Great food from a gas station? Yes, we found some. A lot, actually. Here’s where.

In National Lampoon’s hit ’80s motion picture comedy “Vacation,” character Clark Griswold (played by Chevy Chase) summed up many people’s reaction to the phrase ‘gas station food,’ thus, “I’m so hungry I could eat a sandwich from a gas station.”

Historically, when it comes to the food offerings available at a typical gas station, the bar was set low.

However, as increasingly narrow profit margins on gasoline, industry competition, and lower demand for tobacco products have driven owners to seek alternative means of making money, foodservice has become the focus — and business on that front is booming. One key to success is offering a menu that connects with consumers.

The days of merely offering customers roller grill hot dogs and perhaps a refrigerated assortment of pre-packaged sandwiches are gone. Many gas stations now offer full-service grills, extensive hot and cold deli bars, and even indoor dining.

Today, Clark Griswold would surely be more inclined to grab a meal at a gas station.

According to the National Association of Convenience Stores (NACS), foodservice sales are becoming convenience stores’ most profitable category.

Gas station food is becoming so popular in fact, there is even a web site devoted to it, Gas Station Gourmet.

Let’s not forget that KFC’s roots can be traced back to when Harland Sanders began selling his famous finger-lickin’ fried chicken in a humble gas station that was located just down the highway in Corbin.

Intrigued by what I might discover on the menu, I recently set out on a venture to determine the availability of decent gas station fare in Lexington and Central Kentucky. What follows is a representative sampling that may surprise you. It did me.

Clark’s Pump N Shop

Clark’s Pump-N-Shop. 3334 Clays Mill Rd., 922 Detroit Ave., and 1419 Versailles Rd. (Additional locations in Georgetown and Winchester.) The Lexington locations feature Krispy Krunchy Chicken and honey butter biscuits.

In addition, you will also find Cajun chicken tenders, fried fish, fried shrimp, chicken sandwiches, boneless and bone-in wings, Boudin bites, Crispitos (tortillas filled with chicken and cheese) and even cracklings on the menu. Sides include French fries, macaroni and cheese, mashed potatoes with gravy, jambalaya, and red beans and rice.

All area Clark’s locations serve burgers, hot dogs, corndogs, and various appetizers. The Georgetown location also serves freshly made sandwiches and deli salads. Pizza will be available at all area locations later this year.

Clark’s also offers a variety of breakfast sandwiches, Tornados, Roller Bites (choice of sausage, egg, and cheese or cheesy hash browns and sausage), breakfast burritos, and biscuits and gravy. Prices vary.

Jessica Russell, Clark’s director of food service said that their sausage biscuit is the most popular breakfast item on the menu.

“We serve breakfast all day. If a customer would like to order breakfast after 10:30 a.m. there may be a small wait, as we prepare it fresh. Lunch and dinner is served from 10:30 a.m. until 3 p.m. right now.”

Double Kwik

Double Kwik homecooker and dkGrill. 4000 Catnip Hill Rd., Nicholasville.

Food prep begins most mornings at 3 a.m. as more than a thousand customers pass through the doors every day at this Double Kwik — and many of those people are there for the food, according to store manager Matt Kersey. He estimates 60 percent of the business is from the store’s food, followed by fuel and tobacco products.

“There’s a long line of people waiting inside to order at peak breakfast and lunch hours.”

No surprise. Double Kwik offers the largest and most impressive assortment of hot and cold food available at any gas station in the area.

There is a variety of menu items available each day, including breakfast and lunch items from the Homecooker homestyle buffet, and other assorted lunch items available from the dkGrill. There is normally ample seating for dining inside which is currently reduced due to COVID-19 restrictions.

Popular breakfast items from the Homecooker buffet include omelets, pancakes, breakfast platters with eggs cooked to order, biscuits and gravy, and biscuit combos. Prices vary.

Weekday buffet lunch items include country fried steak and gravy (Monday), homestyle chicken and dumplings (Tuesday), homemade meatloaf (Wednesday), roast beef (Thursday), and fried or baked catfish (Friday). Everyday lunch specials include fried or baked chicken, vegetable beef soup, chili with cornbread, and cobbler. Sides include corn, mashed potatoes, wedges, and other items.

“The roast beef is a big seller here and everybody loves the green beans along with the vegetable soup and brown beans,” said Vicky Page, who manages the Homecooker hot and cold homestyle buffet.

Other daily entrees include chicken livers with onion, salmon patties, turkey & dressing, lasagna, beef stew, stuffed peppers, chicken pot pie, Salisbury steak, tuna casserole, and spaghetti & meatballs. There are also assorted cold salads and numerous vegetables available.

In addition, there is a “Goodness-to-Go” refrigerated case onsite containing various items prepared from scratch on the premises including deviled eggs, subs, chicken or tuna salad, chef salad, fruit and dessert cups, and a variety of traditional gas station wedge sandwiches.

