The Stable
It was 51 years ago, in March of 1973, when Mom and Dad opened the Stable. They had managed the Hotel Mary-Etta, located just a half block north of the Stable, for nine years. The Mary-Etta was a thriving business, but Mom and Dad did not own the building, and the landlord did not want to put any money into it for any remodeling or other upgrades. Additionally, Mom and Dad were just spread too thin, managing dozens of employees, and running the hotel business (with both overnight guests and permanent renters who lived in apartments or single rooms), the cafe and tavern, the on-site major events and weekly service club meetings, and catered off-site events.
So, sometime around 1970, Dad bought the building that eventually became the Stable. It was a sound brick building, divided into two separate business sites by a solid brick wall, and littered with the remains of an old bar on one side, and various trash on the other side. My brother, Dan, who was a young teen at the time, was elected to help clean up the building and remove the interior brick wall. He wasn't allowed to use a sledge hammer, of course, because Dad insisted that the bricks be salvaged just in case he ever needed them for something. So, Dan labored for many days until that dividing wall was finally demolished.
Mom and Dad had determined that they wanted to start a restaurant; specifically, a western-themed steakhouse. They knew they would offer broasted chicken on the menu, since the broaster they had installed in the Mary-Etta Tavern had been a huge success. (Broasted chicken is cooked, under pressure, in a specialized deep fryer. The process is the same one used and perfected by Kentucky Fried Chicken.)
For a couple of years before the Stable opened, our whole family would drive to selected steakhouses across southeastern Nebraska to try out their food and critique their decor, getting ideas of what we wanted to include, and not include, in the new restaurant. Always frugal, Dad attended multiple auctions where he purchased used kitchen equipment and tables and chairs; very few of the furnishings were new. The restaurant was well-decorated in the style of the early 1970s, with gold and orange patterned commercial carpet and wallpaper, a jukebox that featured both popular and country tunes, and an elaborate antique bar and backbar. Mom commissioned an artist friend to paint a featured piece of artwork, and a pair of chaps, a saddle, and some other cowboy gear were hung on the walls. The coat hooks, next to the front entrance, were made of horseshoes. In addition, half of the basement was set up as an informal game room, with a pool table and a foosball table, and a few tables and chairs. The other half of the basement contained Dad's office.
Originally, Dad wanted to add an extended, shake-shingled, porch roof to the front facade of the building, to invoke more of a barn atmosphere, but the fire marshall nixed that idea, considering it too much of a fire hazard. So, Dad had to be content with his safe, brick building, decorated only on the interior with his preferred stable theme.
From the very beginning, Mom and Dad determined that the Stable would be closed on Sundays, so our family could attend church and have some family time. Over the years, many customers urged them to open on Sundays. I'm sure that opening on Sundays would have been quite profitable, but Mom and Dad rarely wavered from that part of their original vision. They definitely needed a day of rest!
And so, slowly, the Stable became a reality, with our family doing much of the work required to remodel that old building into a modern restaurant. From the beginning, the Stable served charburgers, steak, and broasted chicken, with all the fixings, eventually adding the famous "elephant ears" (broasted round steak) which were never listed on the menu but were extremely popular, just the same.
Mom and Dad opened the Stable a couple of months before they left the Hotel, in hopes that the Stable would gradually build up enough business to be profitable by then. I'm not sure if it was fortunate or not, but the Stable was wildly successful from the very beginning. That meant that Mom and Dad were busier than ever for those two months that were supposed to provide an easy transition. And, in the midst of it all, they bought a house that needed some remodeling before we could move in on May 1st.
Mom carefully sewed matching paisley orange miniskirts for the waitresses to wear for the grand opening. Dad typed up the menus on his ancient manual typewriter. Both Mom and Dad tended bar or worked in the kitchen whenever necessary, and trained new employees who often worked at the Stable for years. Either Mom or Dad stayed until the Stable closed at 11:00 on weeknights and at 1:00 a.m. on the weekends. Dad bought local beef, and cut many of the steaks himself. Mom did almost all of the hiring and firing, because Dad was never comfortable with that part of the business. However, Dad handled all of the bookwork, and I've been told that he was perfectly capable of ejecting a drunk, unruly customer, and did so without hesitation the few times that it became necessary.
Work willingly at whatever you do, as though you were working for the Lord rather than for people. Colossians 3:23
Over the years, Dan, Laura, and I all helped out at the Stable from time to time, waiting on customers, busing tables, or washing dishes whenever necessary. I was actually paid, that first summer, to clean the restrooms and change either the french fryer or the broaster grease every morning, and I had the burns to show for it, since I persisted in wearing shorts with the lavender-colored work smock that Mom insisted I wear for that tedious, hot job. After Bill and I were married, he liked to tend bar once in a while, when we were in town for the weekend.
As time went on, Mom and Dad sometimes lamented that the Stable was just as much work as the Mary-Etta, with almost as many employees to manage, and the additional responsibility of having to be present to close almost every night. Mom would have liked to use her teaching degree for a few more years, and she did not really like to cook for weeks on end when they were short-staffed. But both Mom and Dad made many friends among their customers and employees, and took pride in the quality of their food and overall ambience.
Mom and Dad owned the Stable for 25 years, before selling it and retiring to their acreage on the northwest edge of Fairbury. They worked hard, and then finally had time to travel and pursue other interests. They would have told you it was all worth it.
You will enjoy the fruit of your labor. How joyful and prosperous you will be! Psalm 128:2
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