20 APR 09: Rails to Trellis
(BLOGGER'S NOTE: Today's entry was almost completely written before Sunday night's dangerous and damaging storms moved through. Consider this a break from the weather coverage of the day - and we might get into the damage in our Tuesday entry.)
Being a former President can have its privileges. About six months ago, Jimmy Carter and his friends were allowed to enjoy a "sneak preview" meal at a nice new restaurant in Americus. This can't be easy for the Secret Service agents guarding Mr. Carter. Can they eat more than him, and explain they have to stay in "training table" shape?
I have no connections at all with the Carter family - but the other night, I was invited to try that same restaurant. Trellis is located on Georgia Highway 27, east of downtown Americus. In fact, there's no overhead sign to tell you it's coming -- and you have to appreciate a restaurant staff that's down to earth.
You open a 12-foot-high glass door to enter the lobby of Trellis. That should give you some idea of how fancy this restaurant is - not to mention how confident the management is that another tornado isn't coming.
The dinner menu at Trellis has an elegance to it, but the choices are limited. In fact, it filled only one page while the wine list seemed to fill two. Should we be suspicious of a restaurant which operates this way? Do they want you to get so light-headed that you can't taste the food?
But you don't have to drink wine to enjoy an evening at Trellis. A "tea box" was brought out, for someone in our group who preferred that with dinner. Some Democrats might find that ironic - the ones who thought last week's "tea party" was more like whine, and a little cheesy besides.
Back to that dinner menu: Trellis offers seven or eight dinner entrees, with separate appetizers. The menu includes quail, which is only fitting since Americus has an annual quail hunt named in honor of the late Griffin Bell. Why a bell tower isn't also named after him, I have no idea....
I started dinner with a Trellis green salad, which happened to include "pine nuts." I asked our host if they tasted like wild hickory nuts, and he seemed thoroughly stumped. Our quickly people forget those old Euell Gibbons commercials -- which believe it or not sold breakfast cereal.
The Trellis "catch of the day" sounded good to me on this night. It was a trout topped with some kind of sauce I didn't understand, but included tomato slices and peas. It was nice, flaky and tasty -- not to mention a sneaky way to get your vegetables.
The server at Trellis promised "orzo pasta" with the trout - and it certainly fooled me. It looked like yellow rice, and tasted much that way. Only as I wrote this Sunday night did I discover that it really was pasta. The staff did NOT dip into the "ouzo" when it offered me orzo.
While Trellis is a six-month-old restaurant and has a modern feel in decor and music, it also has an old touch which seemed out of place. Our group was seated next to windows which reminded me of a 1950s-era school. They allowed us to watch the kitchen staff at work - and the sight of someone wearing a New York Yankees cap probably would startle Southerners.
The entrees at Trellis are priced in the 15 to 22-dollar range. That probably puts this restaurant on the scale of the Americus Windsor Hotel, which has rated well in national travel guides. Trellis is worth a short drive after a visit to Plains -- especially if you don't care for the peanuts there.
The man who invited me to dine at Trellis talked about doing it again "before it closes." Here's hoping it doesn't. All in all, this restaurant is on a par with the finest dining Columbus has to offer. You might even be enlightened enough to go to a dictionary, and look up what the word trellis means.
THE BIG BLOG QUESTION on Columbus dining closed late Sunday - and when it comes to barbecue, 13th Street is number one with our voters. It gained twice as many votes as any other restaurant, but still only had 29 percent of the vote. So for all we know, most people may consider 13 th Street the unluckiest place in town.
A four-way logjam developed for second place in our survey. Country's received 14 percent, as did Ed's of Phenix City and Mike & Ed's of Columbus. And it's noteworthy that Macon Road Barbecue received enough "write-in" comments to match those three. People somehow have found it, even though it's actually on Avalon Road.
That's the one thing about Columbus barbecue that probably makes newcomers laugh. Several restaurants are named after streets, but aren't actually on those streets. Take 13th Street Bar-Be-Que, which is in the 1300 block of Seventh Avenue in Phenix City - yet its Columbus location is north of Airport Thruway, and left 13th Street years ago. It's as if the owners knew Loco's was coming....
Now for other Sunday developments:
+ The annual "Fortune 500" list of the biggest U.S. companies came out. Aflac gained three spots from last year to number 152, even though its profits dropped 23 percent. Sometimes that duck can fly, even when others around it are sinking.
+ Organizers told WXTX "News at Ten" about 45,000 people attended the Sticks Country Music Festival in Auburn. An event this successful probably will be back at Parker Hill next year - and before long, the staff will have skyboxes made of Sticks.
+ ABC News visited a factory near Atlanta which produces ammunition. Demand has been strong for two months due to a nationwide bullet shortage - so yes, we can say the ammo business is going great guns.
+ Georgia's contestant reached the semifinal round at the Miss USA Pageant, but Lilburn's Kimberly Gittings fell short of the top ten. Yes, I'll confess it - I watched. A single guy can dream, can't he?!
+ Instant Message to Atlanta Hawks radio announcer Steve Holman: You haven't changed a lick, have you? The referees are still conspiring against the Hawks. The star on the other team (right now Dwyane Wade) is still getting practically every break. That's why I want to spell your last name Home-man.
COMING THIS WEEK: A reader gets inspected, and doesn't seem at all pleased about it....
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