Saturday afternoon, they decided a drive would be nice and headed out to Soaring Eagle. It’s about a 2-hour trip and the weather was decent (an oddity this time of year). This particular casino has recently been promoting “guaranteed best payouts” or something to that effect and they hadn’t been there for a long time, so “What the hell” he thought. “Let’s give it a shot.”

They spent about 3 hours having fun at the casino. “I wonder where I go to claim that ‘best payout’ they guarantee,” he said as they left, a little tired and definitely hungry. She chuckled.

The drive from Mt. Pleasant to Midland is about 20 miles and there’s no restaurants until you get close to Midland. As they approach the city, they do a little search on Google Maps and several choices in the downtown area grab their attention. They decide to drive by a place called Molly’s Bistro and it looks interesting from the outside. “Yes. Let’s go.” She nods. “Looks good.”

They walk in. There’s a jazz trio playing in the center of the dining room and the place is packed. “Do you have a reservation?” He smiles, “No, we were just driving by and decided to stop.” The hostess smiles back. “Let me see what I can do.” She comes back in about a minute. “This way please.” They’re hungry and thankful as the hostess leads them to a table right next to the music. “Perfect!” And the music sounded sweet.

A lady comes up to the stage as the trio wraps up their song and looks at the bass player. He nods and she nods. The song starts and this lady can really sing. They’re getting excited now and though the menu looks rather pricey, they’re hungry and the music is somewhat magical. As long as the food is good, they’re all set.

The singer does a few more songs, all great, and leaves the stage as the trio continues doing their thing. She walks to the table next to us and starts removing glasses from it. “She must work here,” he thinks to himself. Maybe they make the entertainers do a little work in-between songs. “Isn’t that odd?” Kim nods. “Maybe this is her place.”

As it turns out, the singer was Molly and this was her restaurant. How cool is that!

She visits their table a little later as they were just finishing the most delicious blue crab cakes they’d ever eaten. “That’s why they call it an appetizer,” he tells his wife. “Good, isn’t it?” asks Molly. “Yes! It sure is.”

He tells her he was going to say “You must be Molly,” but that he’s already asked some questions and knows that to be the case. “I love this place,” Kim tells Molly. “It’s relaxing and just what I needed.” Molly smiles and goes on to tell them how she and her husband both worked in the theatre in New York City and came to Midland about 6 years ago to open the restaurant. “We’re still working in the theatre.” What a delightful host! “We love food. We love people. We love music.” So, this was Molly’s Bistro and the main course was truly amazing. They talked about how wonderful it was to bump into a place like this. What an experience!

As they head out, they stop at the table where Molly is chatting and laughing with a few friends. “Excuse me,” he says, “but I just wanted to tell you how much we enjoyed eating here. We’re from a long way down the road but we will be back.” Kim adds, “You can bet we’ll be back.” Molly smiles and reaches out to hug him. He reciprocates and they head out to hit the road.

The experience at the bistro will stick in memory for quite a while thanks to a classy lady named Molly.

(prior discussion)