Should Mom's Day test our financial limits?

Stone's Throw image from "yelp"

 "Inflation is as violent as a mugger, as frightening as an armed robber and as deadly as a hit man."
- Ronald Reagan
 
I guess I hung out with the "poor crowd" on Sunday, going to a restaurant other than Stone's Throw for Mother's Day. I cannot really mark Mother's Day because Mom has been gone from us for a year. It isn't the same, but we must all reflect the spirit of the day.
My restaurant choice had a price for the buffet that was half of what Stone's Throw charges. It might be less than half if you were to skip the beverage. Skip the beverage? This might be a sound approach for dealing with the regularly rising prices for food/drink. I'm surprised there isn't more talk on the street about this. I once read some commentary about how Burger King makes most of its money "on the fries and the Coke." We all seem to need that obligatory Coke or Pepsi, n'est-ce pas?
At Stone's Throw you'd wash everything down with alcohol, perhaps. Certainly that's spendier, but their NPR-oriented clientele probably handles it without missing a beat.
I won't call it the hippie restaurant again. I was groping when I used that term. Anyway, Stone's Throw got good news from the city council, as it got the nod for Sunday liquor sales in time for Mother's Day. Wouldn't your mother be proud? I dunno, my mom would certainly be nonplussed. She'd be proud I had the old fashioned meat and potatoes meal at DeToy's. IMHO that restaurant had all you could ever want for the buffet occasion. Remember when that place opened as Country Kitchen? Was Rich Meiss the first manager, Ron's brother?
Rich had a most engaging smile. He played the oboe. He and I were band-mates at UMM when Clyde Johnson went on a leave of some kind and the high school director, John Woell, took over. John plucked me out of the junior high band. The UMM band needed at least one more warm body in the French horn section.
Seriously it was an uplifting experience and I was humbled by all the musicianship. I could never have performed for my own father. Bonnie Dunnum, later to be Bonnie Drinkwitz, was student director of the band. I think everyone called it "band" before we starting hearing all those "winds" terms. "Winds" makes me think of Spinal Tap and their "Break Like The Wind" album/tour.
 
A Western theme, so why not?
I liked the French horn because it played the melody for the theme of "The Virginian" TV series with James Drury and Doug McClure. That show was in the heyday of "Westerns." Drury was top-billed but McClure stole the show, remember? Drury didn't seem to mind. Drury previously appeared in the big screen Western movie "The Last Wagon" with Richard Widmark. The movie was unforgettable because it was filmed in Monument Valley.
I not only played in a concert with the UMM band (no solos), I also joined them for graduation. This was at the height of campus unrest for the Vietnam war. The war colored my whole world for when I was growing up, and it instilled in me a defeatism and cynicism that sticks and has been a handicap for me. We infuse youth with such a brimming sense of optimism today.
How would I have turned out, if I had grown up in more sensible times?
Sunday liquor sales for Stone's Throw meant they could have Bloody Marys on the menu for Mother's Day brunch. I mean, what else is there? I live my life today as if alcohol doesn't even exist. I can't imagine what benefits or enjoyment people see in the stuff. It's available because of social expectations. People must be incredibly careful to limit intake if driving a car at all. Or does everyone have a designated driver? Obviously it's a non-issue with me.
Bloody Marys hardly seem an apt way to honor Mom for Mother's Day. I had the obligatory Pepsi at DeToy's, but I'm prepared to abandon beverages with meals (except for water) if it seems prudent. Costs keep rising, speaking of which: $25 for the meal at Stone's Throw? It's outrageous.
By supporting that meal, you send the message that such a price can be "sold" to the public. The restaurant approaches the public as if it's a special needs case, i.e. through GoFundMe. The restaurant says it is "catching up with its first year deficit." I guess we're all catching up with a deficit of some kind, if you want to be philosophical.
"Please consider a small donation this week, as we face our spring property tax bill and refill our wine stock."
Which reminds me: First Lutheran Church in Morris no longer has "New Wine." I shared concern over time re. the name and its use of an alcoholic beverage. The group was for kids. There was a common retort for what I said: "New Wine" is in the Bible. Let's all get drunk, then? Not really, but the people who abide by scripture are persuaded to countenance a little imbibing, I guess. I always had a retort prepared vs. their argument, that in the ancient Bible days, drinking water could be unsafe in many places. Drinks with alcohol were a good way of avoiding trouble. This actually explains why drinking alcohol became so popular all over - a fact we can easily forget today when we think that drinking is just a "cool, adult" thing to do.
I have seen completely through that ridiculousness, just as I now see through the sport of football. Just think clearly and dismiss social norms.
 
This goes back a ways
Remember the "Back Door" at the old Sunwood Inn in Morris, a magnet for the just-out-of-high school crowd when drinking was made legal for them, about 1973? It had live bands all of which played that Doobie Brothers tune with the refrain "without love, where would we be now?" I swear, every one. I was young and peer-influenced. It was a big deal they had an air hockey table. I enjoyed taking on Darrell Sunquist.
 
Keep the wine flowing? Whatever
After Mother's Day 2019, Stone's Throw reported it as "a success" - what would you expect them to say? - "but it depleted our stocks. We spent $900 to restock our wines for graduation."
Yes, we must restock so everyone can get hammered for graduation.
A friend surveyed the situation and said: "Bella Cucina was supposedly doing great, but closed for logistical reasons, so why can't a restaurant in the same location with a similar vibe succeed? And how can a place like Mi Mexico, with a much more specific menu and narrower clientele, succeed to the point of needing to expand again? I wish I knew more about the foodie biz. All I do know is that it's a lot of work and the margins are low."
I hope we never again see a price of $25 for a lunch-time meal in Morris. But we probably will.
- Brian Williams - morris mn minnesota - bwilly73@yahoo.com

Anne and Gary of Stone's Throw Cafe (GoFundMe image)