everyone had clearly been there many times before. The handful of newcomers all said they were there because someone told them they had to try it. Heather says U A B has transformed this part of the city in the decades since she started working at Max.
10:03 Speaker 01 When we were having all of this stuff built up and just overwhelmed with construction workers, we did a lot of, you know, chicken fingers, fries, stuff that they could grab and go that was quick and easy for them. And then, once that kind of slacked off, we went a little bit more to, well, let's think about, you know, homemade chili, or, you know, burgers and patty melts and more specialty sandwiches. So, we also used to make, way back in the day, donuts. But then, when Dunkin' Donuts moves in down the street, we'll let them do that. They can get up early. I'll sleep in that extra hour.
10:46 Speaker 01 But, you know, I mean, you just have to, you kind of have to modify what works best, what your clientele kind of want, and what you can do that is quick and easy, because people want quick, but it's good, quick and easy.
11:01 Dan Pashman? I hear a lot of buzz, especially about the smoked chicken salad sandwich. What's going on with that, Heather? Tell me about it.
11:07 Speaker 01 Well, that is something that my husband decided to do. He's a big griller, cooker out kind of guy. Ended up getting one of those big green eggs for Christmas.
11:18 Dan Pashman? The big green egg, as you may know, is a backyard grill and smoker.
11:22 Speaker 01 But the smoked chicken salad, it's a boneless, skinless chicken that we smoke on the green egg, bring in, make it in-house, keep it pretty, actually, pretty simple. We don't like to mass produce it because we don't want it to be overwhelming. You know, we like to have stuff that kind of, you know, oh, I'm sorry, we're out of that today. And they're like, okay, well, you're gonna have it tomorrow. Oh, okay, well, I'll come back tomorrow.
11:48 Dan Pashman? Right.
11:49 Speaker 01 So, you know, you kind of want to leave them wanting a little bit of something. You don't want to, you know.
11:53 Dan Pashman? It's good to run out once in a while.
11:54 Speaker 01 Yeah, every once in a while, you gotta let people know, hey, okay, that's fresh, just like I told you.
12:00 Dan Pashman? Right.
12:00 Speaker 01 Because we're out of it.
12:01 Dan Pashman? Right, right, right. For many years, the main cook at Max's was Patrick McMillan, but he died during COVID. Two years ago, Preston Lennyard took over the kitchen. Preston went to culinary school and had worked at some other local restaurants.
12:13 Speaker 01 When Preston came, he was like, well, I think we need to expand a little bit and let's try something different. So I'd have to give him all the credit for that because that was way out of my wheelhouse. And I was, I was like, oh goodness, here we go, we change. Okay, we'll try it. But, um, yeah.
12:31 Dan Pashman? What were some of the things he brought in?
12:32 Speaker 01 Oh, now we do, like, our Wednesday specials, now we do, like, hamburger steak, gravy and onions, mashed potatoes, we do yams, we do cabbage. Tomorrow's special is smothered pork chops with broccoli cheese casserole and cabbage.
12:50 Dan Pashman? I could see Preston working, and I wanted to talk to him, but I didn't want to bother him if he was busy. Heather, help me get his attention.
12:56 Speaker 01 Preston, Preston. Oh, he's ignoring me. He's in, hi, why don't you come back here and chit chat for a second? He gets very nervous.
13:09 Dan Pashman? Oh, that's all right, I'll be very, very friendly.
13:11 Speaker 01 He's gonna be very gentle.
13:15 Dan Pashman? Hey Preston, how are you? My name's Dan.
13:17 Speaker 03 How you doing?
13:17 Dan Pashman? Nice to meet you.
13:18 Speaker 03 Alright.
13:18 Dan Pashman? Is it alright if I ask you a few, couple of quick questions?
13:20 Speaker 03 Sure.
13:20 Dan Pashman? Heather says you brought a lot of new additions to the menu. Tell me about that.
13:24 Speaker 03 Well, for right now, we're doing, I do a lot of desserts. My most famous dessert is the red velvet cake and a honey bun cake. And then they fall in love with cookies for some reason. Everybody's a cookie monster.
