An Evening at Nonmacher's BBQ!

I had passed by this place hundreds of times and paid it scant notice until this news story broke. A friend of mine also saw the article and wanted to eat there. So I met them. My first impression was how small the place was then I remembered the place was built in 1979 when Mason and Kingsland was "out in the country." I have to say that was the best sweet tea and potato salad I've ever had! We got there about 10 minutes until closing but they were kind enough to let us stay and eat in. Afterward I met Mr. Nonmacher and asked him what was this area like when he opened his joint. He said it was prairie and you could hear the wind and coyotes howl. It's hard for me to imagine Mason and Kingsland being far removed from the metropolis. Back then, this was the proverbial out in the country, roadside BBQ joint known by all the locals. He also mentioned that the tables and chairs are all the original 1979 furniture (the chairs he made in his garage). The walls are full of relics from decades past, pictures of moments long faded into history, and people who are long gone. Inevitably the poster discussion came up. The poster was made by some guys (with some help from beer of course) 30 years ago over at Westheimer and Hwy 6 (which was also rural back then). As a matter of fact one of the men in that poster saw the news story and came up there and introduced himself. He was asked about the "Iranian" in the picture to reveal the man is Italian. That's the closest to Iranian those fellows could muster. At the time American citizens were being held hostage in Iran. So naturally Iran was not well thought of, especially "around these here parts." Any rational person looking at that poster needs to take history into account when taking the poster into context. However in this age of over burdened political correctness all it took was one person to get offended and go cry about it. Apparently this is the type of person that gets offended and rather instead of boycotting the establishment he feels his hurt feelings entitles him to bully Mr. Nonmacher (whom isn't the type that doesn't handle threats very well) into removing the poster or to suffer the penalty for having failed to do so. While the identity of the crybaby is unknown, his friend Hasani plays the old "fight against ignorance and hatred" while acting like a fool himself. Apparently Hasani feels he shouldn't be offended while offending those of us who feel people can express themselves however they want. If they are offended, then go elsewhere as Mr. Nonmacher politely states. He even mentioned his business neighbor is Middle Eastern and jokingly asked to borrow the poster to increase his business. Mr. Nonmacher is not the bigot that crybabies like Hasani and his friend would have you believe. Mr. Nonmacher is a long time business man who has been in the same place for decades and would gladly give his neighbor the shirt off his back if it would help. I thanked him and the lady (I'm guessing she was his wife) for treating us and sharing us stories of times past.