Alton Brown – The Edible Inevitable Tour

Hi friends!

Back in June, I read a post from Alton Brown, saying he was going to be doing a live show! Yep, he was hitting the road and taking himself and his food science on tour. Alton Brown!?! A live tour? That seemed crazy, but who am I to question the genius that is Mr. Brown? So, I did what every loyal Good Eats fan would do. I bought tickets to the show. Last week, my husband and my best foodie friend Marie, hopped into the car and took ourselves to see Alton Brown Live, The Edible Inevitable Tour!

A bonus for me, the show was in Santa Barbara, California. One of my favorite cities! We spent the first night of our honeymoon in Santa Barbara (27 years ago!!) and have many happy memories over the years of this wonderful little town.

A bonus for my husband, aside from seeing Alton Brown and getting to spend the day with two lovely women, was eating lunch at his favorite Santa Barbara spot, Norton’s Pastrami and Deli! If you love pastrami and live anywhere near Santa Barbara (or even if you don’t, make a weekend out of it) go eat at Norton’s. You won’t be sorry!

After a delicious day of food and friends, it was time to head to the Granada Theatre to see Alton Brown! We had stopped at the Box Office earlier in the day and discovered our seats were in the “poncho zone.” With visions of the old comedian Gallagher in our heads, we were more than excited to see the show! What on earth could Alton be doing that involved the first few rows of the theatre needing to wear ponchos? I was very curious!

Before the show we also took time to stop and buy THIS…

I’m sure you’re thinking “What the heck?” Well, let me explain. I was hopeful I might get to meet Mr. Brown after the show and I wanted something for him to autograph. Anyone can hand him a piece of paper or one of his cookbooks, but why be ordinary? This was Alton Brown! A culinary encyclopedia on two legs! A comedic genius and one of my foodie heroes! I wanted something different and unusual, and in the vein of honesty, my friend suggested it would be funny, so I went with it!

The show was AWESOME! Alton does a segment entitled “10 Things I think I know about food.” I won’t spoil it for you in case anyone is going to the show later this year, but let me tell you, you will be laughing to the point of tears. He is so funny!

And for those of you in the “poncho zone,” it’s really just the first two or three rows, you’ll be fine! Alton was simply showing you a tiny glimpse at how his mind works. It’s frighteningly good stuff.

Mr. Brown is also quite the musician! He played guitar and saxophone during the show and sang several songs. Very impressive! Here is a quick picture of him on stage with his guitar…

What? No, I didn’t take photos during the performance! They specifically told us not to take photos… this is… um…. a publicity shot. Yeah. That’s it. (Don’t tell on me, Ok? It’s our secret!) Alton had post-it notes all over the body of his guitar. They are notes of his drawings and some have little quotes on them. If you follow him on Twitter or Facebook, you’ll understand. If you don’t follow him, Alton has a habit of responding to fans questions by writing answers on yellow post-it notes and then taking a picture of them and putting them on the internet. He also does this when he gets an idea about something or when he is teasing his fellow Chefs on Food Network. Some of them are very funny!

Sadly, I didn’t get to meet Alton after the show. HOWEVER, two years ago, when I visited Guy Fieri’s restaurant Johnny Garlic’s, I wrote on the tablecloth (It’s OK! They let you do that there. I am not a crazy person.) that meeting Guy was on my “bucket list” and I’d be “seeing him soon!” Guess what? Two months later, I met Guy in Santa Monica at the LA Wine and Food Festival. I met him again a year later and he signed his cookbook for me! So now, I have a new item on my culinary bucket list. I want to meet Alton Brown and have him sign my chicken timer! If this means I must carry a chicken timer with me where ever I go, so be it!

I will have the timer at The World Food Championships next week, so if you’re in Las Vegas come see me! Or if you happen to know Alton Brown, just tell him I have a timer that needs his name on it. :-)

Oh, and go see his show. It’s well worth the price of admission!