13:40 Dan Pashman? You might be able to tell I'm here from out of town.
13:42 Speaker 03 Mm-hmm.
13:42 Dan Pashman? And, uh, I live in, in New York.
13:46 Speaker 03 Okay.
13:46 Dan Pashman? And in New York, it's pretty tough to find good food in a gas station. Here in Birmingham and around the south...
13:53 Speaker 03 Some of your best food is in gas stations.
13:55 Dan Pashman? That's right.
13:55 Speaker 03 Yes.
13:56 Dan Pashman? So I think that folks from other parts of the country would be surprised to hear a professionally trained chef like you whipping up all this incredible food from scratch in a gas station.
14:07 Speaker 03 Yeah.
14:10 Speaker 03 Yeah, but I'm telling you, if you want to eat good, follow a trucker.
14:16 Dan Pashman? Okay, follow a trucker.
14:17 Speaker 03 Follow a trucker. And so in gas stations, people want to stop, get something quick and go. And then they're pleasantly surprised when they come in and they can see a full-fledged southern meal. They grab it, go to work, and pleasantly surprised. So that's cool. I like that.
14:32 Dan Pashman? Yeah. And you got a whole lot of regulars here, too?
14:34 Speaker 03 Mm-hmm. Most of our customers are regulars, coming every day. Every day. And I really like to see them. You get to know them, you get to know what they eat. When they walk in the door, you can go ahead and start their food before they even go to the register and fix it. So it's something of a family atmosphere.
14:48 Dan Pashman? Right.
14:49 Speaker 03 And I really like that.
14:50 Dan Pashman? One of the regulars I met was Officer Derek Patton.
14:53 Speaker 04 Alright. I'm gonna get my face ready, 'cause I got a face ready to hold on.
14:58 Dan Pashman? You come here often?
14:59 Speaker 04 Yes, sir. Yes, sir. Based on a daily basis.
15:02 Dan Pashman? Every day?
15:03 Speaker 04 Basically, yes.
15:04 Dan Pashman? So you patrol nearby?
15:05 Speaker 04 Ah, patrol nearby and eat nearby. So, yeah, I do a little bit of both.
15:10 Dan Pashman? Do you have one go-to on the menu?
15:13 Speaker 04 Uh, lately, right now, since it's kinda cool outside, the chili right now.
15:18 Dan Pashman? Does that come with any fixins? You got any?
15:19 Speaker 04 Uh, I normally just do chili. Uh, you can do with cheese. I normally do like old school with a grilled cheese.
15:26 Dan Pashman? Oh, you got a grilled cheese sandwich on the side?
15:28 Speaker 04 Yeah, you can.
15:29 Dan Pashman? And you dip that into the chili a little bit?
15:30 Speaker 04 Yes, sir, with some crackers as well. They got good cooks back there, great cooks. I'm gonna say great, great cooks.
15:35 Dan Pashman? Okay.
15:36 Speaker 04 So that's really, uh, does the job, uh, well.
15:39 Dan Pashman? Now you're making me wanna dip a grilled cheese in some chili.
15:41 Speaker 04 Hey, go ahead. I'm telling you, better go. They ran out last time, so I had to make sure I put my order in before they run out, so.
15:46 Dan Pashman? Gonna get on it quick.
15:47 Speaker 04 Yes, sir.
15:49 Dan Pashman? Heather wasn't kidding about letting things run out. I put in my order, got my food, got back to my car to eat.
15:58 Dan Pashman? Okay, this is the smoked chicken salad at Max's.
16:02 Dan Pashman? Very famous for this. Ooh, this looks good.
16:07 Dan Pashman? I don't know if I've ever had a smoked chicken salad sandwich, and it is very different. I mean, more different than I would have expected. Toasted white bread, lettuce, tomato, smoked chicken salad, tons of flavors, super simple, super fresh. To the pimento cheese sandwich.
