Fried Green Beans

Brookings has a new restaurant. And it's not fast food. Or pizza. Brookings has a plethora of pizza and is full of fast food. Bravo is a genuine grown-up place to eat with oodles of atmosphere and a dapperly dressed and engaging staff. They have an appetizer that sounds just plain weird when you read the menu. Fried green beans. With a side of chipotle ranch dressing in which you may dip the odd looking things. They do look odd but are quite delicious. Which proves people will eat nearly anything if it is battered, fried and served in a cute basket with dipping sauce. I ate fried rattlesnake once. Battered, deep-fried rattlesnake served with some sort of barbecue dipping sauce. I figured, heck, we're in Arizona, what more appropriate place could there be to eat fried rattlesnake. It could have been anything, tasted sort of like chicken. And I bet that few Arizonans eat rattlesnake on a regular basis. Probably reserved primarily for the tourist trade. I can just see the chef back in the kitchen laughing his ass off every time some out-of-stater orders the fried rattlesnake appetizer. And speaking of eating out, we received our invites to the company holiday party in our mailboxes today. I'm thinking of returning the card saying that I will indeed be bringing a guest. Then not bring one. And brown bag the extra meal and take it home. Tacky, yes. Practical, yes. Classy, no. I don't remember the menu for dinner spelled out on the invitation so I might regret having a rerun in the refrigerator. One thing's pretty sure, though. There won't be any fried rattlesnake. Or fried green beans, either. I don't mind as long as there's dessert.