A new friend in Tallahassee

I flew to Tallahassee last Thursday for a market day with one of my sales reps, and then a dinner at Cypress, a fantastic restaurant that happens do do a lot of business with me.  They also do bi-monthly wine dinners that are each 5 courses paired with wine for $65.  They aren't formal dinners, but rather a come-and-go situation where you receive each course and then I, (or whoever is hosting) and the sales rep provide a tableside explanation of each wine and why it was paired with the dish.  The chef and owner, David Gwynn, has a huge following, and so the dining room gets pretty full.  That means that the sales rep and I sit at the bar to eat and drink and get out of the way until we are needed.

On this particular night, there was a very curious gentleman sitting at the bar with us.  He seemed a little aloof, but was enjoying his beer.  I snapped this photo because he reminded me of a character in the movie Vernon, FL, which is a documentary about a rural FL town in the panhandle.   This town is populated by some very strange people who are "a few sandwiches short of a good picnic" if you know what I mean - probably some inbreeding, certainly a lack of interaction with the rest of civilization.  The movie is more of a cult classic, but the sad thing is, the people and stories in the movie are REAL.

Anyway, as the night went on the bartender and the servers were friendly to him, calling him by name, and a story began to unfold.  Leonard Hill, age 77, lives in a nursing home up the street.  He comes to Cypress every day, three times, each time for a pint of beer.  He can't have alcohol where he lives, so this is how he passes his evenings and gets his fix.  At this point, I was intrigued and went over and sat next to him (I suspect I'll be a version of this person when I get older).  Turns out, Mr. Hill is from Birmingham, AL.  He worked on cotton farms most of his life, and maybe even owned his own - I couldn't quite understand everything he said.  His kids are "scattered all over" and they don't visit very often.  He hates the nursing home because there is noone to talk to, and he loves his beer -- and one of the female servers at the restaurant.  In fact, I think Mr. Hill was kind of fond of all of the ladies there...

Then it was brought to my attention that he never eats at Cypress because he can't afford it, but he hardly eats at all because the food where he lives is so bland.  Upon hearing this, I asked him to pick something off the menu and I'd buy him dinner.  He was a little overwhelmed, but settled on Shrimp & Grits and gave me a grateful pat on the back.  When the dish came out, he devoured the grits but left the shrimp (which looked AMAZING) because his teeth are too "wobbly" to chew them.  Rats!

We offered to give him a bottle of wine to take with him, because we also learned that he does smuggle alcohol into his room from time to time.  So, after finishing his second beer and his meal, he walked home to grab a coat.  This coat has a reputation evidently, because the servers explained that it has a secret pocket for stashing things.  It was 105 degrees!  But Mr. Hill came back a short time later, with his flannel contraband smuggler, and ordered his third beer and thanked us for the wine and grits.

For more info on Cypress:  http://www.cypressrestaurant.com