16:24 Dan Pashman? Mmm. That is some really good pimento cheese. That's all you need, really. Oh, I got some on my microphone. Not the first time.
16:34 Dan Pashman? All right, one last thing to cover is Chef Preston's homemade cinnamon bun, which they warmed up for me.
16:41 Dan Pashman? I'm gonna start with the part of the cinnamon bun that's the most frosting, which also might be the messiest, but I gotta be me.
16:48 Dan Pashman? I mean, warm cinnamon bun. What else you want me to say? The best.
16:56 Dan Pashman? After Max's, my appetite was prime, but I didn't finish everything because I had four more stops ahead of me. I dropped my rental car into drive and hit the gas.
17:06 Dan Pashman? All right, I'm on the highway out of Birmingham, ready for stop number two. Gas station sushi.
17:15 Dan Pashman? That's coming up after the break. Stick around.
17:23 Speaker 05 Ooh, advertisements, yummy.
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19:37 Dan Pashman? Pick up a bottle for your next laundry day. As we turn to fall and the weather starts to cool down, I think of things like crunching leaves. I think of sharing from the sidelines of a soccer game, walking the dog in the woods. And when I think of doing all those things, I'm usually wearing something from LL Bean. Whether it's my puffer vest, my puffer coat, my scarf, whatever you're doing outside this year, you probably need something from LL Bean. Whether it's their boots, their Scotch plaid flannel, their rugged field coat, or more. Grab the layers and people you love and get outside. Visit llbean.com to shop the fall collection. LL Bean, be an outsider. As someone who has been lucky enough to go to Napa Valley, I can tell you, it's everything
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21:17 Dan Pashman? Welcome back to The Sporkful. I'm Dan Pashman. As I mentioned at the top, we're doing shows based in the South all month long here on The Sporkful. Next week, we'll hear the story of legendary Southern chef Edna Lewis. Then after that, we'll have the story of a barbecue pitmaster and preacher in rural Tennessee. For last week's show, I was live in Memphis with the restaurateur Karen Blockman Carrier. Her restaurants have dishes and flavors from all over the world, but growing up in Memphis in an Orthodox Jewish household, her exposure to food was more limited.
21:43 Speaker 06 So I went to this place called Berkels Bakery, and this waitress came up and she goes, you know, what do you want? I said, well, what's catfish? And she looked at me, she had teased red hair and her big eyebrows painted on. She went, Suge, where are you from? And I went, I'm from Memphis. She goes, well, what'd you eat growing up? And I went, brisket, semis, matzo ball soup, gefilte fish. And she looked at me like I was from another planet.
22:09 Dan Pashman? Karen's life has so many twists and turns and she has so many great stories like the one day that she worked for Martha Stewart, you gotta find out why she only lasted one day. She opened restaurants in New York and catered to some very high-end clients, then started over in Memphis with restaurants that changed the dining scene when they opened. Check out that episode wherever you got this one. Okay, back to the show. From Birmingham, I jumped on I-22 and headed 40 miles northwest to Jasper, Alabama. Bayou Fresh Seafood is a gas station restaurant known for their sushi. Heather L., the owner of Max in Birmingham, said she and her husband sometimes drive up to Jasper just for this sushi. Southern Living magazine named this place one of the best gas station restaurants in the South. I didn't even know that category existed.
22:50 Dan Pashman? I needed to see what the fuss was all about. I pulled up to a gas station on a four-lane road with a few other stores in each direction. Inside, Bayou Fresh feels more like a restaurant. While it's part of the same building as the convenience store, it has its own door, so there are no rows of chips and Twinkies in sight. There are eight or 10 tables and a sushi counter with a few stools. That's where I sat down. I met Camilia Castillo, who's been working there for nine years. She's a server but does lots of jobs around the restaurant. She's 26, and Bayou was her first full-time job. How'd you end up working here?
23:21 Speaker 07 Um, my sister's worked here for like 11 years, so...
23:24 Dan Pashman? So she brought you in?
23:26 Speaker 07 Mm-hmm. Most of it's like family that work here, so...
