coming, coming ...coming around

I remember standing patiently in a checkout lane at my neighborhood grocery, looking over the headlines on some of the more exciting periodicals, Ebony, the Sun, the Enquirer, and the Star,… and oh,..of course the Readers Digest. Every once in a while when the Godzilla meets Al Sharpton in Guantanamo, or the alleged union between Fidel and Obama cease to take the limelight, a little gastronomic trend ensues and finds its way into the mix. It’s like,…”garlic..the new weight loss revolution”..or something like “Leading M.D says …Eat raw garlic and live to be 200+” or “oils from the liver of dangerous Great White sharks saves ailing Philippino boy” or,… “bioflavonoid compound from Florida oranges used to repel giant mosquito with 17ft wingspan” …or something like that. What I like and appreciate is that it takes something like monster mosquitoes to get flavanoids into the minds of the mainstream ..and for me that’s cool …I know that a small percentage of folks will take something from the mention of the food element and perhaps, once the Godzilla part wears off, he or she might be more inclined to dig a bit deeper and discover what the benefits of bioflavonoid really are. So while there are some of us have known about flavanoids for whatever reason, or those of us as children that were made to eat meals prepared with garlic,..we we might already know so reading this news as if this very simple ingredient is suddenly ok or approved and is getting some attention is both thrilling and odd at the same time. It’s a coming full circle.
In a similar way, all things prepared like chipotle mayonnaise or even brands like Paul Newman are suddenly appearing in very main stream restaurants and fast food institutions. Recently I stopped by a late night breakfast place off the 285 loop highway that surrounds Atlanta. It was very late, a friend and I walked in to find the expected local color. Folks who looked as if they had recently been set free from prison, ladies giggling their cosmopolitan buzz off in the corner over a steaming bowl of biscuits and gravy and the man in the corner dipping his white buttered toast into the yolk of his sunny side up combo platter. We sat down, looked over the menu in awe,..then decided savoury over sweet. The burgers looked good and as I scanned down the list of various toppings and accoutrement, I came across a feature like box within the burger section itself. There before me was that very “coming full circle” food thing but this time may have been the most impactful, most substantial of any experience ive ever had…hold on peeps …im talking about the Ciabatta Burger! That’s right…the bread that most of us cannot pronounce, alongside espresso with an “x” and Panini as plural not a single pressed sandwich ..i mean ,..“Panino” this menu actually listed this classic Italian bread as the ideal hamburger partner.
I cannot say enough about this burger…it was fabulous end of story
Look for the yellow sign,..mention no names, tear up your receipt, bring some quarters for the juke box and keep the tums in the back pocket