An experience from the past

How far back should I go and which experience? 

I think it will be 1965 and it's a story of Basque food. In that year I was still an apprentice, though I was being paid as a journeyman. It was later in the year and I had just finished a day of work on the new Broadway store on Ming Road in Bakersfield. My foreman, Alex, had been given an invitation for dinner at a Basque restaurant downtown. The whole crew was invited, all 3 of us. We were given directions to the Wool Growers restaurant, a popular restaurant, or so we were told. We walked in and saw that it was a Farmhouse style restaurant and the Broadway representatives had secured us a table and ordered a bottle of wine. The wine was home made & came in a bottle with no cork and no label. We learned from the server that it came from a cellar shared by the restaurant across the street. Noriega's, and there was an underground tunnel that crossed the street. The restaurant was named for a local judge.    

      

The menu was simple; you wanted steak or you didn't. The sides were simple but filling. We had a large bowl of vegetables and it was passed around the table. There were a few other items that were shared as well. Then the server brought in a platter filled with freshly grilled steaks. More enough for the six of us. Then more wine of course.

The conversation around the table flowed just like the wine and soon we were 'hammered'. 

We made our way back to our motel and collapsed onto our beds. The alarm clock was unforgiving and we soon had to get up and get ready for work. We had a crew that would arrive at seven and we had to be there for them.

While suffering from a wine 'hangover' it was a struggle to remember what we needed to accomplish that day. After a few hours of work we were feeling much better. Then, after lunch, the missing Broadway rep's came walking in slowly and wearing sunglasses. They said that they were surprised to see us so we spent some time kidding them about their inability to drink a little wine without having a hangover.

 

 

  

 

          

 

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