Food Friday Celebrates Anniversary
One of the longer running programs on Austin radio is Food Friday on 590 KLBJ-AM. The show airs the last Friday of every month from 9-10am, and we just celebrated our 9th anniversary.
The format is simple. I join Mark Caesar, Sgt. Sam Cox, and Ed Clements, and we talk restaurants, food, and anything remotely related. The show begins with my openings and closings update, and then we go to the phones and let the fur fly. People often call in wanting to know about where to find a favorite food, or for my take on a certain restaurant, to agree with a recommendation I had made, or occasionally, to give me hell for a recommendation I had made.
Anyway you slice it, it’s one of the fastest-moving hours in Austin radio, and one of the few shows in the country that airs in prime time (for radio, that’s usually Monday-Friday 6am-7pm).
One of the things I get a kick out of are callers who want something highly specific, like they had in NYC or San Francisco. One lady called in wanting Balut, a Filipino dish that features a boiled fertilized duck embryo served in the shell. First, I had to tell her that we really don’t have a serious (Mang Dedoy is more of a market than restaurant) Filipino restaurant in Austin; hence, no Balut.
“You HAVE to be mistaken,” she said.
“No, I don’t think so,” I replied.
“Well, to hell with all of you,” she screamed as she hung up. There was nothing we could do but chuckle and move on to the next call.
And we can always count on callers asking for German or Greek food. With all that interest, one would think that the two concepts would have fared better in the River City over the years than they have.
We got a guy who was listening on-line from South Carolina who was moving to Austin. He almost started weeping when we told him he could get She-Crab soup (a low country recipe) at Steiner Ranch steakhouse.
And then we have the almost obligatory call each show from an owner, or someone who works at a restaurant, trying to disguise their occupation and give their joint a free plug. My advice on this is: forget it. We can almost always spot you. Words like four-top and covers are a dead giveaway, not to mention an unusual familiarity with the menu.
A few callers have a great deal of difficulty in pronouncing a certain dish. One guy called in wanting to know who had the best “fox-grass.” (Serious, here.) We all looked at each other until it dawned on me that the caller meant “foie gras.” I gently corrected his pronunciation, so he could actually order the dish when he got to the restaurant I recommended. We’re waiting on an update from him.
But most caller questions are successfully answered, and we usually manage have a spirited argument or two between Sam and I on prime rib or with Ed on anything related to BBQ. My East Coast heritage is also playfully disparaged by my colleagues, especially when the topic comes to pizza.
It’s generally a fast-paced and caller-driven show, yet I can’t remember Mark ever having to use the “dump” button (7-second delay) once. That’s pretty amazing in live talk radio.
So join us on the last Friday in May for another Food Friday. As Cousin Eddie said to Clark in Christmas Vacation, “It’s the gift that just keeps on givin’.” And it’s been a gift to me to be able to be part of it for all these years.
