Sulphur’s Maplewood Discount is, well, a convenience store. There are neon beer signs in the windows, aisles of chips and candy, and a wall of refrigerated drinks.

But on the store’s Facebook page, the “About” section contains a single sentence: “Home of the Stuffed Burgers!!!!” Indeed.

Served up behind a counter along the store’s right side, the massive burgers are stuffed with everything from bacon and cheese to shrimp and crawfish.

It wasn’t always this way. Krish Patel bought Maplewood Discount in 2011, back when it was just a store.

But he’d grown up around food; his parents have registered over 20 years in various food businesses. In the ’90s, the family bought a store in Tampa, Fla., and started churning out fresh, ever-more-creative takes on Cuban sandwiches.

“Really, my parents got involved in food,” Patel said. “That’s how I fell in love.”

Patel himself has worked for several restaurants and took over operation of a hotel, too.

So it’s no surprise, then, that he and his parents started experimenting with sandwiches again, this time within the confines of Maplewood Discount.

His mom, he said, does most of the research for the burgers — even though, as a vegetarian, “she’s never had meat in her life,” Patel said. His dad, who also helps create the menu items, only eats chicken and fish.

“My mom can put something together in her head, without tasting it, and it’ll be good,” Patel said.

Patel and the crew unveiled their creations in May or June of last year, Patel said, starting with four or five burgers.

Since then, they’ve expanded the menu to 10 varieties, ranging from $7 to $12.

I picked three burgers to try: the bacon stuffed, the barbecue stuffed brisket and the Cajun Kick, all ordered on sourdough buns.

Patel said he recently cleared the front third of the store for tables and chairs, giving a convenient space to dig in onsite.

The bacon stuffed burger is simply massive.

Long strips of bacon are sandwiched inside the oversized patty, which lies on a gooey bed of pepper jack cheese.

I ordered mine with everything — lettuce, tomato, onion, pickles and mustard — and the tanginess of the pickles and mustard contrasted well with the richness of the meat and cheese.

The barbecue stuffed brisket burger was similarly huge, with shards of brisket compacted into a patty and stuffed with pepper jack cheese.

The sandwich was topped with caramelized onions and absolutely drenched in a sweet barbecue sauce, making for a messy but satisfying dish. Patel said the brisket burger is his most popular.

Last came the Cajun Kick burger, the only non-stuffed burger on the plate.

It came laden with lettuce, tomato, onion and melted pepper jack and covered in Maplewood’s signature Cajun Kick sauce — a creamy, spicy sauce with a definite tang.

The heat was almost overwhelming to me, but I’m sure braver souls will find it to their liking.

All the burgers came with a generous helping of medium-cut french fries, with a crispy exterior and creamy, potatoey interior. They were topped with a spicy, salty seasoning for good measure.

Maplewood Discount also serves several meat-and-cheese breakfast sandwiches, and Patel said he’s added some meatless fish sandwiches, too.

He’s always adding to the menu, and two new burgers are now undergoing testing: a stuffed Italian burger and a stuffed macaroni and cheese burger.

Maplewood Discount, at 4124 Maplewood Drive, might be a convenience store, but there’s much more than chips and candy to be found there.

Photo by Devin Dronett