Little old lady writes Olive Garden review, and all the innernettes shut down [View all]

[Blue_Tires]

Longtime Grand Forks columnist Marilyn Hagerty is "in a dither" over all the fuss about her Olive Garden review.

Grand Forks Herald columnist Marilyn Hagerty had no idea what kind of fuss she was about to kick up when she e-mailed her latest Eatbeat column to her editor this week. After all, she writes five columns a week. And at 85, she's been doing this for decades.

But her thumbs-up review of the new Olive Garden in Grand Forks -- with its "two long, warm breadsticks" and "yes -- several black olives" in her crisp salad -- struck a cyber chord that's reverberated across the Internet nearly as fast as her well-dressed waiters brought out her chicken Alfredo and water.

From snooty East Coast foodies to homesick nostalgic small-town transplants, her column has been shared, mocked and re-tweeted, turning this grandmother of eight into the latest online overnight sensation.

Websites such as Gawker, Fark and BoingBoing embraced her down-home sweetness and the column has attracted more than 300,000 page views, outpacing by 60-fold the Herald's second-most-read story, about the university's Fighting Sioux nickname.

She realizes much of the buzz is coming from New York elitists making fun of her simple North Dakota palate, but she insists: "I'm greatly amused."

http://www.startribune.com/lifestyle/142083663.html


Her review: http://www.grandforksherald.com/event/article/id/231419/