Anytime the history of Southridge Bar and Restaurant is discussed, Bootsie Norris’ name is mentioned as being one of the better managers of the place. Back in the day, Bootsie had it going both on the restaurant and the bar side of the business until he encountered some unfortunate turn of events with his so called “help.”
Bootsie was in Buzzy’s Country Store the other day and as we were talking about this, he summed it up pretty well: “I had liquor going out the front door and food going out the back door. It didn’t take long to go broke with that happening.” I told Bootsie that he could probably take another shot at running it if he wanted to do so. However, Bootsie was quick to say “No way. Once bitten, twice shy.” Told him that I liked the Chinese saying that “only a fool drinks twice from a poisoned well.” Bootsie laughed and said “You got that right.”