Altoona, IA - Vincent Bar & Grill

Gary and Cathy, his sister, have a cousin who has opened a restaurant in a small town called Vincent, IA. Very small town that needs a central place to congregate, to talk with fellow citizens and a great place for a good meal. And, that is just what Jaci, their cousin, Rod, her husband, opened last year. The town gathers for lunch, they all know each other and lots of conversations swing back and forth between tables.

Big job, opening a restaurant. But, Jaci has always been known for her cooking and the family Christmas/Thanksgiving get-togethers. Big potluck table laden with food but Jaci’s dishes are popular. (You know family potlucks where the women compete to see whose dish is the most popular. It used to be that men competed on the sports field while women competed on the potluck table. You don’t want to go home with a full dish - that means that no one liked what you took. My mother always told me to take deviled eggs: everyone liked them and I would never take any home. She sure was right and that is my go-to dish.)

She always has a daily special. On Friday’s it is Hot Roast Beef Sandwich - what’s not to like about this? Cathy’s and Gary’s favorite. So we three piled into the car trying to get to the Jaci’s restaurant by 11:30 - gotta get there early so there is still some left. Too late and the Roast Beef is gone.

We pulled up and noticed that the street in front of the Vincent Bar and Grill was full - competition for the Roast Beef. But, whew, we were in time. Our waitress was Kara, Jaci’s daughter who’s in college now. At one of the tables was Kyle, her son. Lots of hugs all around. Both Gary and Cathy ordered the Hot Roast Beef while I ordered a grilled chicken sandwich. Jaci was ladling out the roast beef and gravy as fast as her hand would move. We noticed that there were a lot of take-outs too. Here it came. Great looking and Cathy and Gary were drooling.

I had a taste of Gary’s: it tasted as yummy as it looked. Home-made every thing. The potatoes were home-mashed, the gravy was home-made and not a bit salty while the roast beef had been cooking since Jaci had gotten to the restaurant early in the morning. Here are two pictures. I’ll have to admit that they were taken by Cathy and already pasted on her Facebook page. I just copied them. But the pictures show the meal so well.

Doesn’t that all look good? No wonder the whole town was in the restaurant. Jaci greeted them all since she knows them all. Looks like she and Rod have a great success on their hands. But, then, they’ve worked hard to get the restaurant ready and open. And, now the hard work begins - keeping it open. But, with food like that, it’s a sure thing.

When we left, I took a picture of the street, people are still arriving for lunch.

We also stopped at the cemetery where Gary’s and Cathy’s parents are buried to take off the summer flowers and put on the fall flowers.

Then to play even steven, we stopped where my parents are buried.

They were all the best parents in the world, lots of fun and, I think, they raised great kids. They started with nothing, and, though they were not rich in money, they were rich in love and passed this all on. Did we have lots of toys? Did we wear fancy clothes? Did we take travel the world on expensive vacations? Nope, nope, and nope. But, did we all grow up to be good, productive adults? Absolutely. (Well, I don’t know about the others, but I will admit to a little white lie or two in my life.) (And, that’s all I’ll admit to in writing.)

We enjoyed the trip, the lunch and the visits to the cemeteries. A good day altogether. And, check out the weather.

‘Retirement is the time when there is plenty of it, or not enough.’

                                        Anonymous