The fresh, hot plates are far from the processed foods found at quick-stops elsewhere in the country.
It was only 9 am , but Patricia Wax had been working in the kitchen ofKing Chicken Fillin ' Stationfor at least three hour by the time I mistreat in front of the reddish walk - up window .
A black - and - white Elvis wall painting urge on me to “ eat like a Billie Jean Moffitt King , ” while three gaseous state pump stood behind me . They were remnants of Belden Cash Grocer , once the oldest gas stations and comfort station stores in all of Lee County , Mississippi . As a shaver , Wax ’s grandfather would play her and her sister to this very spot , and they would climb up a tree diagram to enjoy their peach sodas .
After managing a McDonald ’s enfranchisement for more than three decades , Wax took over King Chicken in late 2019 and institute her kinfolk recipes with her . The rich card is centered around poultry — get your wimp fried , grill , or smoked , on a sandwich , in a salad , or on a scale with your pick of side .
King Chicken Fillin' Station has a giant mural exhorting visitors to “eat like a king.” No problem!|Photo courtesy of Tupelo CVB
As it was still former , I opted forfried chickenon ahoney - butter biscuitwith bonanza and eggs . The thick , gamy piece of meat was crispy but thinly bread , and the honey - tinged cooky only surrendered its end bits as I bit into it — it remain a sandwich and not a heap of rat . All of the food , including the hot sauce , is made from scratch .
I asked Wax , who owns the restaurant with her sister Valerie , what the secret was to those gross biscuits . “ I just grew up cooking like that , ” she said . “ I watched my grandma … It ’s eldritch but it ’s awesome , having people stop at our picayune flatulency station – fashion eatery . ”
Having grown up with 11 siblings , she was used to feeding a large group , so 100 customers a day never felt like a stretch . But the pair plan to open up a 2nd placement just across townspeople in June so as to flow even more .
This isn’t the hotdog roller machine you’re used to.|Photo coutesy of Tupelo CVB
The gun place cuisine of Tupelo is n’t elaborately plated for social medium . It ’s filling , comforting , messy , and intimate . But it ’s also far from the processed cheese nacho or bland spicy dogs that one typically run into on road trips . This is a true southerly experience — one that continue well beyond the provenance of Elvis . Among the Magnolia State ’s most fabled commodious quilt food isFratesi Grocery & Service Station , which has been serving atomic number 84 ’ boys and Italian deli classic in Leland since 1941 ; classicSouthern bites from Betty Campbell , who cook for B.B. King , at a former Robert William Service station in Indianola , Indiana ; and the college - bookman favorite chicken - on - a - peg at4 Corners Chevronin Oxford . ( Think of a kebab made of fried Gallus gallus instead of grill meat and veggie , though other locale serve their rendering with potato , green bell peppers , onion , and/or pickle too , as is the case atDodge ’s Southern Style , a regional range of mountains start in Tupelo that intimately everyone I spoke to mentioned when enquire for their go - to throttle station repast . )
Kate Medley is a photojournalist from Mississippi who spent a decennary move to gas stations across 11 state . She found some consistence : The food is loosely inexpensive , portable , red-hot , and universally like . “ In the more rural sphere , they ca n’t afford to take a chance on new food as well , ” she told me . “ Maybe they ’re the only commercial enterprisingness for 30 miles as is the face for a lot of place in Mississippi . It has to be this dead on target resting smirch for everyone . ”
But there were some exceptions . In writing her Good Book , give thanks You Please follow Again : How Gas Stations Feed & Fuel the American South , Medley also stumbled upon everything frombanh misin a Texaco outside of New Orleans to Senegalese culinary art in the back of a Circle K in North Carolina .
Although it’s cetainly possible to find other kinds of cuisine in Tupelo’s gas stations, Southern fare is far and away the most popular.|Photo by Daliah Singer
“ The South is not this monolithic neighborhood as I imagine it can often be portrayed , ” she state . “ It has a diverseness of people , a variety of thought , a diverseness of foodways , and you see all this when you block up and rust lunch at the gas place . ”
The phrase “ volaille spaghetti ” mean something different in Mississippi .
What sound to my untrained spike like a basic noodle dish turned out to be a casserole — a fat mix of pasta with send away Ro - Tel tomato , condensed soup , sliced chicken , and batch of cheese .
The meat at Clay’s House of Pig is chopped rather than pulled—hence the acronym C.H.O.P.|Photo courtesy of Tupelo CVB
As I twirled my first bite on a credit card ramification , I was reminded of a loosely composed baked ziti . The dish tasted like something a neighbor would bring over as a housewarming hello . Except I was n’t at home or assist an upshot or even at a sit - down restaurant — I was scoop up up mouthfuls from a Styrofoam container atThomas Street Grocery , which operates in a working gas pedal station on the south ending of Tupelo .
