I think Buc-ee’s ulterior motive is to carpet the I-10 corridor; you’ll step into the east end of the one in Jacksonville, go out the west side and into the one next door and so on until you’re in El Paso.
That doesn’t look like anything I would call a kolache. Here is what I used too, small filled and folded cookies. Delicious little bites!
Edit - oops, I see you second link is the same as my variety of them.
And then there’s this Buc-ees:
I was waiting to see if that door led to a single bathroom stall.
Here is an article from Jalopnik about a new location in Tennessee that’s 74,000 square feet. The article mentions that the company is considering opening in Wisconsin and Colorado.
Isn’t that like a danish? My Hungarian grandmother made kalacs. I loved it. She made both makos and dios, but I preferred the makos.
Sort of
What I’ve heard is that the Czech immigrants to Texas in the late 19th century (currently estimated to be more Texans of Czech descent than in the Czech Republic) brought them over but, like these things go, they were predominantly from one region and so what we get in Texas is descended from a regional variant.
And then there’s the klobasnik, which is the same kind of dough but filled with meat (often/usually sausage). Most people will say ‘kolache’ as the generic but may mean that sort. Sort of like pigs in a blanket. That’s definitely a Texas thing. Pretty good though. I’ll sometimes bring in a mix of kolaches (regular ones plus some sausage or egg or whatever) for my team for breakfast at work. That’s as common as bringing donuts around here.
I thought I10 ended at the Santa Monica Pier?
Illinois has Wally’s which seemed impressive enough (as rest stops go) when we stopped off there but it’s only half the size in square footage as Buc-ee’s. They do have the same general concept of clean restrooms, a billion fuel pumps (and no semis), a food court with bakery, BBQ carving station, jerky wall, tons of miscellaneous tchotchkes to buy, etc.
I wonder why they disallow the semis. I commonly stop at places like Love’s or Flying J that cater to both and have had not trouble getting in or out or within the store. The trucks and are separated at the entrance – even diesel-powered pickups have enough pumps to use the auto side.
Perhaps it’s because the trucker pump area take up an inordinate amount of acreage they’d rather allot to the store.
My guess is that they don’t want to be a truck stop, which is what they would be if they allowed semis.
Many people will stop at a truck stop with their families. The stereotypes of greasy food, lot lizards and drugs is still true for many of them.
As a lifelong road-tripper, I was kind of excited when I came across my first Buc-ee’s, just west of Katy TX. While the appeal was obvious for travelers in need of fuel, food and a sundry item or two, to me it was crowded and noisy and totally lacking in appeal. I got a souvenir sticker and got out as quick as I could.
Agree and I live not far from that Buc-ees. They are ok for a novelty visit but they are generally way too crowded and chaotic for an efficient road trip pit stop.
When out on road trips in the intermountain west we keep an eye out for a Maveriks ( slightly odd spelling) they also do the clean bathrooms and decent food, and good coffee ( within the parameters of road trip coffee) without the chaos of a Buc-ees. They have bought the awfully named Kum and Go chain which was generally not awful.
We’ve seen signs for them on numerous recent drives to Florida; there are 3 (or so?) along I-95 in SC, GA and FL.
This last drive, we finally stopped at one, near Florence SC. 50-100 gas pumps (I lost count), and we had trouble finding one. Finally did, tanked up the car, found regular parking, and headed inside to use the bathroom.
On the way in, we saw 1,500 dollar cast (?) iron smokers. Yeah, if I’m on a family vacation, I’ll pick up a 1500 dollar impulse purchase (and put it… where???). The interior was maybe smaller than our neighborhood Wal-Mart, but pretty close to a decent sized full-service grocery store. A bit hard to judge the size there, as the grocery store has very high aisle dividers, and IIRC the Buc-ee’s was much more open feeling.
And there was a loooong line for the restroom. No thanks… we got back in the car, and went to another convenience store nearby.
Later on that same drive, we stopped at one in GA - and it was a massively different experience. Same size - but not nearly the same crowd either for gas pumps or for the bathroom.
I made my husband visit the Wall of Jerky (as he likes jerky as a high-protein snack) but he wouldn’t buy any. I avoided the candy sections (yes, plural) as that way lies madness and uncontrollable blood sugar.
I saw a section that seemed to sell books and touristy stuff; I did not investigate further. Pretty sure I could have acquired a change of clothing there if needed - maybe not underwear.
The bathroom at that second one WAS nice (cannot, obviously, speak to the condition of the first one, as I never got near it, but sheer entropy suggests it could not have been pristine). The gas prices were better than nearby stations.
I wouldn’t go out of my way to go to one, but I’d certainly be happy to stop there in the future and maybe take 10 minutes to wander around the store a bit. I’ll need to make sure I have room in the back of the car for that meat smoker though!
In terms of better-than-basic stops for road trips, Sheetz and WaWa and the like tend to be just fine - bathrooms acceptable, you can get made-to-order sandwiches that are decent, and they have a decent selection of packaged foods etc. also.
The chain made it to CNN!:
I have a vampire Buc-ee plush now.
I just felt the need to share that.
With plans to expand into Virginia by the end of the decade.
I’m in the area West of St. Louis and we have kolach here too. I had two for lunch today. A Philly Cheese Steak and a Pulled Pork. Still have more for tomorrow.
My nieces are Texas born and raised. One time I was visiting New York City and we saw a barbecue restaurant. My nieces laughed out loud at the idea of New York barbecue.
I had to concede that Texas makes better barbecue than New York City. But I countered by pointing out that New York City makes better pizza than Texas.