23:29 Dan Pashman? How many people who work here are you related to?
23:32 Speaker 07 Um, both of my sisters, two of my sisters work here. One's a server, one's a sushi chef.
23:38 Dan Pashman? Camilia's sister, who's a sushi chef, is just 21. The owner, Mr. Xu, started training her recently. Mr. Xu, or Xu as most of the people at the restaurant call him, is originally from China. He came to the US 30 years ago and worked in various restaurant kitchens around the country before settling in Alabama. He bought this business in 2012 from a Vietnamese family. Back then, they were serving southern and Cajun seafood dishes, things like catfish, tilapia, oysters. At first, Mr. Xu kept it the same, but after a few months, some customers asked him if he could make sushi, so he figured out how to do it. As he told me, even though some people requested sushi, he wasn't sure how many folks would really be into it.
24:16 Speaker 06 Because I scared. The country, people always like fried. I don't think so, they like sushi.
24:24 Dan Pashman? Mr. Xu gave it a shot. He came up with some rolls with fried ingredients, added some raw sushi options, and put them all on the menu.
24:31 Speaker 06 A lot of people, first time, they got, they like it, you know? That's why I so surprised, you know, for me.
24:40 Dan Pashman? You were surprised that they liked it?
24:42 Speaker 06 Yeah, they liked it, that's true. They wanna try new things.
24:46 Dan Pashman? How does it feel for you to see the success of the restaurant? That so many, that so many people know about it?
24:55 Speaker 06 Before, we just wanna make a business, right, as a business. Now, we just thinking, oh, yeah, we use the hard of the work.
25:05 Dan Pashman? Put your heart into your work.
25:07 Speaker 06 They pay back everything, you know. You can gather a lot of loyalty, the people come back. We, we, we, we're really good.
25:18 Dan Pashman? Mr. Zhu had to get back behind the sushi counter. But as I chatted more with Camilia, she said she sees that customer loyalty too.
25:24 Speaker 07 If you work during the day, it's mostly like workers coming for like lunch and stuff like that. And then nighttime is like families and stuff like that, so. We watch a lot of like their kids grow up and stuff, so it's nice. Everybody that comes in here, I know them, they know me, I know their order and all that, you know. It's mostly like the same people that come in here every day, so.
25:43 Dan Pashman? As I sat at the sushi counter, Camilia guided me through the menu.
25:47 Speaker 07 Everyone likes their rock and roll. It's got the shrimp, crawfish, crab, jalapenos and everything like that, so. And a lot of people like it because it's not raw. So, we have a lot of people that will eat raw, but mostly a lot of people like, like the fully cooked, deep fried. We're in the south, everyone likes everything fried, so they usually go for the fried cook rolls.
26:06 Dan Pashman? The menu also has edamame, gyoza, a lot of the dishes you'll see at other sushi restaurants. But there were some menu items I didn't recognize.
26:14 Speaker 07 And then we have a Chuck roll, which is, we have a customer who's literally came in here like every day since we've opened. Like him and Zhu have become best friends because he sits where you're sitting and he comes in here every single day. Lunch, usually dinner, he's here. So we have a Chuck roll, his name is Chuck. But yeah, we name them after customers if they make up rolls and stuff. We just kind of add them to the menu and stuff like that.
26:35 Dan Pashman? The inside of the Chuck roll is a mix of spicy tuna and cucumber. Then on the outside crab mix, avocado, salmon, tuna, eel sauce, spicy mayo, and green onions. I was looking through the menu, trying to figure out what to order, when suddenly I got distracted. Was that a plate of blackened shrimp that just came by?
26:53 Speaker 07 Yes.
26:53 Dan Pashman? That looked insane.
26:54 Speaker 07 Everyone loves our blackened shrimp. Everyone loves it.
26:58 Dan Pashman? Camilia tells me they get their shrimp fresh from the Gulf. I knew I had to get a plate of that. I also got a rockin' roll and a yellowtail roll, so one cooked roll, one raw one. A few minutes later, the blackened shrimp arrived. Before I even took a bite, I knew this fresh Gulf shrimp was gonna be good. But first of all, I'm smelling this, this blackened shrimp. I smell the pepper, I smell the spices, but it also really smells like shrimp.
