My Lunch With Sonny (Down-Home Dining In Crusher Country)

My wife April & I, a week ago, had lunch with my long-time good friend and former pro wrestler/trainer/promoter Sonny Rogers, at a certain restaurant that Sonny goes to and talks about almost daily, the Oak Creek Diner in Oak Creek, Wisconsin (pictured above), about four minutes away from Milwaukee Airport, and not far from the statue of "The Wrestler Who Made Milwaukee Famous", da one, da only, Da Crusher (HOW 'BOUT DAT?!).

With the bad news of so many restaurants across the nation filing for bankruptcy or closing locations, this simple breakfast and lunch restaurant in Oak Creek was a big draw on this day. The parking lot was full (FREE parking, thank God) and while sitting in our booth, April joked, "The whole town of Oak Creek is here!" When it comes to the "eating out experiences" that April & I have enjoyed, the Oak Creek Diner reminds me of our times at (the sadly now defunct) Miller's Sensational Salads & Sandwiches in Canoga Park, California...you can get food that is just as good or even better elsewhere, but there's just something unique about the ambience and local people at a local independent restaurant like this, with a welcoming sit-down experience.

Sonny frequently talks about the Oak Creek Diner "regulars" who are quite interesting, including a 70-year-old nurse named "RN Jennifer" and this extremely eccentric elderly man called "Terrytales", who tells tall tales about his heroic adventures as an "FBI agent" and an "IRS agent" (which is why Sonny also calls him "Special Agent Terry"). From my perspective, RN Jennifer is like Margaret Dumont to Terrytales' Groucho. The Oak Creek Diner menu should include a daily special called the Terrytales Special, consisting of oatmeal and a bologna sandwich (to reflect Terrytales' crazy mush-mouth and baloney). 

In the upper Midwest, Sonny spent a few years in his early adulthood on Verne Gagne's AWA "All-Star Wrestling" TV shows as a regular specific type of talent called a "jobber" (aka the more politically correct "enhancement talent" nowadays). A jobber/enhancement talent is a wrestler who would predictably lose matches on TV all the time to "enhance" the credibility/marketability of his more recognized wrestling opponents. Regular jobbers/enhancement talent back in the day on AWA TV included George "Scrap Iron" Gadaski (who was Ric Flair's very first opponent, back in 1972) and "Sodbuster" Kenny Jay (aka "The Capable" Kenny Jay).

According to some Oak Creek Diner regulars, another AWA TV jobber/enhancement talent (besides Sonny Rogers) who has been to the Oak Creek Diner is Herman Schaefer. Sonny has no problem being referred to as a "jobber", "jabroni" (a word used by old-time wrestlers decades before Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson made it more famous), "ham 'n' egger" and other synonyms for "enhancement talent" because Sonny is thankful for his experiences in the ring (just like I am thankful to God that I have worked in the professional wrestling business). With that, the Oak Creek Diner should have daily egg dishes called "The Herman Ham 'N' Egger" and "The Sonny-Side (look) Up (at the lights)"!

I give the Oak Creek Diner a "straight up thumbs up", on my way to The Marriage Supper Of The Lamb (Revelation 19), coming soon!