
Meat and Three and Ten Dollars’ Worth of Regular - samsolomon
https://bittersoutherner.com/meat-and-three-and-ten-dollars-worth-of-regular
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40four
What a great article! Well written & fun to read.

I can imagine the horror on many people's faces @ the idea of getting lunch/
dinner @ some grungy looking gas station. But growing up in the south, &
having a lot of experience traveling all over the south by car, I can really
appreciate this.

These type of places are everywhere. You will have to mingle with some
interesting local clientele, but if you can get past the rough facade, you can
really find some true gems.

It's easy to pass them up without giving it a second thought. It can be a
risk, & sometimes you'll get burnt. But if you have a little sense of
adventure, it can pay off big time.

When I was traveling a lot for an old job all around the south, it became a
game of mine to try and find the best side of the road food I could. If I
resorted to chain fast food on my way home, I considered it a failure.

This article really captures the energy of these type of establishments. And
to be fair, it doesn't have to be a gas station . Tons of fantastic BBQ or
'meat & threes' are sprinkiled all over if you keep your eyes peeled.

I had some really great meals, & got a nice dose of culture along the way.

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tdumitrescu
For those in the Bay Area, a pretty great local spot is The Junction, out in
the wilderness between San Jose and...Livermore. Take 130 east out of SJ over
some pretty rustic and gorgeous hill country, past the observatory, and
eventually you get to this wooden shack where you can get some good homecooked
mac n cheese from a tray, homemade hot sauces, etc, play some horseshoes out
front, and generally forget you're a quick drive back to the valley of scrum

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newnewpdro
Also for the SF Bay Area folks: the gas station in Pescadero houses a solid
taqueria.

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asteli
Haha! Was thinking exactly of this place. Either lucky coincidence or it's
better known than I thought.

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rriepe
You weren't alone. Great place.

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hthtegr
I've spent a bunch of time travelling through these places for work. I'm vegan
and surprise surprise there is almost nothing I can eat. All the veges have
either meat or dairy or both.

Good thing is often they will have a tin of beans on the shelf for sale and
some hot sauce, so I never went hungry.

Also really nice folk literally 100% of the time. You won't find that in the
cities.

Bonus note - i'm a foreigner and it never made any difference, I was always
treated the same as everyone else.

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newnewpdro
> Also really nice folk literally 100% of the time. You won't find that in the
> cities.

In my experience these folks are nice 100% of the time, unless you're the
wrong color, religion, and/or sexual orientation.

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bitexploder
I grew up in the South and ate at little hole in the wall BBQ places all the
time. Never saw any outright discrimination. Many establishments were owned
and and operated by black people. I must say cuisine is one of the few uniting
features of the south. The racism is still there, but it is quieter, subtle,
and behind closed doors most of the time. It’s very sneaky and many people
miss it.

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bArray
Unfortunately places like these are dying out the UK, from experience they
seem to be failing to attract younger customers. They're also quite out of the
way. As such, they put up their prices to compensate and start a death spiral
until they can longer afford to stay open. A lot of older traditional pubs
suffer the same fate.

My great grandparents and I would occasionally drive out to these places to
enjoy a traditional Sunday roast, with little door-ways, a thatched roof and a
wall filled with Sheffield steal / horse shoes / plates / other collectables.
There we could trade old stories and enjoyed traditional English food to the
point of becoming food comatose.

A tip to the serving staff wasn't expected, but it wast customary to give
notes and tell the staff to keep the change. Often the food was so cheap that
leaving the change didn't make much of a difference.

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satori99
I have noticed a trend toward this in Sydney, Australia, where grocery stores
and quality restaurants are abundant. However it is not local home cooked
food.

Instead large multi-national petroleum companies seem to be turning their
branded stations into quasi-restaurants and cafes.

These have always existed on highways (truck-stops), but now I am seeing them
all over the inner-city and suburban areas.

[https://www.caltex.com.au/thefoodary](https://www.caltex.com.au/thefoodary)
[https://www.instagram.com/thefoodary/](https://www.instagram.com/thefoodary/)

*Caltex is a petroleum brand name of Chevron Corporation

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prawn
There is a very strong chain of these in South Australia (OTR) owned by
Peregrine Corp and the Shahin Family. It's a smart strategy, buying up
prominent corner sites everywhere and spreading the offering beyond
petrol/diesel/gas which you'd assume has a fading future.

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ryanmarsh
A quick little story.

I had a oil refinery client in the Louisiana swamp (Port Barre to be exact).
They bought some software and I was there to train them and do the config.
When it came time for lunch someone suggested Exxon. I asked if the Exxon
refinery had an exceptional cafeteria or something, they clarified that it was
the Exxon gas station up the road. We went and there I sat enjoying the best
Cajun meal I have had to this day.

