It's Good To Be Da King

Let's say you didn't grow up dining on Escoffier-inspired culinary delights. You missed out on Michelin three-star pilgrimages while your Kenyan father was abandoning you with just enough memories to write a book and your gad-about mother was measuring up an Indonesian bureaucrat for his political bona fides. You've been so busy, what with editing the Harvard Law Review and simultaneously avoiding any actual legal writing then hustling around organizing the community of Hyde Park in south Chicago, that you never really gave much thought to what is the most luxurious eating you can do.

They've got a historic specialty in the mountains of Colorado that dates back to the mining boom years. It's called "Hangtown Fry". The legend goes that a miner hit a rich vein on his claim and when he brought some samples in to the assay office and it was confirmed that he had struck it rich, he went down to the cafe and wanted to have the most expensive breakfast they could provide him. The proprietor told him that the two most expensive things he had available were fresh eggs and oysters. So, he ordered up a mess of eggs and oysters which became known as Hangtown Fry. It isn't that good a combination. Go with the Denver omelet.

Today, we've given oysters a suspicious background and probably bumped the cost for the next decade up to Leadville Colorado, 1859 levels. And with a few hundred cases of salmonella over a population of roughly 200 million citizens in most of the western and central states, we've pretty well trashed eggs. I guess Hangtown Fry is not on the King's menu.

That leaves lobster; lots and lots of lobster. Lobsters in Maine, lobsters in Spain, lobsters on a train, lobsters maybe plain. But hold the green eggs and ham.

Lots of Lobster Here, There and Everywhere

Yes, I know you've lost your job and hamburger helper is on the menu again, but if you want the King and the Queen to keep their vacation energy up, let them eat lobster. It's good to be da king!