27:22 Speaker 07 Yeah.
27:23 Dan Pashman? Which is, it sounds like a crazy thing to say, but like so much shrimp is kind of like frozen halfway around the world and you don't know. It's just, like, it doesn't have the same amount of flavor. And this, like, from, from two feet away, this smells like shrimp.
27:33 Speaker 07 Yeah, we probably sell over 200 pounds a week, I'm sure, of shrimp, just shrimp, so.
27:40 Dan Pashman? Alright, alright, I'm gonna try some. You like, you like the lemon squeeze? I'm a lemon person.
27:43 Speaker 07 Oh yeah, I'm lemon, all the way.
27:55 Dan Pashman? That is so good. Then the sushi came out. First the famous rockin' roll, then the raw yellowtail roll. They were both excellent. As I finished eating, I looked up for my plate. Just as Camilia promised, Chuck, the Chuck of the namesake Chuck roll, was in the restaurant, like he is every day. He had found a seat in a booth, so I went over to say hello. So Chuck, I, I apologize, I'm sitting in your seat at the counter. Oh, that's no problem. I'm glad to give it to you. Were you a big sushi fan before you started coming here? I was, yeah, I was a big sushi fan and, and at the time Jasper didn't have...
28:27 Speaker 05 Really have a good sushi and and Mr. Zoo, we met him early on when he first opened. And we just started, we took a chance and just came in and yeah, he really impressed us. After a few months, he asked us what we thought about, you know, would we want to bring sushi? Would we think it was good out if he brought sushi? And we were like, yeah, heck, yeah, of course. I didn't expect it to be as good as it was. So the first time I actually tried it, I was like, oh, wow.
28:53 Dan Pashman? So you are the Chuck, the Chuck roll is named after you?
28:57 Speaker 05 Correct.
28:58 Dan Pashman? That's quite an honor.
29:00 Speaker 05 I guess you could say so.
29:03 Dan Pashman? Do you ever brag to people that you have a roll named after you?
29:05 Speaker 05 Not, not really, you know, I mean, I brag, I mean, you know.
29:11 Speaker 05 It's not that big a deal to me, but you know, it's fun.
29:15 Dan Pashman? But if someone ever says, hey, you know, I just moved to town or I'm here visiting. You know, I sure do love sushi. Where's the best place for sushi in Jasper?
29:23 Speaker 05 Yeah, I'm gonna say, you know, go to the the gas station, you know. Yeah, it's funny, I just met somebody last night. It was a very similar situation and I did say, if the Chinese guy is there tomorrow night. He she said she was gonna come tonight and I said, tell him to hook you up and get a Chuck roll.
29:42 Speaker 05 So, yeah, it does come up.
29:45 Dan Pashman? Right, right, right, just a polite mention.
29:47 Speaker 05 Yeah, yeah, yeah, a little, throw it out there.
29:52 Dan Pashman? Now I'm back on the road, 95 miles to Tupelo, Mississippi. The birthplace of Elvis and hopefully a plate of chicken spaghetti.
30:05 Dan Pashman? Chicken spaghetti is a Mississippi specialty. Perhaps the most famous version in the state is made by Olivia Manning, wife of Archie, mother of Peyton and Eli Manning. Olivia grew up in Mississippi and I've heard her recipe for chicken spaghetti is often featured at events in the state, especially at the University of Mississippi, Ole Miss, where she, Archie and Eli went to school. As a Giants fan, I imagine eating this dish here in Mississippi will bring me closer to Eli. But what is it? Well, recipes vary, but usually start with a base made from cream of mushroom or cream of chicken soup. Then you add peppers, onions and cheese. I read that this place, Thomas Street Grocery, makes it fresh every day. But from what I could tell from their Facebook page, they only serve it until 1:00 PM. And I was on course to arrive closer to 2:00.
