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Jason Redmon, proprietor of the iconic Hub City Diner at 1412 S. College Road in Lafayette, joins Discover Lafayette to celebrate Hub City Diner’s longevity and popularity, as well as his support of Lafayette Travel and Eat Lafayette, a yearlong celebration of Lafayette’s locally owned restaurants.
Hub City Diner’s ambiance is akin to the famous tv show, “Cheers,” where everyone knows your name. It is a real ‘”Hub” of activity in Lafayette, where locals meet, greet, and share their lives while enjoying their favorite comfort foods.
The diner was established originally as Stansbury’s Café in 1965, in the early days of the Oil Center, the commercial neighborhood that surrounds Hub City Diner. Thereafter, Lafayette restaurateur Charlie Goodson, Chef Pat Mould and advertising executive and local foodie George Graham, opened Hub City Diner in the space.
Their intial concept was a 1950s diner, but with more of a Louisiana twist. Jimmy Guidry, who has years of food and bar experience throughout Lafayette, purchased the restaurant in 1998.
Jason is 46 years old and has worked at Hub City Diner for more than half of his life. This is only the 4th job he has held in his life. A Bunkie native, his first job was working for his uncle on his sweet potato farm in Evergreen where he “caught the skips,” making sure that the sweet potato roots were properly placed in the ground. Jason recalls his uncle saying to him, “You hot boy? You got to get hot with it!!” Jason still thinks about the lessons he learned from his uncle about having true grit and has maintained that strong work ethic to this day. “You’ve got to have grit and push through to get to the other side.”
Jason worked at McDonald’s and Subway in Bunkie before he moved to Lafayette in the late 1998 to study Hospitality Managment at USL. His boss at Bunkie’s Subway, Al Mahfouz, encouraged him to call upon the Hub City Diner manager at the time, Danny Fontenot, who hired Jason to serve as host and waiter. Jason first met Jimmy Guidry a few months after he started working at Hub City Diner, and the two became fast friends and colleagues.
“People think that Jimmy Guidry and I are father and son. We have a synergistic relationship. We’re not related by blood, but I guess we are now related through all of our time together. He’s been a tremendous mentor and I’m very fortunate to have him in my life. I’ve been blessed with two dads. Jimmy told me, “If there is anything you’ve learned from me, I hope it is to be generous,” Jason Redmon shared. And Jason did learn from Jimmy, still putting community first when he is asked to support local causes. He asks before he gives, “Will this help our community?”
On January 1, 2022, Jason Redmon, Hub City Diner’s longtime manager, took over ownership from Jimmy Guidry. The ambiance in the diner remains the same, with vinyl booths and chairs, checkered floors, nostalgic photos on the wall, and even a ceramic Pelican that’s dressed like Elvis.
Hub City Diner offers All-American comfort food, where there is something on the menu for everyone; people of all ages enjoy the diner’s fare, from tiny tots enjoying meals offered in paper containers resembling classic cars to adults enjoying Mimosa’s for $5 anytime of day. There is truly something for everyone who walks in and is greeted kindly. Meatloaf, salads, and eggs rule the offerings, while there are also specials on weekends which include smoked salmon, avocado toast, and fried green tomato spinach florentine meals. The hamburger steak is the most popular item on the menu.
The feeling of community at Hub City Diner is palpable, as its staff cordially welcomes first-time visitors along with long-time regulars who frequent the diner after church in the early morning hours each weekday or who are always seen sitting in their favorite booth each weekend. With a staff that experiences very little turnover, Hub City Diner’s employees know their clientele, which makes for a feeling of home when you enter the door.
“This is the beauty of the diner. It’s not just me. My staff acknowledges the community of patrons and meets their needs. One customer loved Peeps and shared that with us, so we went out and bought Peeps, and later that week when his pancakes came out, we piled all the Peeps on top of his pancakes and sent it out to him without a word. We also are prepared for Mother’s Day and hand out about 275 fresh Carnations (supplied by Champagne’s in the Oil Center) to all women spending this special day with us. Those kinds of things make the diner special.”
“I don’t look at other locally owned restaurants as competition. I’m excited that they’re here, and opening in the Oil Center. I love to see everyone have success and am always willing to help others, and sometimes it is vice versa, where I’ll be short on something and they help,” says Jason Redmon. Photo by Leslie Westbrook of the Acadiana Advocate.
Approximately 600 people are served each day, and the mainstay favorite menu items such as Hamburger steak or the “2 x 2 x 2 of eggs, bacon, grits and pancakes” are served to patrons. Jason is partial to the Diner Club Sandwich.
Hub City Diner is open seven days a week, Monday through Saturday from 6:30 a.m to 9 p.m., and Sundays from 6:30 a.m to 3 p.m. For more information, visit https://www.hubcitydiner.com/.
For a listing of all local restaurants participating in Eat Lafayette, visit https://www.lafayettetravel.com/food-drink/local-restaurants/
