My two favorite words in combination used to be free and love -- but that was in the 1970’s.
The offer came from Diego Nunez, a video producer for KCET.org, the multifaceted and fascinating website of the largest independent public television station in the United States. He asked that I be the second “public” reviewer in a new web-series, FREE LUNCH (catchy title), which features visits to some of the more interesting eating establishments in Los Angeles by people who like (or possibly really need) to eat. They are then videotaped giving their on-the-spot reviews of the food and the experience. The first public reviewer http://www.kcet.org/socal/freelunch/green-peas.html was the lovely Lynn Chen, an actress who writes a blog about the life of a Hollywood actress (oddly enough). http://theactorsdiet.wordpress.com/ I’m not calling her lovely just to be a gentleman, she truly is lovely as you can see here in this photo by the lucky Chopper Platt.
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| Lynn Chen - photo by Chopper Platt |
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| The aesthetically unbalanced me |
I can only assume Diego picked me to be the second reviewer for aesthetic balance.
But that doesn’t matter, because, for whatever reason, I got a free lunch out of it!
The restaurant Diego picked for me to give my intelligent and/or peckish consideration to was Wurstküche -- Purveyor of Exotic Grilled Sausages,
http://www.wurstkucherestaurant.com/ located in downtown Los Angeles at 800 E. 3rd Street. You can see Diego’s logic here. As I grew up in Azusa, California, east of Pasadena, about one of the most subdued of suburbs in the American West, I’m about as exotic as you can get. It was a good match.
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| The subdued yet exotic me in Azusa |
Diego and his fine and pleasant cinematographer, Ana Shepherd,
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| Diego and Ana |
picked me up in front of the Central Library in downtown L.A. I had taken my beloved subway from the Valley.
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| My beloved |
(Can a subway be beloved? Well, it is by me -- but then I always wanted to be part of an underground resistance).
We then made the short drive to Wurstküche and entered the realm of exotic Sausages.
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| The place itself |
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| The sausages themselves |
Before coming I, being a writer, naturally did a little research and had already seen the menu on their website and knew what to expect, so I was not shocked to see among the exotic: rattlesnake & rabbit with jalapeño peppers.
Indeed, I was intrigued (the exotic will do that to you) and although my general wuss-like nature would normally see me order the safe chicken apple sausage, I screwed up my courage to order this dish. It was not, as you might have already in a deep fit of prejudging guessed, the combination of rattlesnake and rabbit that would put me off -- it was the jalapeño peppers. I have never liked jalapeño peppers, not just because of the heat generated, but I find the taste not at all appealing. Not that the heat is not a consideration: As the general existential and random nature of life are enough to give one heartburn, I have never considered it intelligent to intentionally give it to yourself. I was a big disappointment to my father, whose family came to California from Spain some 240 years ago. “But son,” my father would say when I would refuse to ingest a whole jalapeño pepper the way he had a habit of doing, “You’re Spanish.” Reminding him of his choice in wives, I said, “But, Dad, I’m only half Spanish -- and not that half!”
In any case the combination of rattlesnake and rabbit I found interesting so when I ordered I told the kind man behind the counter of my concerns regarding the jalapeño peppers.
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| The kind man behind the counter |
He assured me that the sausage was not hot, indeed was one of their milder creations. Wanting to believe this informed professional, I ordered the rattlesnake and rabbit for, as my daughter, Miranda, had pointed out to me, it is a very ironic sausage as rattlesnakes eat rabbits. I love the ironic. When I mentioned this to the bright guy behind the counter he immediately, with the slight smile of one who can appreciate the ironic, said, “Actually it’s said that’s how we get this sausage. We only capture rattlesnakes that have just ingested a rabbit, then we grind them up together!” Even if I hadn’t been sold before I would have been then for, as I told my new friend who I hope to visit again, “There’s a certain logic to it because aren’t we all going to end up in the great universal sausage of eternity?”
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| The man in front of the counter contemplating the great universal sausage of eternity Photo by Ana Sheapard |
I gave Wurstküche -- Purveyor of Exotic Grilled Sausages a good video review. You can see it here: http://www.kcet.org/socal/freelunch/wurstkuche-rattlesnake-rabbit-sausage.html I liked the R&R sausage a lot, I liked the counterman a lot -- he alone would bring me back -- and the well designed, comfortable feel of the place makes it a wonderful and relaxing stop for something exotic yet down-to-earth (you know, where the rattlesnakes and rabbits are) to ingest during the noon hour.
As someone who spends his day in front of a camera or doing interviews, I have to say Steve, that you should give some serious thought to doing more of that yourself.
ReplyDeleteWatching you on screen you have a wonderfully playful personality that comes through on camera. It's very natural and fun. I hope you have the chance to do more stuff like this, but where you're more in control as a correspondent or host. Give it some thought.
Peter Anthony Holder
www.thestuphfile.com
Thank you, Peter, for a lovely thought. So, is there any work in Canada? People here in Hollywood that want to be on camera add up to a number north of the national debt of the United States!
ReplyDelete