The Smiling Elephant
We have a restaurant here in Nashville known as The Smiling Elephant.
It's a great place to eat and relax and I was obliged to eat lunch there the other day while my pet Guinea pig, G.P., was at the veterinarian's down the street being neutered.
I'm not averse to trying new eating places but this was Thai food and I'll be the first to admit I don't know a thing about Thai food and was a little apprehensive.
For my drink, I ordered Lemon Grass tea. That sounded pretty straightforward to me . . . might taste like funny lemonade, but what-the-hell, it was worth a try and was almost to my liking, this Lemon Grass Tea, but tasted more like grass than lemon and could have used a sweetener. I ordered another glass. I was enjoying myself by savoring the experience and putting on-airs at a fancy restaurant.
For my entree, I ordered the special. I can't pronounce the name of the dish but it had a couple of "moo's" in it which didn't make sense because the dish was curried pork over rice. Why would a pork dish have moo as part of its name? Pigs don't moo. Cows do.
The something-something, curried pork dish came side-dressed with half a barbequed egg. I'm not kidding. The menu described half an egg on the side as a barbequed egg. I asked the waiter which half of the egg they used. He replied, "The right half". Then I asked what they did with the other half. Sensing that he was on the spot here to come up with another witty answer, a glint came to his eye and he came back with "We use it in another dish".
He was on a roll and I was too, so I asked him, "How do you barbeque an egg?"
"At night," he said. "That way, it won't slip through the grill."
At this point the conversation was getting a little too weird for me, so I just let his last comment slide. If I should make him mad by saying something the wrong thing, he might spit in my moo dish and I didn't want to take the chance. There are a few people in the world you don't want to make mad and your waiter is one of them. Your barber is another. I could think of a few more but you'd have to buy me a beer, first.
If you're ever in Nashville and want to "Thai-one-on" so to speak, The Smiling Elephant is your place.
Allen Benson