Memories of Daniel's

One of my fondest memories belong to a coworker who took a chance and made it big, in a small way. My friend, Dave M., along with a partner opened up a family restaurant called Daniel's. Located on Paris Rd. in an old building that used to be a pizza place, Dave's restaurant took off because he offered a giant buffet for a good price. The quality of food was questionable and ranged from bad to very good but who cared if they could eat a wheelbarrow full for a small price.

Dave was proud of his place and always came out to greet us. Once he took me on a tour of the kitchen because he wanted to show me his monster. In the back was the largest meat slicer I had ever seen, a stainless steel giant with all sorts of moving parts and obscene looking pieces. This thing looked weird like it was out of a horror movie, I'm thinking Clive Barker or Stephen King. Dave was proud of it and showed me how it worked. After several switches were turned on the thing came to life shaking the table and the area around it. I thought to myself, it really does slice meat but I still wanted to run away before it caught me.

The restaurant was opened for only several months when it closed unexpectedly. Dave came by our work one day to explain that someone had driven by, noticed their sign and wanted to buy the design. Dave, being a young Christian lad, used the story of Daniel in the lions den for his logo. The sign consisted of the name with a male lion laying prone on top facing left while the tail went right around and seem to underline Daniel's. Dave and his partner sold the name and design then closed the restaurant. There may have been other reasons for the closure but my memory is foggy on details. Dave and his family moved back east where he worked as a Sous Chef in some large grocery chain. After a while we lost touch with him. He is still remembered for another thing, to him every day was Christmas and he could break into a whistle or sing carols at any time. He is missed by all his friends in Columbia.