Article by: Joshua Rabinowitz; J-1 correspondent

 

Geometry teacher Rob White was featured on a TV show about diners.
White and his wife, Chris White, were interviewed on the Food Network show, “Diners, Drive-ins, and Dives.” The episode featured the restaurant Tortuga’s Lie, down in Nagshead, NC.
The show is hosted by Guy Fieri and it features small, independently owned restaurants with good food.
Tortuga’s Lie is a seafood restaurant. It is a local favorite that was founded in 1989 and claims to have some of the best food on the beach.
Chris White, being the friend of one of the owners’ wives, was invited to the July 2012 taping along with her husband. However, not all of the family was at the taping.
“I was bummed because our kids, Ali and Wyndham, couldn’t make it because they were at summer camp.” Rob White said. “Other than that, I was pumped, because Coach Seidenberg has instilled in me a love of free food,”
Rob White’s appearance was early on in the show while his wife appeared closer to the end.
“I usually eat very, very fast due to 24 years of training on 23-minute lunches here at Godwin.
But for the show, you were only allowed to eat half of your meal for the 90 minutes or so it took to film.” White said. “That way, when they do the last big panning shot of the crowd, everyone can be eating. Unfortunately, the food’s pretty cold by then.”
While one may think that the show doesn’t change one aspect of the restaurant, White knows about some of the changes they made for aesthetic purposes.
“They didn’t like the path the waitresses took from the kitchen to the table.” White said. “Instead, the producers made them bring our food from out of the bathroom door because the bathroom hallway was nicer.”
For those students wanting to try out Tortuga’s Lie, Coach White does have some advice for them.
“The restaurant is extremely popular and two hour waits aren’t unusual.” White said. “My advice would be to hit it at the very start of lunch or around 3 to 5 in the afternoon for a late lunch or early dinner.”
White and his wife watched the show a couple of times and knew what to expect.
“We watch the show a lot and knew that they like ‘quick-hitting’ lines rather than a couple of full sentences.” White said.
“I heard some lines from other folks that I thought were perfect, but didn’t make it.”
Overall, the geometry teacher must have had some interesting experienc.
“It was very cool to watch the way they shoot the show.” White said “Even if we hadn’t ended up being on camera.”