Old School

Only A Few Remain

Many years ago, every Friday night for me was high school football or basketball game night.  I remember watching my older brother and sisters participate. My parents were always around to support the local school activities. However, Saturday night was special.  My older brothers and sisters were out with their friends. My parents loaded my younger sister and I into the car to frequent a local restaurant.  I remember ordering off the menu.   I don’t remember always receiving what I ordered but the memory of me sitting in that huge booth with my younger sister is as clear as yesterday.  Saturdays were special and the food experience memorable.

My father pasted away 12 years ago.  My siblings and I enjoy weekly meals with my mother.  I have learned that if she picks the restaurant then all will be well.  You see she doesn’t understand why some restaurants would want to put tasso and a rosetta parmesan cream sauce over shrimp.  She believes that the best way to cook shrimp is boiled, fried, or stewed. She feels very comfortable with a restaurant that has a crab dinner, oyster dinner or a shrimp dinner as there special.  Katie bar the door if she knows there is broiled flounder that night on the menu.  My mother is old school and there is something to be said for her great taste. She is a marvelous cook and has taught all her children to cook.

This past week I enjoyed a lunch with my mother and my old brother at one of her favorite restaurants.  She always gets a cup of seafood gumbo as an appetizer.  She orders fried catfish bites for the table by habit.  She tells stories of times gone by with a smile on her face.  I believe she is reflecting back on an era of meals with my dad, simpler menu, and a lack of cell phones which maid the restaurants quieter leaving conversations uninterrupted.

At 90 years young, she can make an order of lump cram meat in drawn butter disappear faster than David Copperfield.  She’s had a lot of practice.  The grandchildren love to dine with her.  It’s a time when she allows them to order off the menu and the waitress has her job cut out for her.  The room gets louder and the laughter lingers long after we leave the restaurant. It builds a memory with a new generation and a legacy for her children and grandchildren to continue.  What a great joy to dine with someone you love.  It makes every meal great.


GUIDRY’S  REEF                                    YOU RATE                                                   5

You have stayed true to your heritage and your father’s legacy also.

Guidry's Reef

Facebook Guidry's Reef