Olive Garden in North Dakota; or, the best restaurant review ever.

[foodguy]

this is cool

 

[mordecai]

http://www.laweekly.com/2011-04-07/eat-drink/jonathan-gold-reviews-the-olive-garden/

OLIVE GARDEN | 2610 N. Sepulveda Blvd., Manhattan Beach. (310) 545-0423 | 430 E. Huntington Drive, Arcadia. (626) 821-0636 | 19724 Nordhoff Place, Chatsworth. (818) 772-6090; and many, many other locations | Open Sun.-Thurs., 11 a.m.-10 p.m., Fri.-Sat., 11 a.m.-11 p.m. | All major credit cards accepted | Full bar | Endless acres of lot parking, although the spaces will all be filled by late-model minivans | Appetizers $7.35-$11.25, pastas $12.25-$17.75, proteins $15.25- $20.95, desserts $2.75-$6.95

 

[Rambo]



this is cool

I like this broad. They don't make em like they used to:

"I'm working on my Sunday column and I'm going to play bridge this afternoon," she explained, "so I don't have time to read all this crap."

 

[whiteslashasian]

This was kind of funny, though possibly more at home in CE...

http://motherjones.com/mojo/2012/03/mitt-romney-olive-garden-grand-forks

What the Internet didn't know is that Marilyn Hagerty isn't the only senior citizen to write a review of the new Olive Garden in Grand Forks, North Dakota. Mother Jones has obtained an exclusive copy of an unpublished manuscript written by Willard Mitt Romney of Belmont, Massachusetts; Wolfeboro, New Hampshire; and La Jolla, California. A notoriously picky eater, Mr. Romney's culinary adventures have gripped the nation during his presidential campaign, as pundits have puzzled over his refusal to eat the skin on fried chicken, and his love–hate relationship with catfish.

 

[LA Guy]



as far as i know, she has always been there. marilyn's a kind of throwback (in the nicest possible way), to the days when every medium-sized paper had a live food editor, rather than a copy editor who ripped la times and ny times syndicated pieces off the wire and fit them in. one thing about those little papers -- they have to have a really good sense of who their readers are and what they want. that kind of middlebrow snark that passes for much criticism today just won't fly in a place where most people value being nice and believe that if you can't say something nice about a place, you should talk about how much parking there is.

Shots fired. Middle is the worst brow.

I like this lady, tbh. Reminds me of my late grandmother (RIP) who lived through Japanese prison camps (get caught being a smuggler, from what I understand), TB (lost a lung), cancer (lost another half a lung), and spent a third of her life living in a country where she couldn't speak the language - it's tough for someone with a 3rd grade education to learn a whole new language at 50 something. Never had a bad word to say about anyone, but wasn't intimidated by anyone or anything.

 

[globetrotter]



i used to know marilyn haggerty (not in a conne way). nice lady. been writing about food longer than most of your parents have been alive. that said: have you ever eaten in grand forks?

I have eaten in Grand Forks. my family, in winnepeg goes to grand forks for fun.

 

[Piobaire]

i used to know marilyn haggerty (not in a conne way). nice lady. been writing about food longer than most of your parents have been alive. that said: have you ever eaten in grand forks?

I have eaten in Grand Forks. my family, in winnepeg goes to grand forks for fun.

Why leave Winnipeg for fun when you can just drive around downtown and through things out your car window at the drunks?

 

[globetrotter]

that's what I like to do, myself.

 

[edinatlanta]

Five columns a week is really damn tough, too.

 

[foodguy]



Five columns a week is really damn tough, too.

this.
i've worked at those little papers. in the early 1980s i was the pop music critic, restaurant critic, food editor and general assignment feature writer at the Albuquerque Tribune. Before that, I was a prep sports writer for the Lubbock Avalanche-Journal (5 1,200-word stories a week, plus game coverage ... and wrote a weekly music column for fun). the thing about that kind of work is that you'll never have trouble with writer's block again.

 

[edinatlanta]



this.
i've worked at those little papers. in the early 1980s i was the pop music critic, restaurant critic, food editor and general assignment feature writer at the Albuquerque Tribune. Before that, I was a prep sports writer for the Lubbock Avalanche-Journal (5 1,200-word stories a week, plus game coverage ... and wrote a weekly music column for fun). the thing about that kind of work is that you'll never have trouble with writer's block again.

seriously, I'm out of story ideas for the year. Actually I ran out a while back. I'm supposed to contribute to a blog too and legitimately, I have no idea what to say. A blank slate and I come up with... nothing.

 

[foodguy]



seriously, I'm out of story ideas for the year. Actually I ran out a while back. I'm supposed to contribute to a blog too and legitimately, I have no idea what to say. A blank slate and I come up with... nothing.

this is where the "what did i cook for dinner last week" question comes through for me. a couple good recipes and 800 words of explication. ChaChing (not hte chinese chef). YMMV>

 

[edinatlanta]



this is where the "what did i cook for dinner last week" question comes through for me. a couple good recipes and 800 words of explication. ChaChing (not hte chinese chef). YMMV>

And this is why they pay you the big bucks.

 

[Dakota rube]



Somebody get Rube in here.

I went to college with two of Marilyn's kids.
One is now a judge; the other a wheel with WSJ

And here I sit waiting for delivery of my new CA medical weed.

 

[Piobaire]

Somebody get Rube in here.

I went to college with two of Marilyn's kids.
One is now a judge; the other a wheel with WSJ

And here I sit waiting for delivery of my new CA medical weed.

So if you went to school with her kids she must be a minimum of 95?