Chef Adam Fugghett with oxtails, collard greens and mac-and-cheese
Usually when someone suggests you sample the culinary offerings at the Marathon gas station behind the other Marathon gas station, the best you can hope for is a bag of Funyuns and a Hostess Pudding Pie. That’s not the case at the John A. Merritt Boulevard Marathon station. No, not that one — the one right beside it, with the sign that says “Fame-Us Fried Chicken” on the window. The Caribbean meat-and-three is a popular North Nashville spot just down the street from TSU, and it’s so much better than standard gas-station fare that it almost feels like you’ve walked into Willy Wonka’s chocolate factory when you thought you’d just been in an empty room playing Rachmaninoff on a tiny piano. And the fried chicken really is magical — fresh, fast, salty and full of flavor, plus it’s served with a choice of sides that alternate so frequently that you won’t get bored. On the day I went, the selections included green beans, collards, black-eyed peas, Salisbury steak, fried rice and the unassuming spot’s most famous (or fame-us) element: oxtail. And for dessert? You can get house-made rum cake or chess squares — or some Twinkies, if your Pavlovian response to gas stations is anything like mine.
