The Bonfire Restaurant story

1965

Written in 2010* 1,172 Words

By Howard Yasgar

This story about the Bonfire Restaurant took place in 1965.

It was told to me years later by my good friend Richard Schneider who had first-hand knowledge of everything that had happened back in 1965.

I didn’t know Richard Schneider back then, but I did hear about the Bonfire Restaurant.

I knew about the restaurant because it seemed to be on be on the TV news as well as in the Miami Herald newspaper frequently.

Back in 1965 when this story took place, Richard was in the business of flying Maine lobsters into Miami and selling them wholesale to restaurants

In 1965, my wife and I were living in Hialeah Florida and we couldn’t help noticing that whenever we watched the news on channel 10, they always seemed to mention the “Bonfire Restaurant”, and they always said that the Bonfire Restaurant was the best place to go for barbecue in Miami.

It seemed like every time a celebrity came to Miami, channel 10 showed them eating at the Bonfire, and I often wondered how come the Bonfire Restaurant got so much free TV coverage, it was obvious to me that something just didn’t seem right. However, at the time, I had no idea where the Bonfire restaurant was nor did I care. But I must admit I was curious as to why channel 10 mentioned them so often.

One day, when I was heading to Miami Beach, I was driving through the small town of “Sunny Isles”, and by accident I spotted where the Bonfire Restaurant was.

Sunny Isles was one of the small island towns that connected the mainland of Miami to Miami Beach.

At the time the town of Sunny Isles was a famous place, because it was always in the news regarding police

corruption and other criminal activities.

I remember one situation that took place at the “Place for Steak Restaurant”, that was when a hit man

walked in the restaurant and shot a patron sitting at the bar, it was done right in front of everyone, and then the

shooter, simply walked away, never to be caught.

So now that I knew where the Bonfire restaurant was, I suggested to my wife that we go there for supper. I admit I was really expecting something special from such a famous place, and it just happened that barbecue was one of my favorite things to eat.

Well, talk about a big disappointment.

As we entered the Bonfire restaurant, to our left, there was a long liquor bar with lots of customers both sitting and standing, and there were also perhaps 30 or 40 tables for sit-down patrons.

Other than that, there was nothing extraordinary about the place.

While we saw that outside the restaurant there was a big neon sign showing a burning bonfire and what looked like delicious barbecue ribs, however, once we were inside, as many times that we looked over the menu there were no barbecue ribs to be seen.

We knew something must be going on that we were not aware of. Famous people were certainly not coming to the Bonfire Restaurant for the food.

Several months had passed since we were there, when suddenly, the Bonfire Restaurant was front page news.

The restaurant had been raided by a police task force that also included the F.B.I.

According to the news, it appears the Bonfire Restaurant was owned by Meyer Lansky a well-known organized crime figure, Meyer had run the Mafia’s casinos in Cuba.

The newspaper said that the Bonfire Restaurant was involved in the numbers racket, prostitution, extortion, as well as money laundering and a host of other charges.

The Bonfire Restaurant was then closed and boarded up.

The owner, Meyer Lansky attempted to leave the country by going to Israel, but he was denied entry, so he returned to Miami and eventually died of heart failure.

For the next several years, the Bonfire Restaurant remained closed.

Now comes the best part of the story, just as it was told to me by my friend Richard.

One day, my friend Richard, who was still shipping live Maine lobsters to Miami, was approached by his grandfather.

Turns out, his grandfather was Meyer Lansky’s chauffeur, and he also assisted Meyer in whatever arrands Meyer needed done.

Richard’s grandfather said that he still had in his possession the keys to the Bonfire Restaurant.

He suggested to Richard that they open the place up again and make it into a Maine Lobster restaurant, as Richard already had the lobsters. He said they could make a fortune.

Richard had some money from an inheritance from his father, and some personal money, so he liked the Idea.

However, at the time, Richard had no idea what was involved in opening a restaurant.

Because the Bonfire had been closed for several years it needed complete renovation, also there were licenses he needed to get, also kitchen equipment, furniture, and lots of liquor needed to be bought, and contracts to be signed.

It wasn’t long before Richard’s money was all gone.

So, Richard dug deeper and eventually used up all his personal money.

Eventually the Bonfire Restaurant did open up, as a place for Maine lobster.

The restaurant was always busy, but Richard noticed there never was enough money to pay the bills.

He started watching everything closely.

The first thing he noticed was every time there were a few $100.00 bills in the cash register, his grandfather would take some, putting the money in his stocking, so Richard had it out with him.

Then Richard started watching the bartender, every day he brought in a bottle of his own liquor and then sold drinks from his own bottle pocketing all the money.

Then Richard started watching the waitresses, they all had copied the restaurant receipt book.

Whenever a customer had a big meal and paid with cash, the waitresses would turn in a receipt for pie and coffee, and they would pocket all the cash.

That evening as Richard was contemplating how to deal with all these problems, he was called into the kitchen to fix a clogged dishwasher.

As he lay on the floor under the dishwasher, with water and garbage spilling on his face, a waitress came into the kitchen.

She said, there was a very irate drunk customer at a table who wanted to see the owner.

That was the last straw for Richard. He had already lost his wife’s money, lost his inheritance, lost his grandfather, and now there was a irate drunk he needed to deal with.

As he wiped the garbage off his face with a towel, he walked out into the restaurant, contemplating telling the drunk customer to go to hell.

As Richard got to the table the drunk said, “Are you the owner”?

Richard said yes, he was, and he was getting ready to punch the guy in the face.

The drunk said, “I must tell you, best lobster meal I ever had”.

Later that night, Richard closed the Bonfire Restaurant for good.