We didn’t eat Thanksgiving at home this year. My wife and I both were busy with other things, so we decided to dispense with the labor of cooking a traditional Thanksgiving meal and eat out.
I had recalled the last time we had eaten at the Golden Saddle BBQ & Steakhouse at 6618 E. Admiral Place in Tulsa, on an old alignment of Route 66, that it had posted it would be open for Thanksgiving. So we headed there, thinking we would get its usual excellent buffet.
To our surprise, we found that the Golden Saddle was serving free Thanksgiving meals. The highly organized waitstaff whisked us to a table and within five minutes served us a plateful of turkey, cranberry sauce, real mashed potatoes and gravy, stuffing and gravy, corn, bed and butter, all the water or sweet tea we could drink and a slice of pumpkin pie — all gratis and all very good.
It turns out the Golden Saddle wasn’t the only area restaurant on Route 66 serving free meals. The new owners of Al’s Route 66 Cafe in Sapulpa were dishing up gratis turkey dinners. Tally’s Good Food Cafe, at the corner of 11th and Yale, had been doing annually for the past 19 years.
It’s also interesting to note that the owners of Tally’s and the Golden Saddle originally hail from Middle Eastern countries (both now are naturalized U.S. citizens). Both say they do the free Thanksgiving feed as a thank-you to America. Sometimes foreigners appreciate the United States more than its natural-born citizens.
One of the highlights of our meal was a middle-aged black man who hooked up a laptop loaded with karaoke Mp3s to a sound system and sang. In a rich voice that obviously was well-versed in blues and soul, he sang songs by Norah Jones, the Commodores, Dobie Gray and even Garth Brooks in his own style. Regrettably, I forgot to ask about the gentleman’s name.
Most of those dining at Golden Saddle didn’t seem to be beggar types, but those who were struggling financially and were appreciative of a good holiday meal. I saw one elderly man next to our table quietly thank the woman who served his plate of food. I then saw him bow his head, close his eyes and fold his hands in silent prayer. After a few moments, he raised his head, crossed himself and dug in.
It was a great holiday. In appreciation, we discreetly left a sizable tip to our server and another to the singer. The generosity of Route 66 businesses continues to astound me.