Trying the Ribs at Al and Irene's

Linda and I pulled up in front of Al and Irene's and trusted the list of 100 Things You Must Eat In Iowa. Located a bit off the beaten path and without much exterior promotion, the place looked a little sketchy. When we walked inside, we still had concerns that we were in the right place. Half of the tables still had upside down chairs on them, apparently from close the night before. There were a dozen or so people in the booths and tables set up for customers but Linda observed none of them had food or drink. Nobody came to seat us so we made our way to a booth on the far wall. Soon a waitress, probably Irene, brought menus and shortly returned to take our order. We each ordered ribs and I got the cole slaw and potato salad sides.

As you can probably make out from the impressionist photo (sorry about the blurry image,) a very nice pile of meaty, tasty ribs was soon set before me. About half way through, Linda and I were both grateful we'd chosen the mild sauce. At first, we'd only been aware of the sweetness; as time went on, a little zing had begun to work it's way into the flavor. Not so much as to be uncomfortable but as much as we were really looking for tonight. I'd certainly go back to Al and Irene's.