30:49 Dan Pashman? I called ahead to see if they could put some aside for me, but no one picked up. I pressed the gas. Finally. All right.
30:59 Dan Pashman? Here we are at the next stop.
31:02 Dan Pashman? I walked in. There were no customers. I had clearly missed the lunch rush. I went up to the cashier and asked if they still had any chicken spaghetti. He shook his head and said, "No, it was all gone." I was crestfallen. Then I looked to the right and I saw the steam table where the cooked foods were displayed. I walked over and saw a metal container, nearly empty, but with a bit of spaghetti and a creamy, pinkish sauce in the bottom. It was kind of crusty around the edges. It had clearly been sitting out. "Isn't this chicken spaghetti?" I asked him. "Yes," he said reluctantly, "but it's a little old." "Looks good to me," I said. He scraped out the bottom of the bin, glopped it into a styrofoam container, and I sat down in one of the four micab booths by the window near the beef jerky.
31:46 Dan Pashman? This was the last of their chicken spaghetti today. He was reluctant to serve it to me, but I think he could tell by the look in my eyes that I desperately wanted it. So he said, he said he would sell it to me at a discount. So I'm eating some discount, several-hour-old chicken spaghetti at a gas station in Tupelo, Mississippi, and I am having a blast. It's a very thick, creamy, sort of cheesy sauce. The chicken is sort of shredded in. I took my first taste and it was very good, but I thought it needed a little something. I'm gonna put some hot sauce on it. Fortunately, there was a bottle of Louisiana hot sauce on every table.
32:25 Dan Pashman? Mmm.
32:27 Dan Pashman? That's really good. I mean, it's thick, but it's actually, it's like, this chicken spaghetti to me is almost like chicken pot pie spaghetti. It was shockingly good, okay? Comforting, rich and creamy, but not overly heavy. The hot sauce was a key addition.
32:48 Dan Pashman? Well, I feel refueled. Time to go.
32:57 Dan Pashman? Took the rest of my chicken spaghetti for the road, jumped back in the car and got on I-278. I drove 50 miles west to my next destination.
33:07 Dan Pashman? Alright, I've turned off the highway and I'm heading to downtown Oxford, Mississippi, home of the University of Mississippi. This stop was probably the most famous of the ones on my list. Four-corner Chevron, known for one dish in particular.
33:25 Dan Pashman? Home of the Chicken on a Stick. Well, when you see that sign, you gotta pull over.
33:34 Dan Pashman? Again, from the outside, it looks like a standard gas station with a convenience store that also looks pretty typical, even on the inside. Just two things in there stand out. Next to the register, there are several big trays of fried chicken behind a fiberglass shield. And in the corner, they sell Chicken on a Stick t-shirts at 30 bucks a pop. I ordered my chicken on a stick. I got it with ranch and sweet and sour sauce. I sat outside on one of the couple of picnic tables.
33:59 Dan Pashman? This is a college town, University of Mississippi, Ole Miss. The school's not in session, it's the middle of the weekday afternoon, so it's kind of quiet. But the woman who works here, she didn't want to be interviewed, but she told me that from 7:00 PM to 2:00 AM, there's a line snaking through the whole convenience store out the door. The students come and get chicken on a stick to bring to the bars, then they come back after the bars from where chicken on a stick. Now, this chicken on a stick is, it's a foot long. And you can't see the stick. She handed it to me in a bag, I'm like, is it on a stick? She said, yeah, there's a stick in there. So, it's like a very long, very straight chicken finger. I think it's multiple pieces of chicken, actually, but they're kind of all pressed together. Fried to golden perfection. Alright, here we go.
34:46 Dan Pashman? That is juicy.
34:50 Dan Pashman? I mean, look, it's basically chicken tenders. It's on a stick. I can understand why you would want to eat this before and or after going drinking.
35:04 Dan Pashman? One more stop.
35:08 Dan Pashman? As I drove north through Mississippi, the sun began to set.