April Starnes is the manager at Double Kwik’s dkGrill which serves lunch, in addition to Homecooker. She said that the Philly cheesesteak ($3.99) is dkGrill’s most popular menu item followed by the double burger ($4.29.) In addition, there is also a chicken sandwich, available grilled or crispy ($3.99), a hot ham & cheese ($3.59), a turkey club ($3.99), and a steak hoagie ($3.79). There is even an assortment of hand-dipped ice cream available and the pizza rolls and Italian rolls ($3.29 each) are a big customer favorite.

If you are in a major hurry, there is a hot case at the front register that includes premade sloppy Joe sandwiches, hot dogs, hoagies, and slices of sausage or pepperoni pizza. The pizza is freshly made, never frozen, according to Kersey.

Donuts from Burke’s Bakery in Danville are also available instore, as well as assorted other bakery items such as chess bars, peanut butter fudge, peanut butter rolls, and Scotcheroons from Miller’s Amish Bakery located in Lost Creek.

Clearly, there is something for virtually every appetite, small or large, at Double Kwik.

Hours: Homecooker: 5 a.m. to 4 p.m., Monday to Friday; 6 a.m. to 3 p.m., Saturday; closed on Sunday. dkGrill: 10 a.m. to 3 p.m., Monday-Saturday. Closed on Sunday.

Estepp’s Cafe

Estepp’s Friendly Shell – Estepp’s Café & Coffee Company. 1951 Stanton Way, 1907 Plaudit Place, 1445 Newtown Center Way, and 3197 Clays Mill Rd. (Additional locations in Paris, Richmond, and Louisville.)

Estepp’s makes their breakfast and lunch items fresh every day and offers a variety of tempting items including biscuits with your choice of country sausage, bacon, country ham, or pork tenderloin ($1.99 each), or with fried bologna ($1.69), or chicken ($2.49), in addition to an egg white flatbread sandwich with spinach, sundried tomato, pepper jack cheese, and ham ($3.99.) A steak and cheese burrito ($3.99) is also on the daily menu. For those with a heartier appetite, you can add an egg, cheese, and extra meat for $2 more to make it a Trifecta Sandwich.

The lunch menu features a smoky cheddar hot dog ($1.99), cheeseburger ($3.99), breaded chicken sandwich or mesquite chicken club ($3.99 ea.), barbecue pulled pork sandwich ($3.99), grilled ham & cheese ($3.99), and chicken tenders ($2.99).

The Clays Mill Road location also offers three other breakfast burritos, breakfast pizzas, biscuits and gravy, and Cinnobabies (bite-size cinnamon rolls), in addition to six different gourmet burgers, six gourmet chicken sandwiches, and Hot Stuff Pizza. The Newtown Center Way location also features a Little Caesars Express.

According to Mike Rich, Estepp’s Shell CPO, the Breakfast Trifecta Sandwich is the chain’s top-selling food item.

Estepp’s has offered hot food items in this area for the past 25 years.

Hours: Breakfast 6 to 10:30 a.m., lunch 10:30 a.m. to 2 p.m., pizza 10 a.m. to 7 p.m.

Joe’s Kitchen

Joe’s Mini Food Mart. Joe’s Kitchen. 705 E. Loudon Ave.

Joe’s is where the regulars hang out to discuss the latest news, sports, and politics, and come to grab something to eat. There is nothing fussy or fancy about it. Joe’s serves breakfast, lunch, and dinner daily — while it lasts — and there is only one table in the cramped confines for in-store dining.

Hot breakfast items include biscuits and gravy (small $2.99 or large $3.99), sausage biscuit ($1.69), bacon, egg & cheese biscuit ($3.99), BLT ($3,69), fried bologna ($3.19), and a protein pack consisting of bacon, sausage, and egg ($4.99).

I tried the bacon, egg and cheese biscuit and it was tasty and rivaled similar biscuits at any breakfast restaurant in town.

The standout item on Joe’s menu is the pressure-fried broasted chicken, Genuine Broaster Chicken, renowned for its proprietary marinades and seasonings. It is by far the number one selling item and sold by the piece, or in a 1-, 2-, 3- or 4-piece box meal that includes three wedges and a roll ($3.49-$6.99.)

Owner Joe Rayyan says that 30-40 percent of the store’s business is from foodservice and that many of his customers are repeat visitors. Some people even stop by daily for a bite.

“Food is the draw. We’re kind of like a neighborhood bar or a club.”

Mike Flanagan is certainly a regular customer. He eats at Joe’s, on average, four or more times weekly.

“The meatloaf is out of this world and the macaroni and cheese is to die for,” noted the retired Flanagan. “It is fast. You are in and out.”

Joe’s also offers pork chops, spaghetti, chicken tenders, popcorn chicken, hot wings, bean soup, corndogs, and deli cold-cut sandwiches. Sides include cole slaw, potato wedges, green beans, macaroni and cheese, mashed potatoes, and one or two additional sides that rotate on and off the daily menu.

One entrée, two sides and roll will only set you back a very reasonable $6.49.

Sandwiches include chicken filet ($3.99), spicy chicken ($3.99), cheeseburger ($3.99), 1/4-lb. bacon cheeseburger ($5.49), 1/2-lb. cheeseburger ($6.99), Louisiana spicy chicken ($5.99), and bologna ($3.49) — and a full array of traditional deli sandwiches.

