Mustard's Last Stand

Mustard's Last Stand, seen in the photograph on the left, is located across the street from the University of Denver campus, and has been a neighborhood fixture ever since I moved to Denver from Chicago.  They also have a branch near the University of Colorado in Boulder, and serve Chicago-style hot dogs.  There is a Chicago vibe to the place, and during the summer they show Cubs games during the afternoon.  My friend Stuart, originally from the north side of Chicago and a DU grad, was waxing nostalgic about the place a few weeks ago.  My friend and former University of Denver Bookstore co-worker Larry, who grew up in Streator, Illinois - not too far from Chicago - also loved the place.

Larry, seen in the photograph on the right that I took at the DU Bookstore a number of years ago, was a Chicago Cubs fan, God knows why. Being from the south side Brainerd neighborhood of Chicago, I of course was a White Sox fan, and we had a bet each year on which team would have the better record, with the loser buying the other lunch.  Since Mortons of Chicago, an expensive steakhouse, was located downtown and impractical for a one hour lunch, we always wound up at Mustard's, and watched a couple of innings of the Cubs game as we ate. Every damn year the Cubs would have the better record, and so I always wound up buying lunch.  And then one year, due to some sort of cosmic error, the White Sox had the better record.  However, Larry decided to retire that fall at age 62 and take early social security, and so I never did get my free lunch.  Larry told me that his father died young, and he wanted to retire early just in case the same thing happened to him. Sadly, he was right, and passed away in 2016 at the age of 68.  I wish we did have that lunch together.  I would even have paid, just for old times sake.