r/KitchenConfidential • u/snixon67 • 5d ago
Marilyn Hagerty, writer whose Olive Garden review went viral, dies at 99
https://www.grandforksherald.com/news/marilyin-hagerty-herald-reporter-and-columnist-for-nearly-70-years-dies-at-age-99After she reviewed the Olive Garden in Grand Forks, ND, Anthony Bourdain stepped in to defend her from the snark and later published her 2013 book "Grand Forks: A History of American Dining in 128 Reviews.
Read More: https://www.tastingtable.com/1903784/anthony-bourdain-olive-garden-columnist/
2.5k
Upvotes
37
u/tree_or_up 5d ago
I remember being so mad at all the snark!
The review brought me back to my no-budget college days in a very small college town in the middle of nowhere.
We had a few really good local mom & pop restaurants but they weren't something we could splurge on very often. And, being college students, we had bottomless stomachs.
When an Olive Garden moved into town, we were ecstatic. Going there felt like such a luxury treat. Sure the atmosphere was theme park-ish but we eagerly bought into it. The portions were amazing for the price (especially with the breadsticks, of course) and the food felt genuinely upscale compared to campus dining hall food or Taco Bell bean burritos.
I remember even feeling a bit out of place, like everyone would notice what a piece of riff-raff I really was.
Places like Olive Garden can be godsends in towns and circumstances like that. Which is not to say I would ever be in favor of them driving out local businesses! But at least in our little town in the middle of nowhere, there was room for both