Day 256: The Appetite’s Back

Yesterday’s culinary conversations set me on a course to eat out last night. Destination: Bywater. On a tip, I headed to Elizabeth’s (Gallier & Chartres), but not before driving by Bacchanal and Sugar Park to see if they were open. They were, but I wasn’t in the mood for grease or pizza, however thin the crust.

With a recently-renewed sense of smell and gastric lining, I ordered the only healthy-looking items on the evening menu: fried green tomatoes and curry chicken salad. The tomatoes were green and crisp, blanketed in a coin purse of fried batter and ultimately redeemed by the remoulade and a good dose of tabasco.

Arm sandwich with a bit of salt was looking mighty good by the time the entree arrived, but I ended up intrigued by the contents of my salad. Forget the tired curry chicken, the vegetables were amazing – tender leaves of spinach, crisp slivers of colorful bell peppers, fresh onion and succulent cucumbers. Aaaah, finally, the salad is back in salad. Former owner and head chef, Heidi Trull, left quite the legacy.

Rumor has it that, before returning to her native South Carolina, Trull ran Elizabeth’s on a rent of approximately $500/month, consistent good eats and pure charm. If it’s true, that’s what I call New Orleans business sense. I imagine she has left a large void in Bywater and their Mirliton Festival Committee.

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Thomas Dolby made a secret appearance on the Bob Edwards Show yesterday promoting his latest Sole Inhabitant tour. What does Dolby have to do with good eats? Why, it’s this Good Eats fansite which asks if Thomas Dolby and Alton Brown were separated at birth. (If you ignore the poor grammar, it’s a funny sendup. With some cough medicine. Really.)

Observation #1: Boy, don’t they look alike?
Observation #2: [Reference to episode wherein Alton Brown says:] Because once again you’ve blinded me with science.
Observation #3: They both have been interviewed by MacWorld because they love Macintosh computers.
Observation #4: Music which sounds very similar to a Dolby release has cropped up in an episode of Good Eats.
Observation #5: Alton’s #1 fan, Francis Anderson, … states “He blinded me with science.” And then the music goes directly into the Blinded Me With Science bass line.

“#1 fan” … *shiver*

Given that She Blinded Me With Science is Dolby’s least favorite song from his own collection (and mine), I submit that Alton Brown is not a long-lost twin but the evil, opposite Spock Cartman Thomas Dolby from a parallel universe. Goatees are easily shaved off. Find out if Brown owns a cooking implement known as an agonizer.