My wife and I were in Dothan, AL today about supper time, (that is during the dinner hour for you more sophisticated folks) and we stopped in to eat a steak at the Conestoga Steak House. This has been one of my favorite restaurants for a long time for a number of reasons.  Among these are you always get a good steak with their super secret seasoning sauce on the side, the best home made rolls to be found, fresh salad, hot and freshly cooked baked potato or french fries, and an unending supply of sweet tea or other drink if preferred at a very reasonable price.

Also, the atmosphere suits my personality pretty well. You go in there to eat a steak  – not to be seen or heard, not for the fancy furnishings or lengthy wine list or to be seated by some maitre d with a white towel hung over his arm. More likely , you will be greeted and seated by a nice lady who sounds a whole lot like me and makes sure your cracker bowl has lots of Captain’s Wafers and Whole Wheat crackers in it with another bowl of butter packets (not margarine) waiting to be spread on the crackers while you wait for your salad to arrive.

On this reasonable price matter, I have had the opportunity to eat at many fine dining establishments over the years that specialized in steaks including Bern’s Steak House in Tampa, a couple of Ruth’s Chris Steak Houses, a couple of Charlie’s Steak Houses and one memorable evening a few years back at a Morton’s Steak House in New Orleans where I paid more for one meal by about a multiple of 4  than my monthly house payment was in the first house I bought.  When I got the bill at this Morton’s, Mike and Anna dang near had to do CPR on me at the table to help me catch my breath. I believe I can recall them hollering “Breath! Breath! Breath!” just after the bill was handed to me by one of those maitre d’s with the little towel hung over his arm. But, none of the steaks at these fancy steak houses were much better, if any, than the ones I get at Conestoga every time I eat there.

Now getting back to the atmosphere, I observed something tonight that is just the way things are in the world today.  If you have ever eaten at Conestoga, you know on certain nights, you are likely to have to wait a few minutes in either the foyer area of the restaurant or in the small vestibule just outside the restaurant door to be seated because of the number of people who also happen to like to eat steaks there.  Tonight was one of those nights. My wife and I were sitting in the small waiting area on the benches and seated across from us was a man and his wife also waiting. She stepped into the foyer to give the staff their name and came back and assumed a seat by her husband.

She then proceeded to whisper to him (sort of like in a saw mill, maybe a little lower) about the nature of the folks who were waiting in the inside waiting area. She said something to the effect of he should see the type of people who were waiting with a “holier than thou” and “better than thee” tone dripping off her words as if she was the epitome of some high class chick. I hate to tell her, but looking at her and her husband, they looked just like the rest of us sitting in there. I could not tell a bit of difference other than his eyes being bloodshot and looking like he may have had a snort or two prior to his arrival. We all looked a whole lot like a bunch of southern rednecks sitting on wooden benches outside of a restaurant waiting to get in to eat. Nothing more, nothing less.

But, people who act like she was make me want to puke. Last time I checked, every single one of us humans put our britches on one leg at the time and pretty much use the restroom in the same manner.  Have no patience for people who look down their noses at others when they are in the exact same place and time as those whom they are putting down.

I hope her steak was the only one served tonight that had a big ol’ piece of fat on it or maybe a streak of gristle running through it.

Hope you all have a great 4th of July celebration. Get the family or friends together and  cook a bunch of home made hamburgers with all of the fixings to go with them and add a churn of home made ice cream. Think about going on a diet on July 5th.