59/365 - Remembering Grandpa Bernie

I couldn't help but think of Grandpa Bernie when I saw the flyer for this event. For those of you not familiar with the restaurant, Zingerman's Roadhouse is an Ann Arbor favorite that boasts "the best comfort food in America" - rightfully so, outside my mom's kitchen, of course. In a couple weeks, the Roadhouse is hosting a dinner featuring a menu of good ole country cookin' with meat from local farms, followed by the showing of a documentary that takes a macroscopic look at the US meat industry. My beau and I are planning to go, and I have no doubt that Grandpa Bernie would approve of the BBQ pulled pork and short ribs and juicy steaks and whatever other savory goodness awaits us carnivores that night. Maybe I'll even learn a little something about Grandpa Bernie's line of work.

My Grandpa Bernie was a butcher and a grocer, and I grew up eating some of the finest steaks and chops at a time when most other families were dining on Spam and TV dinners. I don't eat a lot of meat now, but when I do, Grandpa Bernie gets all the credit for my selection of the choicest and best-prepared cuts. After the pit-smoked hand-pulled turkey reuben I had at the Roadhouse for lunch today, I'm guessing Zingerman's will meet or exceed even Grandpa Bernie's standards, come March 10th. My mouth's watering already!