Remembering memorable meals

Most people living in the U.S. have had the good fortune of eating three meals a day for most of our days – a lot of meals. But how many do we remember? The remembered meals have been something special – something different. We remember where we were, who we were with and, sometimes, what we ate.

Two meals I remember for their similarities and their differences were at the Yacht Club in Chicago, Illinois, and the Navajo Café in Compton, California.

I was an inexperienced small-town boy in the big city. The 5-foot-tall, dark-haired Chicago girl was always vocal, always in motion and always in c...