The memorial day was passed not long ago. We remembered to visit this little restaurant again. It is located in a little town in Iowa called Slater.

This restaurant is run by an old man and his young Philippine wife. It has been here since I moved to Iowa in 2014. There is a popular biking trail across the street, so whenever we came over for a bike ride or skating, we often visited this restaurant. It has excellent root beer float and tenderloins. Every time I went, the owner came over talking to me and started with “are you from Philippine?”

During the COVID, many restaurants are closed. This one also only opens sporadically, but it is not closed. Later, there was a fire happened in the kitchen and the fire burned half of the restaurant. It was remodeled and opened again, only with more fun flavors. Initially, we ate inside, and after remodeling, we only dine outside or takeout.

On the window near the menu hangs a picture of a handsome young man dressed in the Marine Corps uniform. When we asked, the owner told us that it was his only son, who died in the war (If I remembered correctly, it was the Desert Storm operation). This restaurant was initially started by his son. After the son died, the father decided to continue running this restaurant in memorial of his son and followed his vision. Every time I think of this, I feel something warm and soft inside. It is a tough restaurant although there is a “tender” in its name.

We often learned the history from the textbooks and Internet, which I found is dry and cold. But by coming over here often, I feel I am lively interacting with the history. I often brought my friends over just to support this restaurant. I find glory and gain much energy from this ordinary small restaurant.

(I wrote this story on a plane flying over near Iraq, salute to our heros)