I am so jealous – Alton Brown is my favorite guy on the Food Network, and oddly enough there are several good shows on the network (Iron Chef and Emeril are not included). The thing I like best, even more than the light hearted humor (I especially liked the show where he shooed the women away making origami for a moment so he could show us men how to properly make our own deep fried corndogs and sliders) is the sheer inspiration as I always want to cook after watching his show. Yes, I want to get in touch with my inner man and provide food for my family.
Well, Jeff Harrell lucked into a couple of tickets to hear him speak at the Smithsonian (who knew they hosted anything relevant and happening?):
First things first: Alton Brown is both taller and chunkier in person than he looks on TV. It befits the host of a popular show about food and cooking to measure a few extra nautical miles around the equator, so to speak, and Brown carries the excess tonnage well. It’s all part of his slightly-larger-than-life persona, from his trademark wire-rimmed glasses to his spiky blond hair to his effervescent attitude.Okay, enough of that writerly crap. On to the good stuff.
Alton Brown is funny. Seriously, he’s a funny guy. And he knows it too. His lecture – and I’m using the word “lecture” here in its most abstract sense – was a performing-without-a-net operation from the very beginning. He took the stage to enthusiastic applause and confessed that he was going to fulfill two lifelong dreams tonight: He was going to lecture at the Smithsonian Institution – “the frickin” Smithsonian, he said with unrestrained glee – and he was going to appear on “Inside the Actor’s Studio” with James Lipton.
I’d always heard the camera adds a few pounds, but apparently not (or perhaps Mr. Brown has put his weight on while on the road and after shooting episodes for his main show, Good Eats).
And as far as Ted Drews goes, that’s a St. Louis institution of longstanding. It would be nice if it got some national recognition.
