The piloTs-only club

Every Monday right around 11:30 a.m., a group of retired Braniff pilots make their way to Kel’s for lunch.

Well, one is a retired American Airlines pilot. But they try not to hold it against him.

Lunch at Kel’s has been a tradition for three or four years, they say, but they’ve known each other since their flying days.

“At our age, it’s hard to remember how long,” Don Maynard says. Maynard says he’s the oldest of the bunch, and claims he showed the others the ropes.

“I raised these from pups,” he says. “I taught ’em layovers — good places to eat and drink.”

Kel’s Kitchen 5337 Forest 972.458.7221 kelshomecooking.com

These days, “we try not to get more than 2-3 feet off the ground,” Russell Moehle says, so they hunt down good eats in Dallas. The men come together every weekday for lunch, and sometimes for breakfast on Saturday. Rich Russell is the organizer, calling everyone to let them know where to meet.

But on Monday, they know where to go. It’s always Kel’s.

“Food’s good,” explains Chuck Martin.

“And Ralphie even has the table set up for us when we come in,” Russell says.

Waiter Ralphie Hernandez reserves a table in the back of the restaurant for the men, keeps close tabs on their drinks, and brings out their orders quickly.

“You’re a mind reader, Ralphie,” someone says when Hernandez sets extra bowls of gravy on the table for the chicken-fried chicken orders.

“We tip a little heavier,” Russell says.

The group is a couple short today, and among the missing is Denny Kelly, who has been a Kel’s customer longer than any of them.

“I started going to Kel’s in 1972 — 40 years ago,” Kelly says later in a phone interview. “I lived in an apartment at LBJ and Montfort, and at the time, they were up on the corner of Forest and Preston. After about four or five years, it burned, and so they were closed for about five months