After the American Revolution, proposals surfaced to ban English and speak Hebrew, French, and Greek instead. However, these proposals did not work and English became the world’s most powerful language. Now, Dennis Baron, a professor of English and linguistics at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign is proposing that the congress should ban English instead making it the official language of the United States. Prohibiting English will do for the language what prohibition did for alcohol. By doing this, more aliens whose English is limited or refuse to learn it, will be eager to learn English. Also, a common language could be the cause for strife and misunderstandings such as the case of Ireland and North Ireland, the two Koreas, or the Union of Confederations. By banning English, we would not have to worry about what version of English to speak. It does not matter what language we replace English with, As long as we ban it. Prohibition is a negative psychology that has worked and will always work.

Just a few days ago, my girlfriend Lorena and I were discussing about the restaurants we usually visit. Both of us were bored and tired of going to eat fast food such as cheeseburgers, pizza, or bad Mexican food. Also, Lorena wanted to go to a nice romantic restaurant with a little bit of privacy, and good service. I had heard there are many restaurants in the area of Joliet that serve fine worldwide dishes, but I was not sure what type of food would be the best. A friend of mine told me that there was a very elegant restaurant called Al’s Steak House, very famous for its food. Lorena and I decided to visit the famous Al’s Steak house and check out its architecture, service, and food.

Al’s Steak House is at 1990 West Jefferson Street in Joliet. Honestly, from the outside view, the restaurant does not look as elegant as other places; its parking lot is cracking, the exterior walls need to be repainted, and there are not many flowers and plants. The roof is in good conditions. We liked the antique red shingles made out of clay and the red bricks around the windows. The inside of Al’s Steak House is another world. The entire place looks newly remodeled. As soon as we entered, we identified the contemporary/classic style of the building. The entrance is built of wood and glass, and the lobby is a quiet place with white partitions decorated with red bricks. The dining room walls are built of red bricks and the windows are thin and tall. I really loved the big classic gates made out of steal hanging on the walls. The entire place is dimly lit which gave us privacy and a romantic feeling. However, I took a quick look up to the ceiling. I did not like it at all because it looked very old with water marks all over. The water marks on the ceiling made me think that the roof is leaking and it has to be repaired.  The tables are covered with white table cloths and the chairs are made out of brown leather. The floor is covered with a brown flowered carpet which looked very clean during our visit. Also, the bathrooms looked very clean and nice with ceramic floors and walls, and modern toilets as well.

For the most part, the service was good: As soon as we entered, the hostess greeted us and asked us if we wanted a table or a booth. We picked the booth. While we were waiting for the server, a young man approached to us with water, crackers, bread, and some butter. The server who attended us had a great smile, dressed with black pants, and a white shirt. The server was very kind. However, the server smelled bad. Maybe she was having a busy night. Since it was our first time at a place like Al’s Steak house, we had no idea what to order, but the server explained to us some of the dishes.

The dinner at Al’s Steak House was delicious! For entree, I ordered fresh oysters and my girlfriend tried a shrimp cocktail. We both shared the shrimp and the oysters. Both, the oysters and the shrimps had a very natural and fresh flavor. It seems like the seafood at Al’s is brought straight from the sea and not grown in farms. Also, we ordered iced tea, but this was not good because it had no flavor, and was kind of warm, so we decided to order a soda which was good. Throughout the dinner, the server kept providing with a good service. Before the main dish, we had the option of taking soup or grabbing food from the salad bar. We decided to eat salad. The salad bar was very attractive to our eyes. There were about ten different kinds of salads, lettuce and dressings

My date ad I decided to try macaroni and potato salad, both tasted great. For the dinner, we decided to order filet mignon with a baked potato. The steak was just a small piece, but it tasted very juicy. It was cooked well done, just how we wanted it. We found out that Al’s Steak House cooks its steaks with charcoal because the grill was visible to us. The baked potato was delicious as well. We loved the home made flavor and sensation of the butter and oil, even though they are bad for our health.  Al’s Steak House has banquet rooms and a very nice bar. The place serves a big variety of chicken, pastas and seafood as well. 

I really enjoyed dinner, and definitely will take my girlfriend there again and try other dishes and maybe some wine. I loved the interior design of the place, but I did not like the outside part that much. The server who attended us was very nice and gave us such a great service. Anyway, we rather not have her as our server again, unless she smells good. Out of the five stars, I would give Al’s Steak House four.