Gas station food has come a looong way, since the days of the prepacked, week-old ham and cheese sandwiches, heat lamp-dried hamburgers and fruit cups. A growing number of customers pulling into stations aren’t just coming for gas or to make a pit stop. They’re coming for the home-cooked meals like those at the Hot Food Corner II in Delcambre, where the food is gotten fast, but is not fast food.
Located inside the Texaco station on Hwy. 14, Hot Food Corner was previously owned by the Champagne family. After the death of the family patriarch, it was sold in 2022 to Abbeville native Cory Neveaux who wanted to keep the well-known name, but added the “II” (to indicate its second ownership, not a second location.)
Neveaux, who has worked in sales for a chemical company and cooked for clients for years, says having a restaurant was not on his radar at first. He recalls, “Friends would tell me, ‘you’re always cooking; you should open a place.’ That planted a seed, and three months later I got a call from a friend telling me Hot Food Corner was closing and asking if I was interested. The frontline and kitchen workers were willing to stay on and keep it going, and that helped me make the decision.”
Open at 6 am Monday through Saturday, the restaurant has a handful of regulars waiting before then for breakfast. While many come to the drive-thru for the breakfast sandwiches ready when the doors open, others settle in for the deluxe plate with eggs, bacon, sausage, hash browns and toast. For those retired and on a budget, Hot Food Corner offers a more cost-saving half order and a cup of coffee, as well as a comfortable place for chit chat.
Then there’s lunch. Mondays through Thursdays, customers can choose between the tasty smothered chicken or another option that changes daily, along with a side and dessert (usually cake.) The restaurant is known for a lot of things. Favorites include fried sticky ribs served once a month with twice baked potatoes and baked beans; hamburger steak; smothered pork roast; and smothered brisket with rice dressing.
Every Friday is “seafood Friday,” serving up fares like fried fish or shrimp, shrimp étouffée, courtbouillons and other favorites made with local seafood. After all – it’s Delcambre.
Some regular menu items not to be overlooked are the wraps, poboys and hamburgers, while their pork chop and seafood plate hit the mark as well. “Some people come to buy 50 pieces of fish for their customers,” adds Neveaux, who plans to add gumbo to the menu this fall after doing so well with it last year.
When he first started, Neveaux was in the kitchen with the cooks as often as he could be, creating dishes from his personal recipes. While he remains pretty hands on, (the day I spoke with him he had already made étouffée, early that morning, for lunch) his sales job has him relying heavily on the three women in the kitchen. “I enjoy cooking and conversing with the public whenever I can,” he says. “The workers I have are very special; without them I couldn’t do all of this. I’m happy to continue serving the people of Delcambre and the surrounding communities.”
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