1st
I’ve never seen my grandfather have a drop of alcohol
But he tells this great story of his favorite lunch spot when he worked for Santa Fe Railroad in Detroit. He was on a call to one of the auto companies with his boss, a hulking Irish guy whom he says people would always assume was a cop whenever they’d walk in to eat somewhere. His boss suggested they go to a Chinese place downtown called Ming Palace. They had a couple martinis (“marts,” as he tells it) and the chop suey, “and boy, it was the best chop suey you ever had,” he said. So this became their regular spot - when on a call, they’d go to Ming Palace, sometimes introducing themselves as Martini and Rossi, have a couple drinks and then marvel over the chop suey. Oh, you’re going downtown? You’ve got to try the chop suey at Ming Palace.
That is, until one day when they were in a rush and didn’t have time to open with cocktails.
“The chop suey was terrible,” my grandpa says laughing. “Martinis make things taste pretty good.”