35:14 Dan Pashman? Alright, I have arrived at my final stop on this road trip. Tacos de Soto in South Haven, Mississippi. I'm right up on the Tennessee border, just a few minutes from Memphis. This is a Marathon gas station and a taco joint.
35:34 Dan Pashman? This one was probably the biggest convenience store of any on my trip, and the taco options were laid out in a long steam table, metal containers full of meats and fixins. When I got inside, I met the owner, Paul Barr. He's been living in Mississippi for 20 years, running this gas station for 18.
35:50 Speaker 06 I came from California and, you know, I love tacos. We used to do a lot of fried foods here, and we had so many Hispanic workers coming in. They're like, "You know what? Let me change it to what they actually like." So that's when my idea came into my head. You know what? I need to put something like taco truck food.
36:06 Dan Pashman? There are no taco trucks in South Haven because of zoning regulations, but taco trucks are, of course, a huge thing in California. In other words, like so many other gas station restaurants, the food at Tacos de Soto is a reflection of what customers want, but also of the background and perspective of the owner. And can I ask you, like, are you Hispanic, or you just love tacos?
36:25 Speaker 06 Uh, no, I'm Indian, actually. I just like Hispanic food. I grew up in California, I'm mostly Hispanic.
36:30 Dan Pashman? Right.
36:31 Speaker 06 And the majority of the restaurants here, they, you know, they kind of wash it down, the Hispanic food, to not what it's supposed to be, but they kind of water it down to what Americans like, right? Which is hardly any taste, but I keep it original. Whether you like it or not, that's what we sell. That's what Hispanic food's supposed to be.
36:48 Dan Pashman? Right.
36:49 Speaker 06 So that's what we try to do.
36:50 Dan Pashman? Like Indian food, a lot of flavor.
36:51 Speaker 06 Yeah, exactly, a lot of flavor. So that's why I tell them, hey, you know, sell it or not, man, keep it original.
36:56 Dan Pashman? Right.
36:57 Speaker 06 And so far, you know, God bless, and we've been doing great. I mean, this is our bread and butter.
37:03 Dan Pashman? You said that this is your bread and butter. Like, do you make more money from tacos than from gas?
37:07 Speaker 06 Oh, absolutely. The night and day difference. You don't make no money out of gas. And gas is just to bring people in. There's no money in gas, man.
37:16 Dan Pashman? So interesting. So the gas brings in the customers, you make the money in the store?
37:20 Speaker 06 Inside the store. Almost every gas station, you see gas, you know, everybody thinks... You know, you get becoming a millionaire selling gas. No, you can't even pay the bills selling gas.
37:29 Dan Pashman? I asked Paul what brought him to the area.
37:31 Speaker 06 I was a correctional officer in California for 10 years. And then, you know, things happened. I ended up getting into business after that.
37:40 Speaker 06 It's a crazy world, bro. I never thought of moving to Mississippi of all places, right? But, uh, you know, I guess you end up where you're meant to be.
37:47 Dan Pashman? It seems like it's going well.
37:48 Speaker 06 Yeah, it's going well, man. I love it here.
37:50 Dan Pashman? All right.
37:50 Speaker 06 You know, life is slow pace and it's not so hurry, hurry like California.
37:55 Dan Pashman? Right.
37:56 Speaker 06 You know, everybody got their different opinion. But once you get to know the people here, man, they're not like what they described. Everybody's racist, this, this, that. It's not like that. But once you get to know each other, you know, right now, right now, the whole country's divided. But like, once you talk to people, man, it's the same thing. People want the same thing.
38:16 Dan Pashman? I got one barbacoa taco. I wish I could have ordered more, but I was running dangerously low on stomach space. After the first four gas stations, my tank was full. They gave it to me in a small styrofoam container and I got back in my car.
38:33 Dan Pashman? The guy offered me different sauces and then he said, you want this sauce? You want the mild sauce? I'm thinking to myself, you think I can't handle the hot sauce? So give me the hot sauce.
38:43 Dan Pashman? I'm just trying to buy the, oh, that, yeah. Woo! And it's hot, but it's good.