“A lot of home cooking goes on here,” said Maranda Flannery, who has worked behind the hot bar counter at Joe’s for the past five years.

Hours: 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. Monday to Friday; 7:30 a.m to 8 p.m. on Saturday; 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. on Sunday.

Midway Food Market

Midway Food Market. 3895 Winchester Road.

Located midway between Lexington and Winchester, this long-standing gas station has been around for more than 80 years according to current owner and manager Raj Subedi, who bought the business in 2017.

One regular customer recalls stopping in with his father for gas as far back as 1944, Subedi said.

A popular stopping off spot for motorists traveling between the two cities, the food at Midway Food Market is limited to breakfast and lunch fixings, and everything is served for grab-n-go.

I was sold on it after only one “meal,” which consisted of my sampling a pork chop, a piece of catfish, and one chicken tender.

Each item was individually delicious, which explains why there was a steady stream of customers coming and going, buying lunch, during my visit. The pork chop was large and flavorful, the chicken tender was plump and lightly breaded, and the catfish was tender and flaky. Worth the trip.

“The chicken tenders sell so crazy. More than anything else,” says Subedi, who considers his customers to be like family. “I can compete with anyone in town with our wedges.”

Winchester resident Alex Balderas picks up food there on an average of four times per week on his commute to work at Lexington’s Costco Warehouse store.

“The tenders are the best thing around and I have got to have the wedges … I cannot go without them,” Balderas said.

Toni Kraatz does all the cooking, six days per week, and she says the tenders are so popular, in part, “due to my touch.”

“I call it ‘chicken crack.’ It’s the secret batter.” She declined to share the recipe before quickly disappearing back into the kitchen. “I’ve got to go make more tenders.”

There is no menu board. What you see in the small hot bar is what you get. Generally, that includes the chicken tenders, pork chops, fried catfish, hot wings, corndogs and occasionally hamburgers ... “if we remember to thaw out the beef in time,” Kraatz said.

The Lunch Special includes your choice of meat, two sides, and a roll for $7.99.

Side items are the standard fare of green beans, macaroni and cheese, mashed potatoes, and sometimes corn.

Breakfast items include a sausage, egg, cheese and hash brown burrito ($3.99), pork tenderloin on a biscuit or bun or white bread ($3.99), and a sausage or bacon biscuit ($2.59. In addition, there is a chicken, country ham, country fried steak, or fried bologna biscuit ($3.99 each.) Add egg or cheese to any biscuit for 59 cents more.

If you prefer, Midway Food Market also has traditional prepackaged sandwiches in a refrigerated case, but after what I sampled on their hot bar, opting for a generic cold sandwich seems like a major gastronomic mistake to me.

Hours: Breakfast served 6:30 a.m.-10:30 a.m., Monday to Saturday. Lunch served 10:30 a.m. until it runs out. The hot bar is closed on Sunday.

WOW Foodmart

WOW Foodmart – Skyline BP. 1065 Newtown Pike.

Here you will find an assortment of hot Gourmet Grub brand breakfast and lunch items. Gourmet Grub features “freshly baked quarter-pound Angus burgers, topped with house made sauces, cheese and baked to perfection.”

Gourmet Grub notes that by baking their burgers, “consumers will enjoy a juicy, delicious burger, without the grease of frying them.”

Items on display in the store’s hot case during my morning visit included a choice of steak, egg, and cheese burrito ($4.69), skillet burrito ($3.69), Denver breakfast burrito ($3.69), chorizo burrito ($3.69), bacon, egg, and cheese biscuit ($2.49), and a cheeseburger ($3.99), bacon cheeseburger ($4.29), or rojo tamale ($2.79).

There was also broasted chicken available in a three-piece box ($6.69), four-piece box ($7.69), three-piece tender box ($5.49), and a five-piece hot wing box, bone-in or boneless ($5.49.) Each box meal includes wedges and a biscuit. Other items advertised in-store but not on display included Hot Stuff Pizza and other assorted breakfast sandwiches.

All items are sold ready to grab-n-go.

Hours: Breakfast items: 6 to 10 a.m. Other hot food items: 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. or while it lasts until the store closes at 11 p.m.

Other notable mentions

Silver Streak Market is now open in the former Airport Food Mart at 5584 Versailles Rd. Among its offerings are Kentucky Proud products and daily menu specials at the Liam restaurant located inside such as breakfast sandwiches, breakfast bagels, spaghetti and meatballs, lasagna, roasted chicken, grilled steak, beef fajitas, seafood marinara, chicken and beef kabobs over rice, and Mexican food favorites such as burritos, tacos, and empanadas.

J & B Food Mart, 200 Lexington Street, Versailles. As reported in 2017, J & B’s Deli, located inside the J & B Food Mart — a stone’s throw from the courthouse in downtown Versailles — offers some of the best home cooking in Central Kentucky.

So, the next time you hit the road, keep in mind that when you are hungry, gas station food may be worth driving the extra mile or two. The abundant availability of tasty hot or cold food items at the various stations in Central Kentucky gives new meaning to old phrase, “filling station.” Happy motoring and bon appetit.

This story was originally published March 3, 2021 at 6:00 AM.