Texas’ agriculture commissioner was out making friends in the Lone Star State last week, or so Sid Miller must have thought.
Instead, he became the latest example of “Do You Know Who I Am?” syndrome.
Miller is the Stephenville rancher known for his ever-present cowboy hat. It’s big, but not big enough to hide that he billed taxpayers for trips to a Mississippi rodeo and for an Oklahoma painkiller injection called the “Jesus shot.”
This time, your agriculture commissioner went to Amarillo, the heart of Texas cattle feedlot country. But he didn’t like his steak.
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“Terrible steak — more like prime rib which I HATE,” Miller wrote on a business card he left at OHMS Cafe & Bar, a “new American bistro” that also serves tuna tartare, seared organic elk and sauteed Faroe Islands salmon, which I don’t think is from anywhere near Amarillo.
Miller had complained and was offered something different but declined, chef Josh Fuller told Amarillo Fox affiliate KCIT.
Instead, Miller left two business cards, one in the plate and another with the scrawled message in the dinner checkbook.
In place of signing the check, he also wrote: “terrible meal!”
I didn’t really expect to be charged.
Texas Agriculture Commissioner Sid Miller, who had turned down a different dinner
Apparently, Commissioner Big Shot resented even having to pay for the dinner at all.
“I didn’t really expect to be charged for a steak that I couldn’t eat,” he told the station by phone in a report posted at MyHighPlains.com.
He claimed he was doing the restaurant a favor. (One saving grace: He left the server an 18 percent tip.)
“If I have an employee who is not doing their job, or they have a complaint and there's something wrong with my operation, I really appreciate people letting me know so I can correct it.” he told the station.
The restaurant has a 4 1/2 -star ranking on the social media site Yelp.com, although some commenters don’t like the ribeye. After all, it’s not as if OHMS is the Big Texan Steak Ranch.
$54.13Sid Miller’s check for a ribeye that tasted “like prime rib” and drink at OHMS Cafe & Bar. (He tipped $10.)
In other words, Miller complained and thought he wouldn’t have to pay, but then had to take personal responsibility. And he griped about it.
His response when his public behavior was reported?
“Here is a Grade A example of why the American public is sick and tired of the media,” he or a campaign staffer wrote on his Facebook page, notorious for posting made-up content from fake news websites.
Amarillo Globe-News columnist Jon Mark Beilue found hope in Miller’s scrawled message “Won’t be back.”
“Imagine my disappointment,” Beilue wrote, “when he didn’t mean Amarillo, but only OHMS Cafe.”
They’re not the only Texans sick and tired of Sid Miller.
Bud Kennedy: 817-390-7538, bud@star-telegram.com, @BudKennedy. His column appears Sundays, Wednesdays and Fridays.
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