Across the convenience store aisle from where I was sit , grab - and - go fridge and freezers were sprout with an array of newly made casseroles ( hamburger spud yearling , chicken and fecundation , sweet white potato vine ) , as well as salad , sandwich , side , and Proto-Indo European . There was also a counter where diners could arrange plate lunch from a rotating menu of Southern classics . Beyond the crybaby spaghetti , the Clarence Day ’s menu included broccoli salad , turnip greens , smoked chicken , and cornbread . When the food ’s gone , that ’s it for the day .
“ We do a mass of work here , ” say Vickey Hester , who ’s solve as Thomas Street ’s chef for the past eight age . She peer at a mostly full deep freezer case and worry that it was “ running low . ” Then she took me back to the kitchen where a massive pot of ground beef was brown for the hamburger pie she planned on attend the next day .
Dodge’s Southern Style is a local chai—and local favorite.|Photo by Daliah Singer
It ’s not only the lineament of the food that mark these gas stations apart from elsewhere in the United States — it ’s the service . That quintessential southerly cordial reception is on display even at a side - of - the - road rest diaphragm .
As I was about to head out from Thomas Street to stay my gastronome exploration , Hester pushed a personal - sized honey bun patty into my hand . I was much too full to try it then , but when I bit into it later that dark in my hotel room , I could n’t help but smile . It was sweet and crumbly and tasted like it was made with care .
And it was as practiced as anything I ’d eaten at an laurels - winning bakery .
Everyone in Tupelo has their favorite gas place to grab lunch .
Papa V ’s BBQ and Deliis the go - to for the business district workplace bunch , particularly for fume chicken as part of a plate lunch ( your choice of substance and sides ) or fry catfish on Fridays , though the precise carte changes daily . Most of the space is taken up by typical wash room storage fare , include an impressive extract of beer .
My timing was n’t great : I stopped in as they were switching over from breakfast to tiffin but managed to apprehend a light ice cinnamon roll that was just the right amount of sweet to still be view average game for breakfast .
The snack was perfectly sized because I needed way for brisket - topped taters , costa tips , and blueberry cheesecake deep-dish pie atClay ’s House of Pig(C.H.O.P. to locals ) . Until last year , the lunchtime barbeque spot had doubled as a bait - and - tackle shop . Late owner Clay Coleman ( he passed away in early 2021 due to complication from COVID-19 ) added the eating house in 2017 as a way to stay in job in the winter when decoy sales dim .
His dad built the small smoker that sit out back , and Coleman adapted childhood formula to outfit the undersize cooktop . “ We sold out the first day , ” said his married woman , Jinnie Coleman , who now go C.H.O.P. The centre is chop , not pulled , so it hold a moistness that ’s often drop without globs of sauce — though all the sauces here are made in - house and should be pronto used .
C.H.O.P. has managed to stay in business for well-nigh a tenner and is well - cognize by residents , which was manifest by the line that continued to grow as the clock wound past noonday .
Though ubiquitous , many of these eateries in unexpected locale can be backbreaking to immobilize down . Earlier that Clarence Day , I drove around attempt to place a gas station barbeque topographic point that a regional paper said serve person food “ you might find gracing the tables of home across the South on a Sunday morning ” but could n’t . Perhaps it had closed . Or move .
Not a trouble . There were slew of other spots .
One of Tupelo ’s newfangled additions is Main Street Deli & Market . It was a classic of the music genre : Fuel pumps were mesh outside , and all the public convenience store trappings were inside . But , unlike any of the other eating place I ’d visited over the last couple of days , Main Street ’s carte included a robust breakfast — conceive yield smoothies , a breakfast burrito , and avocado toast — and paninis , wrap , salads , and deli sandwiches subsequently on thanks to its New York transplantation owner . raging plate lunches and deep-fried chicken are , of course , also available , but Main Street otherwise defied Tupelo gas stations ’ focus on southerly food .
These locus also defied my perception of gasolene stations . I ’d never thought of them as more than pit stop to buzz through : refuel , have a public lavatory break , and grab a pocketbook of chips and some caffein to get me to my destination . There were never surprises to be find oneself in these locales — or at least anygoodsurprises . Not so in the South , where visitors are continuously asked to slow down down . I see people linger over their to - go container the same manner they would at a friend ’s house , and I found myself want to model and gab a bit longer — if only to allow my belly time to get ahead the room for whatever homemade sweet was on the everyday carte du jour .
I recalled what Jennie Bradford Curlee , deputy director of the Tupelo Convention & Visitors Bureau , had told me as we bit into our King Chicken biscuits : “ The affair about Mississippi is you ca n’t judge a book by its cover . You think , I’m not going in there , but it may be the best meal you ’ve ever had . ”
With that in mind , I entrust Main Street eager to find my next great repast .
