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A Gas Station Serves the Best Lunch in Enterprise, Alabama
Fuel up with Southern classics at the Good to Go
It’s lunchtime on Friday and it’s pouring rain in sheets. Rain like this is usually a deterrent for people in the small Southern town of Enterprise, Alabama. But at the Good to Go gas station on the outskirts of the town circle, the parking lot is full, with new cars creating their own spaces as best they can. Turns out, there’s plenty of room. The Good to Go has always been busy — and therefore prepared.
Anyone from the South knows that one of the best places to eat in town will likely be a gas station. But the Good to Go in Enterprise is exceptional.
The scent of barbecue greets customers at the door. Thick black smoke billows from the slow cooker behind the building, sending the imagination running wild with what deliciousness could be roasting inside. (Will it be Boston butt or fall-off-the-bone ribs today?) From the smoker, meat is slathered with a secret sauce made from a recipe only three people know. Then it’s piled onto a metal tray in a heated stainless steel island accompanied by fried catfish, fried chicken, and sides. Though the food line seems long, before you know it, an employee will ask a familiar Southern question: “Cornbread or roll?”
At the Good to Go, the answer should always be cornbread: With its signature flat, circular shape and golden fried exterior, you won’t find cornbread anywhere like it outside of your grannie’s cast-iron skillet.
Good to Go’s head operations person Natalie Sumrall says that, sure enough, her grandmother grew up cooking it. “It’s just basic ingredients. It’s all in the consistency of the batter. If you have the right consistency, you can just take a spoonful and drop it in the grease.”
Sumrall is a fast talker with a Southern drawl, who listens just as much as she chats. For her, it’s not just a deli, but a living legacy she gets to share…
