By Larry Bartlett

Jose Madrid-Silva (1873-1965) was a pistol-packing cowboy who herded cattle on the plains of New Mexico and Texas. Madrid-Silva savored the aroma of sagebrush on the open range, as he fried bacon and beans over a campfire and drank coffee from a tin cup.

The old cowboy was a contemporary of America’s greatest western novelist, Zane Grey (1872-1939), and he could easily have been a character in one of the novelist’s blood-and-thunder stories.

The adventurous lives of Zane Grey and Jose Madrid-Silva are memorialized in Zanesville, Ohio, far from their old stomping grounds on the western plains. Grey was born in Zanesville, and his boyhood home is handsomely preserved by the current owner. Many of the author’s possessions, books and photos are on view at The National Road/Zane Grey Museum in nearby Norwich, Ohio. (There is also a Zane Grey Museum at Lackawaxen, Pennsylvania.)

Memories of Jose Madrid-Silva are honored at Zak’s Restaurant in downtown Zanesville, where savory Southwestern and Mexican foods are served in an historic warehouse. The old cowboy’s daughter, Estelle, her husband, Albert D. Zakany, Sr., and three of their children work in the family restaurant, preparing thrifty, intriguing, belt-busting meals. All food items, including salsa and tortillas, are prepared on the premises.
Jose Madrid-Silva’s grandson, Al, is the head chef. He creates such specialties as Shrimp Jalisco with Crab Quesadillos (shrimp saut√©ed in olive oil, with diced onions, tomatoes, pepper, chili spice and chunks of crabmeat, and two cheeses toasted in a large tortilla). Another favorite is Fish Trio Yucatan (grilled swordfish, yellow fin and salmon, with black beans and colache on a cilantro tortilla). Zak’s Beef Tenderloin Madiera could make a hungry cowboy shout: “Yeeehaa!”

Authentic cowboy clothing, rifles, six-guns and gear are on view at the National Road/Zane Grey Museum, located about 10 miles east of Zak’s Restaurant. The museum also contains dioramas and artifacts of the National Road (built in the early 1800s to connect Cumberland, Maryland, with Vandalia, Illinois), and has an extensive display of antique Cambridge and Rookwood pottery.

Zane Grey led a vigorous life, and he was known as “The High Priest of the Outdoors”, as well as being called “The Father of the Adult Western Novel.” Before becoming a best-selling author in 1912, Grey had brief careers in baseball and dentistry. He held 12 world records in deep-sea fishing, and roamed ocean waters from the Gulf Coast to the South Sea Island of Tahiti.

Zane Grey’s novels outsold those of Ernest Hemmingway, William Faulkner and F. Scott Fitzgerald, and his stories were the basis for more than 100 Hollywood movies. Among the actors who portrayed Zane Grey’s characters were Gary Cooper, John Wayne, Tom Mix, Randolph Scott, Alan Ladd, Roy Rogers and Shirley Temple. More recently, actor Ed Harris starred in a remake of Grey’s most famous work, “Riders of the Purple Sage” for cable network TNT. The National Road/Zane Grey Museum contains many original movie theater posters.

Grey had first-hand experience of ranch life, as indicated by the museum’s collection of his well-worn chaps, sweat-stained sombreros, fringed gauntlets, gun belts and high-heeled boots. His enviable lifestyle combined rugged adventures and modern comforts. Although the novelist feared highways would destroy the Old West, he eventually acquired a chauffer-driven Lincoln. He enjoyed campfire cooking on the lone prairie, yet he might have preferred a plate of Southwestern chow and an icy margarita at Zak’s Restaurant.

Zak’s Restaurant
32 N. Third Street
Zanesville, Ohio 43701
(614) 453-2227

The National Road/Zane Grey Museum
8850 East Pike
Norwich, Ohio 43767
(800) 752-3143

Filed Under: Food Talk