Monday, February 6, 2012
Conversation Bites People on Radio Praise Sylvan Park Restaurant, Make Dumb Generalizations About the South
Posted by Steve Haruch on Mon, Feb 6, 2012 at 3:06 PM
- Photo: Eric England
- "What are these truck-like things with food in them? We're SO CONFUSED."
Uh ... OK. So, "the South" — defined this broadly — has a hot lunch, unlike every other part of the country, where no one eats a hot lunch or sits down for lunch. Got it. Someone alert Olive Garden! Seriously, this is such a dumb thing to say, I don't think it needs further commentary. But Stern can't stop herself from getting all amateur anthropologist, and this is where it goes from plain old dumb to one moon colony shy of a picnic:
Southerners are not sandwich-grabbers, they're not eat-on-the-run people the way New Yorkers are, they're not food truck people. They sit down like civilized ladies and gentlemen, and they order a piece of ham, a piece of fried chicken, an oxtail — whatever the meat of the day is — and their three favorite sides, with a little cornbread and a little yeast roll and a glass of sweet tea.
Aw, eat a lunch of little foods with simple folk who are never in a hurry and haven't changed since 1970. I think what bugged me about this was that she could have said the second part without saying the first part. Yes, you can go to a meat-and-three for lunch in the South. But it's not the only lunch there is. You can also have a sandwich, or even have Thai ... from a food truck. We have food trucks! Fancy that!
Hear the segment for yourself below. Spoiler alert: They really like Sylvan Park Restaurant.
Oh, and someone please tell the Sterns that Mayor Dean's not related to Paula (you know, just in case).
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Comments (12)
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I dunno. I kind of get what she's trying (and failing) to say.
The South's "meat-and-three" lunch is representative of a kind of working man's hearty-but-healthy lunch that was once served in cafeterias at factories or lunchstops in company towns. I'm thinking of places like the Kleervu lunchroom or the old Dupont diner. The advent of fast food, the death of American manufacturing, and the incredible shrinking lunch hour has all but eaten away at cafeteria-style dining -- although the food arrives quickly, it takes too long to eat and has no convenient way of being made "mobile" if you've got to eat on the go (a la hamburger).
What she doesn't know is that the death of the meat-and-three is still happening here in the South, but due to what probably is just bull-headed tradition it's happening quite a bit slower than in the rest of the country.
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Let's clarify: Sure you can get a sammich from about 6 or 10 places (Mitchell, etc) New York, NJ, Long Island? There is a deli every 50 yards, right next to the pizzeria(s). Food trucks? When the gypsy like cats down here learn to stay in the same vicinity, I'll think about it, but I long gave up on playing Wheres Waldo and their 2 hour lunch windows. If I need twitter, facebook, blogger, AND GPS, fuck it.
You're surpised that NPR stereotypes about southerners? The same people who applauded when the President said that Southerners cling to their guns and religion?
I've heard the splendid table plenty of times, and she and her friends pretend there's nothing but the sit and eat places with ham, chicken, and oxtail(?). I've only seen oxtail at Whole Foods.
Matt, get thee to the Sands on Locklayer for the best Oxtail in town. Or hit them up on Monday for neckbones and rice.
I believe the 'cling to guns and religions" line was directed to the fine people of Pennsylvania, Matt L.
Excellent oxtail can be had at Jamaica Way in the farmer's market. I was there today and had the tilapia ecoveitch, I've also seen it spelled escovitch and escabeche. It is a marinade of pickled onion, carrot, bell pepper and scotch bonnet peppers. Their version adds the hot sauce just before it's served so they can vary the heat to taste. It was wonderful.
I've listened to Lynne Rosetto Casper for years and enjoyed it. Once I heard someone ask her what would she like for a last meal and she said an heirloom tomato on white bread with a slathering of Hellman's mayo. Which is exactly how I would have answered.
I've always been suspicious of the couple that travels and reviews restaurants because of how they write up local things. They make a living out of hyping everything. Must take them with a grain or two of salt.
Speaking of horrible representations of the south. Jamie Oliver's new show where he travels around the US was absolutely unwatchable when he came through the south. If you think the Splendid Table thing was bad, you'd have a stroke watching Jamie touring a trailer park where the N-word was used and at a southern ladies tea party where they wouldn't discuss religion, the economy or politics except to say that they didn't vote for Obama.
How is it Jamie's fault that such appalling behavior exists ??
The south sucks. Death to the south. Long live the north and the Union.
The food truck situation is fairly new to Nashville in large scale. There are lots of meats and 3's. We do love a hot lunch. While I love my Phat Bites, Panera, Pei Wei, and Grilled Cheeserie....give me homemade mashed potatoes and green beans with a little fat back with a large iced sweet tea anyday. So what was wrong with what was said on the Splendid Table - which by the way is a great show? Oh yeah....and somebody tell me what's wrong with guns.
