08/04/2026
Serving Up Americana, South Jersey Style
By Joe D'Aquila
With America celebrating its big birthday this summer, weâve been pining for a good dose of old-fashioned Americana wherever we can find it.
When it comes to dining options that fit that bill, it doesnât get much more American than a good old fashioned road-side stand.
We donât even know what to call them exactly, but you know what they are - been around forever, serving great-tasting, inexpensive eats, counter service, and of course thereâs ice cream involved too.
Drive-in might be the best name for these establishments, but for many people, using that word would conjure up images of carhops taking your orders and bringing your food out to you in your car. Roller skates may or may not be involved.
Some of those actually do still exist, but at most of the joints weâre talking about, youâll walk up to the window, place your order and in just a few minutes youâll grab your grub and take it either back to your car or to a picnic table or bench to enjoy.
That particular flavor of Americana doesnât get much more South Jersey than at the example we chose to feature here - Hudockâs Custard Stand in Salem.
Hudockâs, which has been around on Route 49 since the 60s, is actually made up of two stands - one for savory food, and the other for ice cream.
We were lucky enough to grab an open table where we had front row access to watch the show of lightning bugs lighting up the neighboring cornfields as we ate.
We tried a number of their offerings, including one of their famous foot-long hot dogs and some of their homemade hand-dipped ice cream.
We didnât think we could handle one of their giant Belly Buster burgers, but we did snag a pretty cool T-shirt with that logo on it - so now weâll definitely have to go back to make that official!
