It took me about halfway into the little-too-cleverly titled article to figure out that the author meant simply food joints that are attached to gas stations and not some unique schtik I had never heard of where they fill your tank while you eat. In any event I don’t really think about these places that much, aside to be surprised when really good food comes out of them.<p>In North Austin there is a Rudy’s + Shell that is more Rudy’s than Shell, to the point where if you are filling up there it even feels a little kitschy. Rudy’s is not the best BBQ in Austin by a long shot but they are at least respectable for the price in Austinites eyes, at least until they sold out a few years ago.<p>Further down south in Austin there is some place slinging damn good pizzas out of a window in a gas station. I think it’s called Luigi’s. I haven’t tried it but have heard others rave about it.
Up in parts of Canada the restaurant that also served gas was Husky. If you needed gas, you'd say you're going to get gas, or go gas up. If you said let's go to the Husky, you meant let's go eat! No one ever went "to the Husky" for gas, but that was the gas station.<p>It's somewhat disconcerting to read how many readers didn't get the title, took halfway through the article to understand the title, and even once getting it, still complained about the title! If you get it, you got it; if you didn't, then once you did, just get it already... Demanding/requesting a title change to suit your perspective? How about expand your perspective, gratefully?
Chef Point Cafe [0] in Fort Worth, Texas was one I used to frequent.<p>The owner couldn't get a loan for a restaurant but could for a gas station, so he put his restaurant in the gas station. It got featured on Diners, Drive-Ins, and Dives which was amazing for him but made it much harder to get a seat!<p>They've closed down the original gas station restaurant last I saw, and now have a full restaurant. If the food hasn't changed I can say it was excellent. My go to was the Maple Leaf Duck, but the Cioppino was excellent as well.<p>0: <a href="https://chefpointcafe.org" rel="nofollow noreferrer">https://chefpointcafe.org</a>
Love these sorts of places, the Redneck BBQ Lab by us is attached to a gas station and serves some pretty good BBQ. Always a nice thing to find a restaurant like that.
In the Midwest we have Casey's. It's a gas station chain known for their pizza. It's not uncommon to see cafes attached to gas stations in small towns. And of course truck stops that sometimes have multiple restaurants. It seems more weird to not have restaurants attached to gas stations, especially if it's near an interstate.
If anyone is ever headed from Yosemite to Bodie, stop at the Whoa Nellie Deli in Lee Vining. It's inside the Mobil gas station just before you hit Mono lake.<p>It has some out of this world fish tacos.<p><a href="https://www.whoanelliedeli.com/menu-1" rel="nofollow noreferrer">https://www.whoanelliedeli.com/menu-1</a>
Took me getting to the first photo to trigger what gas meant in this context. Then made me think of Stuckey’s. But that was more from road trips in the 80’s.
Maybe going forward there will be new brands pop up for EV charging and locally interesting foods.
Driving around the US I'd sometimes find restaurants attached to gas stations, and they kind of creeped me out, but unlike the one in the article they were always chain restaurants and seemed like tiny inferior versions of already inferior food only now in cramped/dirtier locations.<p>I'm also not brave enough to try the rotating hotdogs sold at gas stations and convenience stores. When I'm on the road, expected to be somewhere, and with occasionally long stretches of time between exits I really don't want to risk digestive issues.
Oklahoma Joe's (as it was called when I went there, it might just be Joe's now) had a location at a gas station in Kansas City and it was some of the best dry rub ribs I've ever had.
I was actually expecting this to be some sort of complaint about the ersatz truffle oils on the market nowadays (<a href="https://www.tastingtable.com/693090/truffle-oil-fake-no-truffles-priceonomics/" rel="nofollow noreferrer">https://www.tastingtable.com/693090/truffle-oil-fake-no-truf...</a>).
One of my favored local places serves wonderful BBQ and deli sandwiches, has the area's best butcher counter by far, and has a large gas station out front.<p><a href="https://www.facebook.com/trolingers/" rel="nofollow noreferrer">https://www.facebook.com/trolingers/</a>
Nearly expected it to be a Buc-ee's [0].<p>0: <a href="https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Buc-ee%27s" rel="nofollow noreferrer">https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Buc-ee%27s</a>