O "H
J! O j O
AM
By Hark Davia
As the smell of money rolls in from
the stockyards, Joe Tess' restaurant
and fish market opens every morning,
as it has for the last 50 years. At 5460 S.
24th St. in South Omaha, Joe Tess' is a
family bar and bistro specializing in
unique fish sandwich and ataste of the
past on every platter.
When Joe Tess' first opened in the
1930s it was just a bar. But then Rudy
Stephen, Tess' uncle, started to work
with the bones in carp. Stephen, who
worked for the State Fishery Depart
ment, was then given permission to
open a kitchen in the bar. According to
Jim Murtiik, an old friend of Tess' and
now the manager of the Joe Tess' at
6527 Ames St. in Omaha, the fish
sandwich caught on quickly and has
led to a growing company 50 years
later.
Murtiik said that the major reason
for the success of Joe Tess' is the
family-oriented business techniques
that Joe Tess, his wife and finally Bill
Fait, the owner of Joe Tess' for the past
18 years, have carried on.
"It's the experience and knowing the
proper handling of the fish that makes
the difference," Murtiik said. The pres
ent owner started as a cook and then
worked his way up to the top. Eventu
ally Falt's three sons, William J., David
and Dan will know the business and
follow in their father's footsteps.
But beyond the personable service
that has marked Joe Tess' for the past
decades, there is an idea of serving a
special dish with uncompromising
quality that really makes Joe Tess' an
Sornberger min
experience that is worth traveling for.
Tami Allen, a waitress at Joe Tess
South during the summer and UNL
student during the winter, told of the
clientele that frequent Joe Tess. "We
have a lot of regular customers," Allen
said, "but a lot of people say they travel
a long way to eat here."
At first I was a little hesitant to eat a
fish that I was taught to use as fertil
izer at most, but after I took my first
bite I was infatuated with the delicta
ble meat. Murtiik said that all the fish
served are caught in northern lakes
and kept alive until the day they are to
be eaten. "I think we're the only people
that haul live fish," Murtiik said.
If you are opposed to eating carp,
there is catfish and other seafoods to
choose from on the menu. My dinner
companion had a large catfish sand
wich and jacket fries while I had a
double rib dinner, a side order of about
20 shrimp, some coleslaw with real
character and jacket fries. Murtiik said
that the cole slaw was made fresh from
scratch daily and explained that the
reason that there was only one slice of
bread with the sandwich was that a lot
of people don't eat the bread.
"If they want some more bread or
pickle slices we'll be happy to bring
them all they want," Murtiik said.
Wralking into the original Joe Tess'
gives the flavor of the long history
behind the bar turned restaurant. The
same atmosphere is preserved in the
new Joe Tess' on Ames "and the newest
store here in Lincoln. Murtiik said that
plans for stores in Kansas City and Des
Moines are being worked on, but they
are taking the time to make sure that
quality is not compromised.
gle
s navors
of Nebraska's women poets
By Sarah Sieler
When people think of Nebraska
poets, they generally think of men like
Bill Kloefkorn, Ted Kooser, Greg Kuzma,
or Don Welch. Comparatively little atten
tion has been given to Nebraska's wo
men poets, like Kathleene West, who
has published three collections of poe
try, Susan Strayer Deal, who has pub
lished two books of poems; and Nancy
Westerfield, who was the first Nebraska
poet to win a National Endowment for
the Arts fellowship.
"All My Grandmothers Could Sing:
Poems by Nebraska Women," edited by
Judith Sornberger, is the first anthol
ogy that brings together the varied
writings of Nebraska's women poets.
"Each time I read a poem I love by a
Nebraska woman in a magazine or col
lection, it adds to my sense of richness
in this state's women poets. What I
wanted was to give this sense tangible
form to have for myself and to
share," Sornberger said, in the preface
to the anthology.
Sornberger, a teaching assistant in
the UNL English department, selected
poems by more than 25 women to be
included in the anthology. The women
are from a variety of backgrounds and
cultures. Some are rural Nebraskans
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Richard Kousgaard, the man who cuts the carp in the fish market below
the original Joe Tess place.
whose poetry is rooted in the soil, oth
ers are from urban centers like Omaha
and Lincoln. Some have lived for a time
in Nebraska but are now living and
writing in other places. Others have
brought their memories and love of
other places to Nebraska.
Sornberger was interested in the dif
ferences, as well as similarities, that
she'd find in the poetry of Nebraska
women. She said she is pleased with
the results.
Maria Lemon, who owns and man
ages the Editor, a public relations and
writing agency in Lincoln, writes poe
try and fiction under her birth name.
Maria Mullinaux. Mullinaux moved
here in 1968 and claims to be "such a
convert" to Nebraska. "There's always
something extraordinarily beautiful to
prompt a mental adventure" which
leads to the creation of a poem or
story, she said.
Mullinaux wrote the anthology's title
poem, "All My Grandmothers Could
SingMost Died Young" as "an act of
healing ... to come to terms with my
relationship with my mother and it
"... the potential of poetry has come
down to us from a long line of women who
had poetry in them whether it was writ
ten down or not. 11
"It's like a big smorgasboard or pot
luck dinner where everyone is bringing
something that reflects his own tastes,"
Sornberger said, explaining that the
mingling of the various flavors makes a
dinner even more wonderful than serv
ing a dish by itself.
One of the contributors to the anth
ology is Nancy McCleery, a poet who
continues to write about Nebraska
from a new vantage point in Alaska.
McCleery, who has published poetry in
more than 30 publications, s'-ys that
she still writes about Nebraska because
"I see it better from a distance."
Four of the contributors, Meredith
Campbell, Janet Coleman, Linnea John
son and Pat Dean, have written and
published a book of poetry together
called "Front Lines."
worked." The
have to learn
stop blaming
their lives as
should have"
feminists.
poem is about "how we
as grown-up women to
mothers for not living
fully as we think, they
because they weren't
Sornberger said she chose the title of
Mullinaux's poem as the title of the
book because "poetry arid music are
very closely linked" and the genera
tional feeling of many of the poems
show that "the potential of poetry has
come down to us from a long line of
women who had poetry in them
whether it was written down or not."
A free public reading by many of the
poets in the anthology will be Aug. 14
at 8 p.m. in Sheldon Memorial Art
Gallery.
Pegs 5
Friday, August 3. 1984
Daily Nebraskan
