The Eastern Kentucky Chili Bun Trail by RL Reeves Jr
That concern would have a nigh 80 year run before shuttering in 2008 as downtown Barbourville slowly turned into a ghost town. No matter, by then offshoot Mitchell Foods had already been in operation for nearly a decade providing frozen food service products to quick marts across Appalachia.
Eaton’s Handi Mart
3801-5199 KY-26
Corbin, Kentucky
40701
I’m starving and in dire need of a chili bun so I place my order and ramble around the well-stocked store for a minute while I wait on the counter lady to fix my lunch.
Eaton’s is a classic old-fashioned country market where you can get a ‘baby chick starter’ for $16.50, a salt block for your cows for right at ten bucks or a pound of pickle loaf for $5.19.
Need a spool of bailing twine for your haybaler? They’ve got that too.
The al fresco dining area at Eaton’s Handi Mart near Corbin Kentucky
Not every country market has a little granny woman plying her trade in the chili game. Nowadays when you get your fried baloney biscuit from a gas-n-go on Heifer Creek that clerk hustling around behind the counter probably defrosted most of your food early that morning.
Change has come to the foodways of Appalachia
Eaton’s Handi Mart
3801-5199 KY-26
Corbin, Kentucky
40701
A chili bun with a side of Grippos potato chips is a classic eastern Kentucky meal
Love Eaton’s. They make some of the best sandwiches around, too.
They Have much better food and better prices than most places Old man eaton is a good old guy its worth the trip just to talk to him and the biscut and gravy is amazing
If chili isn’t your thing then try his sausage biscuits too!
His breakfast food is pretty great, too. And he’s a hoot with the kids.
I wish I could’ve met him
Eaton’s is the Best Country Store that I know of, Gleason is One In A Million!! Funny and Kind 😉 I do A Lot of My Shopping there from Food, Cigarettes, Dog Food and So Much More… Great Prices…Great People…and Yes, Great Breakfast Biscuits and Hot Dogs! I have a store within half a mile of my house but I Always drive the extra miles to go to Eaton’s!!
This article is about to set a record
I love Eaton’s .love their sandwiches and hotdogs.I love the friendliest of them .we drive there out of the way if we think he Chas what we need instead of going to hardware store.
I’ll be getting a sausage from there on my next visit
I will
Eatons is great !Gleason , makes a sandwich anyone would want . You definitely won’t be hungry. He has all his clerks to make these hardy sandwiches as well. And yes, the hotdogs are delicious ?
I should probably interview him
Our Grandson Skyler lives on Eatons bologna. He thinks it’s the only ‘real’ bologna. The store is truly one of a kind and so is Gleason. He has fed alot of people and an asset to our community.
Gleason has never met a stranger, ask him about his horse trading days, a very good fellow.
Me Eaton has always been good to everyone. He used to give me the best deals in town. There is nothing like a good bologna sandwich with fresh tomato and mayo on a hot summers day. Thanks me Eaton for being so kind.
I will, thanks for the tip
As long as the baloney is fried I’m down
You need to go back and meet him, nicest person you’ll ever meet.
I will, looking forward to it. rl
I love going there he always has a joke when I go in he is in it for the people not a buck and that is what makes him and his store a great thing
If you stand in front of the Moorish house you posted in street view, swing around 170 degrees to your right. The tall ornate building is the once Masonic Lodge. My employer of 21 years now, Ball State, now operates the structure. It has been renamed Cornerstone Center for the Arts. I once lived in a four unit building one block over from the Moorish house, back to the east about 6 blocks. I never had any problems, but my younger brothers car was stolen right out of our parking lot, never to be seen again. It was a 1987 Buick Grand National my Dad bought new when he was an engineer with General Motors. I”m very familiar with the Kimbrough district as well as the old west end. I don”t foresee personally living in either area again, I”m much happier in the small town a little to the NW, but still a lifelong Delaware County resident. I own 3 houses with my wife here. Another town in the same County with several Victorians is Eaton. In this area, you will likely find what you”re looking for there, without the four lane one way streets, & more of a small town feel. There are several Queens with towers and turrets in Eaton, none in Gaston still standing, only some turn of century larger structures and few really nice ones. 0
Muncie Indiana?
Stop on by our store in Barbourville, where we still make, it next time you’re in the area! We’ll load you up with some Mitchell’s Chili Mix to take back!
I’ll do it. Thanks, rl