Beef Wellington

approximately ten years ago (1997) i was riding in the bed of my pickup truck with my friend Jeremy Reeves. my wife was driving the truck and we were just along for the ride.

we drove past a restaurant/steakhouse in Saint Charles, Illinois called St. Charles Place (formerly Galleon's) located on Route 64.

the large sign out front said:

upon seeing this, Jeremy and i almost immediately came up with a crazy storyline about a person named Beef Wellington who was an old, washed up lounge singer whose heyday was in the fifties and sixties in Las Vegas as an almost backup member of the infamous Rat Pack.

today he plays small lounges and restaurants touring the US.

all the while still wearing his clothes from that era (albeit tightly) and wreaking of Gin.

he's always beet red (from the alcohol) and has a tendency to go off on tangents and tell stories from the good-ol-days, while performing to un-packed houses.

he's always holding a drink, preferably a martini, and speaks with a raspy voice.

after a night's performance you'll catch him grabbing a bite to eat. most likely a bloody slice of prime rib.

this persona (a persona non gravy of sorts) was conjured up in the ten minutes it took for us to drive from Saint Charles to our home in Batavia.

Beef's legend has endeared as he is a persistent topic amongst my current workplace teammates.

hopefully you will have the pleasure of seeing Beef Wellington perform someday.