38:51 Dan Pashman? That hot sauce is no joke. And the barbacoa itself was soft and tender, just a really well-made taco. Paul told me he wants to expand, maybe open a takeout window, set up some picnic tables in the parking lot. I could see this place becoming a real destination. Finished my taco and pulled out of South Aven. Well, I have just crossed the border from Mississippi into Tennessee.
39:16 Dan Pashman? I think I can see the Memphis skyline in the distance.
39:22 Dan Pashman? My road trip is coming to an end.
39:35 Speaker 02 What's the best thing you ate?
39:37 Dan Pashman? Ooh, you're going right to the heart of the matter here, Kate. After my trip, I connected back with Kate Medley, the photojournalist you heard earlier. Now that I'd gotten a little taste of southern gas station restaurant culture, I wanted to compare notes with Kate, who'd spent over a decade documenting these places. I told her my highlights. The Gulf shrimp, the blackened Gulf shrimp at Bayou Seafood was very tops. And then, maybe the chicken spaghetti.
40:03 Speaker 02 Mmm, wow. You don't grow up in Mississippi without eating chicken spaghetti. And it's outstanding.
40:09 Dan Pashman? Working on this project, Kate, for 10 years, what surprised you?
40:15 Speaker 02 Hmm, I cover national news that's happening around the South. And often that is news of hardship, of what divides us, of inequality, of struggle. So what surprised me again and again on this journey, it sort of helped my soul to go into some of these places. And we're all just sitting around having a good bite to eat and, you know, having conversation and really celebrating the commonalities that we share, celebrating where we are in the world, this culture, this community. And for me, that sort of became a balm, to be able to stop into some of these places.
41:00 Speaker 02 And a lot of times, it was a slam on the brakes stop. You know, I didn't know where I was going in advance, but something caught my eye. And, you know, I'd open that little glass door and hear the bell jingle and, and hope for something really wonderful inside, hope for a surprise, you know, a delicious bite to eat or a kind person, some conversation. And I was lucky to find that at a lot of my stops. You know, that's what compelled me to keep going and to keep stopping.
41:38 Dan Pashman? That's Kate Medley. Her book is called Thank You, Please Come Again. I'll have a link to it in our show notes. And if you want to see photos from my road trip, follow me on Instagram @thesporful. Next week on the show, as we continue our month in the South, I talk with food writer Deb Freeman, who produced a new documentary on Edna Lewis. While Edna Lewis has had a huge impact on Southern foodways, there's still so much about her story that hasn't been told. That's next week. Meanwhile, if you're looking for more Sporkful to listen to, check out last week's show, live from Memphis with legendary restaurateur Karen Blockman-Carrier. And hey, did you know you can listen to the Sporkful on the SiriusXM app? Yes, the SiriusXM app, it has all your favorite podcasts, plus over 200 ad-free music channels curated by genre and era, plus live sports coverage. Does your podcasting
42:20 Dan Pashman? app have that? And there's interviews with A-list stars and so much more. It's everything you want in a podcast app and music app, all rolled into one. And right now, Sporkful listeners can get three months free of the SiriusXM app by going to siriusxm.com/sporkful. This episode was produced by me along with managing producer Emma Morgenstern. and senior producer Andres O'Hara. our engineer is Jared O'Connell. and our intern is
42:44 Speaker 05 Julia Liu.
42:45 Dan Pashman? special thanks to Dan McGee. Music help from Black Label Music. The Sporkful is a production of Stitcher Studios. Our executive producer is Camille Stanley. Until next time, I'm Dan Pashman.
42:53 Speaker 05 And this is Leigh Ritchie from Atlanta, Georgia, reminding you to eat more, eat better, and eat more better.
43:10 Dan Pashman? Thank you to our presenting sponsor, American Express. Amex Gold makes your dining experiences more rewarding, so you can discover more, connect more, and experience more dining moments. Enjoy every meal with the benefits that come with the American Express Gold Card. For terms and to learn more, visit americanexpress.com/withamex.
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