Mustang Oil, Greensboro, Alabama

Mustang Oil
Main Street and Hwy 14
Greensboro
AL 36744

I know none of you will ever find yourselves in Greensboro, Hale County, Alabama. Or if you do, you will be very lost, trying to get from Birmingham to New Orleans, or something. But in case you do, and just because I can, I'm going to write a hymn of praise to the legendary Mustang Oil.

It's all about the ribs. Yes, they do barbecue pork and chicken, hamburgers, catfish and more, but the reason why Mustang Oil exists is because of its rib plates. Beautiful, melting, tender-yet-firm, sweet, smoky yet sharp ribs, cut up with big shears and weighed on the scales before being plonked on a plastic plate. Then joined with the slaw and their cajun fries, both of which are pinnacles of their genre. Get there just before midday so you can catch the fries when they are really fresh and crispy.

It's almost impossible to say how good these ribs are. But I'll just tell you that my mother liked them. My mother is Japanese, very skinny, scared of rednecks and with a horror of fatty food. But she liked Mustang's ribs...

Atmosphere-wise, it's a classic gas station diner. Formica, rough wood boarded walls, taxidermied stag heads and photos of hunting on the walls, alongside neon signs advertising Budweiser and Miller Lite. The cops eat here, so does the judge, so do the catfish plant workers, and the guys from John Deere down the road. In hunting season it opens at 3 or 4 in the morning to serve breakfast to the early morning hunters.

This place is single-handedly responsible for me putting on nearly a stone while in Alabama.