Much as I have to admire the persistence of the Mexican personality who is finally acquiring Food Network fame, I have to say the buy-by-buy in the WSJournal that tracked her rise was one of the most depressing tales I have ever read. Call it Triumph of the Will: the Kitchen Stories. It proved you can pay enough and hustle enough and still get the gig, unlike the old days of demonstrating either knowledge or charisma, or at least building a following with a restaurant or books. Mostly it made me see, yet again, what a huge gulf exists between the target audience and the celeb ammo when white guys go hunting. It’s not about the Julias anymore. Even more depressing is realizing that Thai food, at least in New York, is where Mexican was in 1986, before Cafe Marimba: uniformly gloppy. In 25 years the agents will be searching for a fresh face (no accent, please) for Asian food. Too bad Dexter’s not Thai. He could have his own show.