A special Thanksgiving November 24, 2006
Posted by Ron in Restaurants.add a comment
We didn’t eat Thanksgiving at home this year. My wife and I both were busy with other things, so we decided to dispense with the labor of cooking a traditional Thanksgiving meal and eat out.
I had recalled the last time we had eaten at the Golden Saddle BBQ & Steakhouse at 6618 E. Admiral Place in Tulsa, on an old alignment of Route 66, that it had posted it would be open for Thanksgiving. So we headed there, thinking we would get its usual excellent buffet.
To our surprise, we found that the Golden Saddle was serving free Thanksgiving meals. The highly organized waitstaff whisked us to a table and within five minutes served us a plateful of turkey, cranberry sauce, real mashed potatoes and gravy, stuffing and gravy, corn, bed and butter, all the water or sweet tea we could drink and a slice of pumpkin pie — all gratis and all very good.
It turns out the Golden Saddle wasn’t the only area restaurant on Route 66 serving free meals. The new owners of Al’s Route 66 Cafe in Sapulpa were dishing up gratis turkey dinners. Tally’s Good Food Cafe, at the corner of 11th and Yale, had been doing annually for the past 19 years.
It’s also interesting to note that the owners of Tally’s and the Golden Saddle originally hail from Middle Eastern countries (both now are naturalized U.S. citizens). Both say they do the free Thanksgiving feed as a thank-you to America. Sometimes foreigners appreciate the United States more than its natural-born citizens.
One of the highlights of our meal was a middle-aged black man who hooked up a laptop loaded with karaoke Mp3s to a sound system and sang. In a rich voice that obviously was well-versed in blues and soul, he sang songs by Norah Jones, the Commodores, Dobie Gray and even Garth Brooks in his own style. Regrettably, I forgot to ask about the gentleman’s name.
Most of those dining at Golden Saddle didn’t seem to be beggar types, but those who were struggling financially and were appreciative of a good holiday meal. I saw one elderly man next to our table quietly thank the woman who served his plate of food. I then saw him bow his head, close his eyes and fold his hands in silent prayer. After a few moments, he raised his head, crossed himself and dug in.
It was a great holiday. In appreciation, we discreetly left a sizable tip to our server and another to the singer. The generosity of Route 66 businesses continues to astound me.
Author writes novel on Route 66 comedy circuit November 24, 2006
Posted by Ron in Books.add a comment
Ronn Perea once booked comedy shows along Route 66 in New Mexico, including Albuquerque, during the 1980s and ’90s.
Now Perea has written a historical novel about those times, titled “Smiles, Giggles & Laughs,” reports the Albuquerque Tribune.
Incidents in the novel - such as the time Greco and a Camaro full of comics get caught in a blizzard driving back from a Christmas Eve show in Tucumcari - are inspired by things that happened.
This second-chapter exchange takes place after the comics pile out of the Camaro to push the car out of an I-40 snowdrift while Greco remains at the wheel.
Jake shouted back at me in ominous tones, “Ronn! Put on the emergency brake. Get off the gas pedal. Don’t move the car.”
My foot complied in pushing down the emergency brake. “What’s wrong?”
The ventriloquist spoke calmly. “You’re six inches from sliding into a ten-foot drop.”
The author has his own Web page about the book here. You can also read excepts of the book here and here.
Former Big Chief Dakota Grill to reopen November 24, 2006
Posted by Ron in History, Restaurants.add a comment
The historic Big Chief Dakota Grill is located at 17352 Old Manchester Road in Wildwood, Mo., which is on a 1926-1932 alignment of Route 66 in the St. Louis region.
The restaurant/tavern closed about three years ago, but will reopen as a B. Donovan’s Steakhouse Grill next month, according to West Newsmagazine.
The article also has some tidbits about the site’s colorful history:
The restaurant originally included a hotel featuring 62 individual cabins, each with their own garage. Big Chief was a family destination and a place to eat a good meal and have a good time. One could buy a 75-cent steak dinner, a 40-cent special plate lunch, and 5-cent sandwiches and spend the night for rates starting at $1.50.
The front porte-cochere served as a Conoco gas station and groceries also were sold. The property also featured a large playground for children and in the evenings, dining room tables were pushed aside to allow for dancing. Authentic advertisements boasted having both hot and cold running water shower baths in the cabins.
The Big Chief is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
