Show Me The Money - Outing to Locke (Tony's)

The Preakness went pretty much as I'd hoped for. Since I drew Curlin in the pool, I had to root for him to finish first. I wasn't really sure that he could catch Street Sense in the stretch, but he did. So, no Triple Crown winner this year. But I made twenty bucks from the pool, so... it's all good!

Nancy and I went out to dinner after the race (thanks guys). We were going to eat somewhere local, but at the last minute we decided to head to Locke and visit Tony's. We haven't eaten there since Tony passed away last year. We have a lot of good memories of the restaurant and more specifically of Tony. He was quite a host.

The new owner has kept the place as much like the old Tony's as possible. The menu and atmosphere is the same. Tony was particular about the New York steaks that he served and so is the new owner. The New York was delicious. You get hot bread, a salad, with Tony's special house dressing (the only choice), a bake potato, a 16 ounce New York steak smothered with mushrooms and perfectly marbled, rice - and Tony's famous Portuguese beans (fabulous). You have to sparingly use the one of a kind pepper sauce (only available at Tony's - got to buy some of that next time we visit) while you eat your steak, but it really helps to make it a special meal. I'm not sure where else in Northern California that you can find such a combination, but I'm sure glad they still have it at Tony's.

I was doubtful that the new owner could replicate what Tony created some forty or so years ago, but I have to tip my hat to him. The new Tony (didn't catch his name) visited our table a couple of times. He has a way to go to match Tony's charm and congeniality, but he shows promise. It takes several decades to do what Tony did. It's not an overnight thing.

There are a couple of pictures of Tony's shown at the bottom of the blog page. They're not so great, because they were taken with my cellphone and it doesn't have a flash. Tony's has always been a rather dark place inside, so the pictures are not well lit. Oh, by the way, they also kept most of the same great music that Tony use to play on the jukebox. When Frank started singing, I could have sworn that I saw Tony's silhouette walking toward the bar. Maybe it was just the poor lighting. I don't know?