TASTY LUNCH

Tasty Lunch was my Fathers restaurant. I spent many hours there and learned lots
of things..about how to work hard, cook food, serve customers and most
importantly, all about various kinds of people and what makes them tick.

TL was long and narrow with booths down one side and counters and stools in the
middle. The Restrooms were in the back behind the booths. There was a grill near
the entrance and a refrigerator, freezer, coffee maker opposite the counter. The
kitchen with stove and food prep counter and sinks were in the back as was the
supply room. A steam table along the wall stored the food ready for serving.

When I was about nine ( I was in 4 th or 5th grade and it was about 1945) I could
barely reach the sinkwith the help of a step stool, I had my first job.washing
dishes, glasses and pots and pans. I also swept the floors, peeled potatoes etc. For
the next 7-8 years until I left for college in 1953, I learned how to do all the many
jobs including cooking and even opening and closing the place sometime. I worked
most days for at least a few hours and long hours on Saturday and some Sundays
when we were open.

The restaurant was on Peter St. in Uniontowns downtown area. It was the business
hub and was always bustling. There were other places to eat, bars, shoe repair
shops, a grocery store, a bowling alley, a hotel, barber shops, etc . A fairly large
Sears Roebuck department store was on the same block and nearby was the
streetcar station (that was how most people got around then). Also nearby were
three movie theaters, The State, The Penn, and The Manos and a 5 & 10 cent store,
Murphys. We were opened 7 days a week until Dad decided to close on Sundays.
No doubt Saturdays was our BIG day since Uniontown was the center of the smaller
coal mining towns of Fayette County and almost everyone came to town to shop, do
other errands..and have a good time. There were about 20,000 people who lived
in Uniontown and about 50,000 who lived in Fayette County in these days.

Our supplies were either delivered or came from the grocery store/super market ,
Streamline, which was next door. It wasnt very big or fancy but everyone knew
everyone and Dad had running tabs so it was quick. Ike Kidonov was the produce
man and John the meat guy. Billy Frankos (not related but he was Greek) ran the
grocery part. I made frequent trips next door as needed. There was an A & P, real
supermarket, a few blocks away where we went for special and bulk items. Also,
there was an Italian food store that had many of the things Dad liked and needed

but he didnt care for the owner so we went there as little as possible. A produce
wholesale place was located near the train station (now a good restaurant) near the
streetcar station.

Deliveries included: ice, milk, and baked goods daily, pop, beer weekly and candy,
ice cream, cigarettes, cigars etc every so often but they all were on call if we ran
out of anything and needed a rush delivery.

Of course there was no A/C and it got hot in the summer. We had two fans.one
was a large exhaust fan on the roof. It had to be greased frequently, a job I hated
since it was very dirty and messy. The other one was a ceiling fan that was like an
airplane (green) that blew lots of air down the length of the place.

There was a juke box.5c a song 6 for 25c. Most of the songs were what I called
hillbilly or in todays terms country western. They were the most popular and
played frequently but I didnt care much for them preferring the Pop songs by Frank
Sinatra, Perry Como, Dean Martin, Patti Page, etc. I got to know how to play the
songs I liked for free but wasnt allowed to when customers were paying for the
hillbilly stuff. Needless to say, I played only the Pop songs. Dad shared the
income from the juke box 50/50 with the owner who provided the records (they
were 78s at first then 45s laterno 33s) and the maintenance. They counted the
coins together before they split the proceeds and sometimes I got to help them.

The cash register was in front and people paid as they left. It was a manual, push
button National Cash Register. All the money flowed in (and out to pay for the
supplies) . We kept good records of what we spent and tallied the money daily at
the end of the day. I learned how to do the bookkeeping pretty well and by the time
I graduated from High School even did the income taxes.

When I left for college in the fall of 1953, my brother, George, took over these many
duties I had.

I often worked after school when I was in HS. I remember doing my homework
when it was quiet. Also remember going a block up to Main Street for The Evening
Standard paper (later Aunt Betty worked for the two papersthe other on is The
Morning Herald..still published) so my Dad could keep up with the news. The

Korean War was raging then, 50-53 and as I read all about it, I never imagined Id
end up there myself. Thankfully the shooting part of the war was over by then. We
had the morning paper delivered to Tasty Lunch. In a small world story I was
discussing my boyhood memories with an old buddy who lives in Tampa near The
Villages, Tom Carney, who was a school chum. Tom told me he had been the
delivery boy of that morning paper something I didnt know until a couple of
years ago.

Yet another small world story happened a few years ago when I met a guy here in
The Villages for the first time and we discovered we were both from Uniontown. He
is Andy Brainhis family owned the building Tasty Lunch was in and he was a
stock boy for the Streamline next door. Hes a little older than I am but his sister,
Nancy, was in my class.