I have never been really big on writing, but back in 2015 I drafted a little article about a friend of mine, but at that time I had no venue for posting it. So now that I recently found the word document I drafted, I figured now is a good time as any to post it. The article is about a great Chef and a good friend of mine, Mike Meyers, and this is what I originally typed up.
08 May 2015; This story like any story has a beginning and my story begins back in 2010 while I was serving on active duty in the U.S. Air Force and I was stationed at Naval Station Rota, Spain. I was at the tail end of my military career and had been able to travel to many different parts of the world and I developed an interest in the different cuisines that I discovered at each location I lived at.
I had spent 2 years in Germany and experienced some very good food while I was there, but it really did not compare to what Chef Mike was cooking. I had been in Rota for about 2 months and I was curious about what type of restaurant’s were in town so I started to ask around to my fellow co-workers for any recommendations, and the restaurant that I kept on being recommended to was not a Spanish restaurant but a German restaurant named Chefs’ Restaurante Aleman (German Restaurant), and this was the best recommendation I had ever been happier with taking.
Chefs’ was a small restaurant underneath an apartment building near the center of the town of Rota. If you never have been to Europe before, you would see that most shops and restaurants were located on the bottom floor of buildings, while the top levels were occupied my residences. Chef Mike had a prime location there in town and the restaurant had a nice outside seating area and a small inside eating area. Most of my visits to his restaurant were in the evenings for dinner, and it was perfect to just go there and order a nice meal and sit back drinking a cold German beer. I met Chef Mike during my many visits to his restaurant, and one night when he was not so busy, he stopped by my table and we started to chat.
We both had the same sense of humor and had some great discussions about miscellaneous stuff. Eventually ,after some time we ended up good friends and would meet up every weekend to conduct a pub crawl all over Rota. We would sometimes meet up at his restaurant right at the time he was closing and go from there out to grab some drinks or, we would just meet up at Paddy’s Irish Bar and unwind by having some drinks, talking and people gazing. Hanging out with Chef Mike was a fun time and it seemed like we would be hanging out with a different crowd every weekend. He knew many people in Rota since he had been there for some time and many people knew him because of his restaurant. So, overall becoming his friend made for many interesting adventures in Rota during my three years there.
Now, getting back to the food…when it came time for anybody in Rota who was craving a great German meal, the only fix in town was Chef Mike’s restaurant. You were always going to expect nothing but the best when you went to his restaurant and left there with your stomach full and satisfied. He was the only person who was in the kitchen cooking so everything that was cooked was done with his skill and passion. He cut no corners when preparing a meal and each time you came back to his restaurant, you received the exact same quality of food. When you arrived to Chefs’, you were always greeted by his mother and father who were there in Rota working with him. Chef Mike would always make time to come from the kitchen and talk to the customers and made sure everyone was happy with the food. I had never heard of anyone ever talking bad about his restaurant and he received nothing but praises from the customers that frequented his restaurant.
Luckily, I became great friends with Chef Mike and we keep in contact even though we are both now living in different parts of the world. It was on the 3rd of April 2015, when I was sitting back messaging with Chef Mike and during that chat, I started missing the food from his restaurant. So during our conversation, I asked him if he could help me with recreating a couple of my favorite dishes he made at his restaurant, and he happily called me and he gave me the step by step instructions that are listed in this make shift cookbook. I know that my end product will never really duplicate his style and flavor but it will satisfy my cravings for his cooking.
End of original document.
I guess my moral of this story is that Mike was an unexpected friend that I’m glad I met during my military service. Also, Mike if you ever read this, I still have not found anyone who cooks up a schnitzel like you do. I have found other places here in San Antonio, but nobody comes close to the heart you put into your cooking.
All I know is that whatever I make in the future will never duplicate what I had in the past, but the little bit of information given to me will help me out in the kitchen and bring back some great memories. Thanks again Mike.
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