" . . . which makes it a dead duck." So observes Pete Smith, with his trademark Snarkiness, at one juncture in this cooking fantasy. If MENU's main character, John Xavier Omsk, added his name up for Scrabble value, it would total a sizable 40 points. (My full name has the same number of letters, but yields only half as many points.) Perhaps more interesting to word game players (at least those of grandpa's or great-grandpa's generation) is that one of the notable clues for vintage crossword puzzles plays John's wife, Mrs. Omsk. Yep, Una Merkel (as in 37 Down: Actress _ _ _ Merkel) makes an appearance here as a particularly ditsy blonde. Referred to by narrator Smith as "this dizzy dame," Una tries to crack open an egg with a metal nutcracker! Once chef Luis Alberni pops into the scene like some sort of kitchen genii, things settle down into two actual recipes being given and prepared: one for dressing (as in, how to stuff a duck), and the other for making baked apples (no, you cannot just set an apple on the sidewalk in the summer--I suppose you actually COULD, but it probably would not taste as good as these ones seen on the screen).
Review of Menu
