Dingus McGees! Restaurant Stories.

Letters from Minnesota.

………………. of it I actually remember. But the parts I do remember will have to wait as I seem to remember most of my restaurant career backwards.

I sold out to my partners and headed up to the Sierra Nevada foothills, with my wife, Dotty, and young son Patrick, to the booming metropolis of Applegate, California- just north of Auburn, ( once the capital of California), and just south of Colfax-where my new job as chef of Dingus McGees was about to begin.

Colfax was strategically located on Interstate Highway 80 exactly halfway between Sacramento and the ski resorts of North Lake Tahoe. The owners figured that about halfway everyone would get hungry and probably have to stop to use the bathroom. The locals referred to the area as “Above the fog but below the snow”! In fact this part of the highway was also where chains needed to be installed on your tires when heavy snow was falling at the upper elevations. And they did get heavy snow, especially up at Donner Pass. Remember the Donner Party?

The restaurant was a classic roadhouse. The claim to fame at Dingus McGees was an appetizer of fried alligator tail. I have no idea why, but it was very popular. The rest of the menu consisted of the usual suspects, prime rib, steaks, ribs, roasted chicken, mashed potatoes etc, etc.

After my interview and subsequent hiring I went to the restaurant to have my orientation and to meet the rest of the management team.

They had me sit in the bar and have a soft drink while I waited for the owners to arrive. I sat at the bar next to a rather large, bearded young man who was having a sad conversation with the bartender.

“Yeah they told me I wasn’t going to be the “chef” anymore. They hired some new guy to take my place”. Well, this was awkward to say the least. I just sipped my coke and admired all the liquor bottles on the back bar. “That’s such a shame. I’m so sorry for you. Will you at least be able to stay on as a cook”? she asked. “Oh yeah, they said I could continue on as a line cook if I wanted. So I said I’d be happy to do that. I can probably help the new guy out”. More awkward……………………..

The former chef was Richard. The rest of the crew mainly consisted of Mike - his brother, Larry, and Mark. Also there was Billy and Johnny who alternated between dish and prep. Richard would work the sauté station, his brother, Mike, would work the other end of the line on broiler. Mike was claustrophobic. If you stood next to him at the end of the line he would immediately panic, saying “let me out, let me out, let me out”.

Mark worked the middle. Shaggy-haired Mark was another story all by himself.

By any measurent of a classic kitchen crew this was not that. This crew was the true “Dirty Dozen” of kitchen crews even if there weren’t exactly a dozen of them.

We pretty soon got used to each other and could really “pump out the groceries” as we liked to say.

Friday nights were pretty much the busiest night of the week with locals and Bay Area skiers combined in our dining room.

One of our regular customers was none other than General Chuck Yaeger. I got to meet him soon after starting at Dingus. His steak wasn’t properly cooked and he wanted to speak to me about it. What else can I say to describe the General. He could fly airplanes really fast. And anytime upon his arrival the wait staff would fight over who would have to wait on him.

Our ragtag “Brigade De Cuisine” had a Friday night ritual that had to be adhered to before starting our night. Our local rock station in Sacramento KS95 also had a Friday night routine. At exactly 5:00 pm on a Friday night they would always play Todd Rundgren’s “Bang the Drum All Day”. We would stop everything crank up the volume and as a group sing at the top of our lungs along with the song. Much to the chagrin of our boss as some of the lyrics referred to him.

The kitchen was pretty hot so usually Mark, in the middle of the line, while dancing and singing would pour a bucket of water over his head.

When Todd was done singing KS95 would follow immediately with Sammy Hagars “I can’t drive 55” this we would also sing and jump around and then………………………………..It was time to cook.

On Wednesday mornings I would load up the F150 and head down the hill to do a cooking segment with weatherman Dewey Hopper at Sacramento’s Channel 13. It was a way for us to promote Dingus McGees and it was fun working with the television crew. I got asked back all of the time because I always made a bunch of fresh bread that I would leave with them.

I was very nervous the first time I did it but got used to it pretty quickly. Dewey was very easy to work with and I soon found out that if you made a mistake it didn’t really matter that much.

The CHP officer would come on the phone by giving a traffic report and then say “Hey, Chef Joe, how was your drive down from Colfax this morning? Much fog? and what are you cooking for us this morning”?

It was fun and it was also challenging to put togther an entire dish in less than 10 minutes. But I always left a bunch of fresh bread and made sure I prepared enough food for the entire crew.

Back at Dingus Mcgee’s things were getting interesting. One night, right as we were preparing to get started, the Sheriff showed up at the kitchen door. And then a couple of cops came in the back door. The sheriff glanced at me and then at Mark. “Mark, I want you to step away from the fryer”. The other cops had their hands on their belts next to their guns. “Step away from the fryer and put your hands on top of your head” He repeated at a much higher volume.

As he stepped away one of the cops put the cuffs on him and marched him out of the back door. My immediate thought was……………………………OK we are down one for dinner.

Mark was a suspect in a robbery at a bank. Apparently he and others were suspected of dragging away a safe that was full of cash.

So Mark was gone for a few days and then was back, as he was out on bail. The manager of Dingus decided it wasn’t a great idea to have Mark around anymore and let me know I needed to fire him.

So I had Mark meet by the fireplace in the warm and cozy area of the bar before opening so we could chat.

“Mark, it’s been decided that you can’t work here anymore. We are letting you go” I said in as calm a voice as I could muster. For some reason my boss was nowhere to be seen.

“You mean you’re firing me?” he replied in a highly agitated and very loud voice. “Yes that’s correct” my shaky voice replied.

Then Mark went to the fireplace and picked up a fire poker that he brandished above his head as he approached me. “Well fuck you and fuck your family,” he roared as he approached.

You know that thing they say about your heart being in your throat? Well it’s real. And for gosh sake, Mark’s girlfriend is our baby sitter! I mean, was.

Mark apparently had second thoughts about bashing my head in, dropped the poker, and exited quickly out the back door.

That’s when I could see the boss poking his head around the door near his office.

“I’ll call the sheriff”, he said.

I had to get ready for dinner.

We were down one cook.

Don’t touch that dial!