Bonanza Steakhouse

There was a Bonanza Steakhouse on Van Born road, near Southfield Freeway in Dearborn Heights. In the summer of 1975 I got a job there as a dishwasher. My job was to put all the dishes in a rack, and push them into an industrial dishwashing machine.

I remember standing in a long narrow room with a wall size stainless steel countertop. Or it could be described as a long stainless steel countertop with sink and industrial dishwasher all along the wall. It was always hot and humid in that room. The busboys and wait staff were constantly bringing more dirty dishes and setting them on the counter and in the green racks. When a rack was full, I would spray it down, and slide the rack into the dishwashing machine.

I never enjoyed washing dishes, so it’s amazing that I was able to keep this job for a while.

Two other things I remember doing at Bonanza (when not washing dishes) was “making salad”, and “puffing up” baked potatoes. Bonanza had a large salad bar, where customers could walk up and make their own salad. I would chop up three or four heads of lettuce in the kitchen, wash it in cold water, drain it, and dump it in the salad bar.

Back in the 1975-77 time-frame, you could get a complete steak dinner for $2.79. That was for a T-Bone steak, baked potato, Texas toast, plus the all-you-can-eat salad bar.

The chefs who prepared the steaks, also ran the ovens for the baked potatoes. When a batch of baked potatoes was ready, the chef would pull a rack out of the oven, and quickly slice, pinch, and “puff up” the potato — dropping in a scoop of butter. One of the chefs was teaching me how to do this. There were about 20 potatoes on a rack, and you had to do this really quickly. I burned a few fingers learning the technique, but eventually developed a knack for it.

The Bonanza manager had a small office, down the hall from the dining room, and next to the dishwashing area. I remember him sitting in his office, creating the work schedules, crunching numbers on his calculator, and smoking big cigars.

Apparently the Bonanza manager began to trust me after I had been working there a while. (Or perhaps he was just desperate to find a solution for cleaning the restaurant.) I do not enjoy cleaning, mopping floors, and vacuuming, and I’m not very good at it.

The Keys to Bonanza Steakhouse

However, for some reason Mr. Big Cigar convinced me to come in early every morning to vacuum the dining area, and mop the floors. He gave me a set of keys, so I could come in the back door early in the morning, and clean the restaurant. I was only around 16 at the time, and I remember riding my bike up to the restaurant early in the morning.

In retrospect, Mr. Big Cigar must have chosen me, not because of my excellent cleaning skills, but because the evening crew was doing a lousy job at cleaning up after the restaurant closed each night. He must have been a little desperate to actually choose me for that job responsibility. I was a little frustrated pushing tables and chairs around — trying to vacuum the floor in the dining area. There were some sticky spots on the tile floor in the hallway, and I was pushing the mop back and forth trying to get the sticky spots “unsticky”. I was not sure if I should add more soap, or if too much soap was the problem… and if the floor looked clean, would it be sticky again after the floor dried?

I was only assigned to the morning cleanup routine for several weeks that summer.