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Animats
_Rural counties in the Mississippi Delta average one grocery per 190 square
miles..._

Yes. This is the spot in Luca mentioned.[1] Nearest Wal-Mart Supercenter,
#714, is less than 10 miles west. Two more about 20 miles east. That's why
there are so few small grocery stores in those tiny towns.

[1]
[https://www.google.com/maps/@34.4526085,-90.4791913,3a,33.8y...](https://www.google.com/maps/@34.4526085,-90.4791913,3a,33.8y,93.42h,88.53t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1snfC-
lqFG1Ff1T1cm1-I0kw!2e0!7i13312!8i6656)

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hbosch
Even counting Wal Mart as a grocer (and it is -- the biggest grocer, of
course), if you drew a 190 sq mi rectangle centered on Lula, you wouldn't hit
any of those Wal Marts.

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mywittyname
What about dollar stores? Those often have a reasonable selection of
groceries.

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Pfhreak
What's "meat and three"? The article didn't seem to explain it and it's a
colloquialism I've never heard before.

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wilkystyle
Had to look it up, myself. According to
[https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Meat_and_three](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Meat_and_three),
it's a meal consisting of 1 meat and 3 side dishes.

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Johnny555
Ha, I thought it was a way to say "Meat and 13 dollars of gasoline" (3 and 10
= 13)

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Pfhreak
This was my initial reading as well.

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brodouevencode
At the corner of Post Road and Mason Mill Road just west of Douglasville,
Georgia near the county line separating Douglas and Carroll counties lives a
Shell Station that fits description of those beloved gas stations in this
article. I stop there regularly for a variety of reasons. The windows have a
thick haze of years of fried chicken grease, engine grease, and daily abuse.
It doesn't matter much though because windows are so plastered over with
posters for lost dogs, fish frys, and general advertisements. You can get the
quality Shell gasoline but you can also get diesel and off-road diesel because
there is a demand for such a fuel here. You walk in and the hot food counter
is steps away straight ahead, boiled peanuts immediately to your right at the
register, snacks and Cokes to your left, and beer in the back corner. The
coolers make loud humming noises but the Bud Light is always cold - sometimes
so cold the condensation has frozen over again on the tab forcing you bend
your fingernail backwards a little too much for comfort just to open it. On
the hot food counter there's always fried chicken of some sort, usually bone
in but at breakfast they have a patty to put on your biscuit. For breakfast I
like to go for the sausage biscuits. The biscuits are as big around as the
palm of your hand, maybe a little bigger. The sausage usually has sat a little
too long to be considered "fresh" but the biscuits are so good that you don't
even worry about that. Besides, the two packets of mustard that get smeared on
top usually help. Fried okra is a lunch-time staple during the hottest times
of the year and it pairs well with the fried chicken. In the South fried okra
is a prized seasonal side item. Good fried okra isn't just good, it's
outstanding. The clientele is a mix of construction, tradesmen and tradewomen,
lawn care, school teachers, office workers, and various day laborers. The
trades and construction folks are too busy to stand around and chit chat so if
they seem a little hurried it's because they are. Most of them have to be in
the city (Atlanta) by 7am to start their shift. If you want that Southern
hospitality look for someone not in a hard hat or wearing a shirt patch with
their name embroidered on it, or you can wait for the weekend. Regardless, in
such a diverse group respect and congeniality is always shown.

~~~
virusduck
Mason Creek Rd, maybe?

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s_Hogg
This article and the other one a month or two ago about Sikh truckers in the
LA Times have both been fantastic reads.

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anarbadalov
Thanks for posting! This a wonderful article, accompanied by truly great
photos, that reminds me of my days touring the south. Bitter Southernerner is
killing it these days.

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cardiffspaceman
Similarly there are Mexican food shops in gas stations out west. When I was
looking at the Fine Article and thinking about that I saw that one of the
Southern foods at the shops was hot tamales. Out west it's mostly tacos,
burritos and quesadillas and I don't even know if they have tamales.

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crooked-v
In Canada, combination gas station/convenience store/fast food chain
restaurants are pretty common. As a USian who's lived in New England and the
Pacific Northwest, the first time I came across one was almost viscerally
starting.

~~~
tonyarkles
I've spent the last two months in rural Saskatchewan working on an AgTech
project. The gas station/convenience/restaurant 8 miles away from here used to
do an absolutely amazing Indian buffet (East Indian, not First Nations) on
Fridays, but they stopped due to lack of demand from the locals. They still
make great "standard fare" food like subs, sandwiches, salads, etc, but... man
do I miss that buffet.

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ablation
Great article! Made me oddly nostalgic for a place I've never been.

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jessaustin
Not (really) in the South, but around here I've seen more than one such
establishment with a sign that says "Eat Here - Get Gas". Ha!

