Posted on 02/21/2019 2:45:09 PM PST by RoosterRedux
I was never falling-down drunk. I was never belligerent. I always got my work done. I was never unkempt. I was always clean, I was always shaved, I always performed at work. I was always kind and gracious in the dining room. But I lived in hell.
When we opened Joe Beef in 2005, we were inspired by Martin Picard at Au Pied de Cochon, by these grandiose bistros of Paris, by seafood towers, by excess. We were two portly men who ate and drank well. I was and still am very insecure about anybody coming to the restaurant and not having a spectacular meal. I want people to drink and eat to excess. I promote it.
The community of people I surrounded myself with ate and drank like Vikings. It worked well in my twenties. It worked well in my thirties. It started to unravel when I was 40. I couldn’t shut it off. All of a sudden, there was no bottle of wine good enough for me. I’m drinking, like, literally the finest wines of the world. Foie gras is not exciting. Truffles are meh. I don’t want lobster; I had it yesterday. What am I looking for, eating and drinking like this every day?
I started asking myself questions about alcoholism. What was I showing my children by eating and drinking like a Viking in front of them at the cottage? I wasn’t acting on many opportunities because I was hungover most of the time. I was medicating with food. I was medicating with alcohol. And finally it just got to a point where I was just really unhappy. My managers knew it, my staff knew it, and it strained my personal life at home. I Googled “Stop drinking,”
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You never know what people are going through.
I hope your friend didn’t leave any kids behind.
Mine left two.
We laugh at the song, People think I have a drinkin’ problem, but I have no problem drinkin’ at all..!!!!!!!
You are so right about the neighborhood bistros in New Orleans. The food and service are good and the atmosphere friendly and family oriented.
“Just one tiny mint”
Fortunately he didn’t have any kids. HIs parents and family were devastated as none of us expected it.
“Weffir theen...”
Three takeaways from someone who knows a few things:
1. A successful drug dealer never uses the product,
2. He is a failure as a restauranteur,
3. I have no sympathy for those who impart their failings upon others.
Too bad Macmillan realized this but did not apply it to his own life and seek the Big Cure.
:)
I loved the Monty Python show. I lived in England when it was being produced. On the nights it was shown it was a few glasses of single malt and laugh my ass off.
The Parrot sketch was the greatest among many greats. “It is not pining for the fjords, it is be rift of life, it is playing to the celestial choir, it is nailed to its perch, it is no more, this is a dead f-ing parrot.”
ps
The name “Monty Python and the Flying Circus” had no meaning at all. Click the link below to see how they came up with the name. It was absurd but brilliant.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hbzTzFIE57Q
I think I heard that story some time ago but forgot it. I remember not long after we got cable (1983 or so), they ran “The Meaning of Life” countless times on one of the movie channels, so as a kid, I watched it with regularity. The Mr. Creosote visits the restaurant bit, of course, was unforgettable.
Or maybe he did and that is what he talks about outside the confines of the non-AA meeting.
I drink NO alcohol of any kind. Nor do I use any drug...unless it is something the doctor absolutely insists on (and even then I resist).
Sympathy. Who needs sympathy.
It is worthless.
That said, seeing how others have failed and then turned their lives around is of tremendous value to those who might also be failing in some way.
It is not a matter of imparting "failure" but shining a light on a path to escape that failure.
Um, no. Read his story again and you will see that which I’m referring to. If not, I’m suspending commentary.
And on ‘sympathy’, I was being facetious, dude.
Yeah, I can see that being a wake up call!
Be well.
Yep, those would do!
LOL! Wait a minute! What if you “can’t get up”! :^)
I JUST SPLIIED MY LIBRATION! I love FR!
Here’s to looking up your old address, FRiend! Cheers!
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