Really? Really?

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Eating Las Vegas refuses to get with the Marilyn-sanity that’s going on over this “earnest review” of an Olive Garden in Grand Forks, ND, because 1) the prose is written with all the skill and grace of a twelve year old (and for that statement we apologize to twelve year olds everywhere), and 2) there is more than a little patronizing going on with all of the fawning over an older woman who clearly can’t write and doesn’t know what she’s talking about.

For this we have been called mean by more than a few Facebook friends.

What’s mean is the media’s pretending to embrace the old gal (and celebrate her good, old-fashioned, homey values….yeah right), when the whole phenomenon started with the snarky interwebs thinking it must be a hoax because of how absurd both the content and style of the “review” was.

ELV for one, doesn’t patronize old people. He thinks they should all be herded onto a big farm in northern Nebraska, where they can frolic in the cornfields in-between their Metamucil injections. When they’re not busy breaking their hips and organizing the 73 pills they take every day, they should then amuse themselves reading newspapers and critics writing in a Surrey with the Fringe On Top-style about “impressive places,” “welcoming entryways,” and “generous portions” while they stuff breadsticks in their fannypacks and gripe about their children.

Now excuse us while we rush to the Palace Station to bump ahead of a few old goats so we can be first in line for the 9:15 am, early-bird lunch special.

10 thoughts on “Really? Really?

  1. John, are you jealous of an 85 year-old woman’s 15 minutes? She’s dealing with the life that is around her North Dakota – the least populated state of the union. Just like you are dealing with the life you live here Las Vegas – a culinary destination. You two are in the same boat. You should be defending her, not jumping on the food snob attack bandwagon.
    Your mean spirit is showing.

  2. Everything is relative, so I concede that you (a, write better than Marilyn, and (b, are more knowledgeable than she.

  3. I thought, when I was 12, that life in these U.S. would get better as time went by, because everyone in my generation was so much more enlightened. How wrong I was. The ignorant and the backward will always be with us, I’m afraid. I am not commenting on this particular woman as I have not read what she wrote, I’m just letting you know that your old age will be the same. Those who drive you crazy at age 45 will still be at it at 85.

  4. As I’ve said before, and I said on Facebook, ELV isn’t mean, he’s honest. He says many of the things that others are to scared to publicly admit–be it the texture of the rabbit terrine at a Michelin-Star restaurant or the thoughts of an old lady about the bottled Italian salad dressing.

  5. The very best part of all of this is that nice old lady doesn’t give a shit about what pompous foodies like Mr. Curtas think of her:

    “I don’t have time to sit here and twit over whether some self-styled food expert likes, or does not like, my column.” (Village Voice, 3/8/12)

  6. Why would John take on an 85-year old women’s opinion? Because he is a 60+ year-old hack lawyer who had more money than brains. He only took his job as a food critic, because he could defend Jesus’ innocents to a room full of hard-core Christians. Old man eat your feedbag and be quiet!

  7. congrats JC
    Juris Doctor
    Colonel Sanders style impersonator
    DUI checkpoint evader
    Old Lady Bully

    what else is there?

  8. Agreed JC! So we have to love her and her article becase she is a older Midwestern woman?

  9. http://eater.com/archives/2012/03/21/octogenarian-food-critic-reviews-le-bernardin.php

    I think you should read this John… then consider changing your position. She is too cute for words, we need more people like her in the dining community to shake the tree, so glad she came along and had the chance to try some new experiences in NYC. An open mind can appreciate both the finer things in life and the average experience equally for their own merits, I think we can all learn a thing or two from Marilyn Hagerty.

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