BRADENTON, Fla. — Patricia Lambert has been eating at Mean Dean’s since the restaurant first opened three years ago. She loved taking her husband, even after he was diagnosed with vascular dementia. It is also the place where she always takes her visiting family or friends.
But Lambert’s husband died last August, so she was going to be alone for the first time this Thanksgiving. Her daughter urged her to fly out to Arizona to be with her family.
Yet, despite buying an airline ticket, Lambert decided to stay home.
“I decided I really wasn’t in the emotional frame of mine to be in that big of an environment,” she said.
Instead—remembering their Thanksgiving turkey special – she emailed her favorite restaurant, Mean Dean’s local kitchen in Bradenton. But the response was more than she expected.
Co-owner Michele Angell wrote her back, inviting her to join her own mother and others to eat Thanksgiving Dinner together. The reservation for the “Singles” table would be “Pilgrim.”
“It was one thing I could do,” Angell said.
She had also shared with Lambert that her own mother was also recently widowed. The idea of Lambert eating alone made her think of her mom.
“I don’t think you really understand it until you have gone through it in your family,” Angell said.
She never intended for the attention her idea got.
“To be honest, I did not even go through the responses to the Facebook post because it was really emotional for me to post that,” she added.
Meanwhile, for Lambert, it was a struggle just to get up some days and find purpose. A retired surgical nurse for more than 40 years while raising four children, she had taken care of her husband for years when he was first diagnosed with dementia. During that time, she had become isolated.
“It took courage for me to get ready and go, and it was almost like that day that I made the decision,” Lambert said. “I am going to show up.”
Lambert, Angell’s mother and another woman did share a Thanksgiving dinner together.
The women enjoyed it so much that it was Angell’s mother who first extended the invitation for Christmas dinner. That time, the reservation was under “Frosty,” and a fourth woman joined them.
“Her inviting me that time, telling me about it, it opened something in me that at least I can get out, see people, get out of the house, meet people, and do things,” Lambert said.
But it was easier to feel comfortable because Lambert always felt welcome at Mean Dean’s and loved the freshly cooked meals.
“You feel like you’re in a home, not a restaurant,” she explained.
Mean Dean’s hopes the communal table continues to grow and that other restaurants start doing the same thing.
“It felt good to just be able to do a little something for someone, and then hopefully create memories, create connections so maybe the holiday aren’t so lonely after this for some folks,” she said.
The four women are now connected – by phone – and they are planning on getting together once a month, not just on holidays.
Angell’s message to anyone considering joining: “They may be strangers now, but to me, they are just friends you haven’t met yet.”
To Angell and Donnelly, it’s not just about business.
“We really love what we do, and we really love the community, so we would not choose to be anywhere but here,” she said.
Anyone interested in joining the table for New Year’s Day or any future holidays can call Mean Dean’s at 941-251-5435 and ask to be added to the “Champagne” table reservation.
