A collection of local restaurant reviews by columnist Marilyn Hagerty, Grand Forks celebrates the same kind of comforting, local food and eateries I grew up with. Read on!
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Marilyn Hagerty writes for the Grand Forks Herald in Grand Forks, ND. She writes five columns each week, including the "Eat Beat" column, where she reviews local restaurants in Grand Forks. She has been writing this restaurant column for over 25 years.
Grand Forks is a collection of her reviews. Bourdain's foreword mentions that in 2012, Marilyn Hagerty's review of a new Olive Garden restaurant in Grand Forks went viral. The chef came to her defense when internet trolls tried to tear her down.
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Bourdain swooped in after Hagerty was mocked online
For my birthday this year, my kids gave me this book: Grand Forks: A History of American Dining in 128 Reviews by Marilyn Hagerty. They discovered it in a small bookstore in downtown Burlington, Vermont, and recognized Anthony Bourdain's name on the cover, as they had just heard me talking about his book, Kitchen Confidential. Bourdain wrote the foreword for Hagerty's book, and published it under his imprint, Ecco Press.
After publishing an earnest, positive review of a local Olive Garden in her column, Hagerty was mocked in snarky tweets and Facebook posts. Internet trolls made fun of her quiet praise of the new franchise in her town, and from there moved on to tear into some of her other local reviews.
Happily, the story does not end here, as a wave of positivity soon overtook the negativity. Thousands of people, as well as the media, took notice and came to her defense. She landed interviews on The Today Show and NPR. Then Chef Anthony Bourdain joined in to laud Hagerty's years of local restaurant reviews.
Bourdain arranged for her to dine at La Bernardin in New York City, the acclaimed restaurant of his friend Chef Eric Ripert, and made plans to work with her on a book—this book! Bourdain says in the forward, "This is a straightforward account of what people have been eating, still ARE eating, in much of America."
Hagerty reviewed all kinds of local eateries, including chain restaurants
When I read this book, I realized that the restaurants Hagerty reviews are just like the New England and Eastern New York places I'd go to eat out with my grandparents. They're the restaurants our parents brought us to for birthdays and special occasions. They're the small, local eateries that go on cooking and feeding the community for years and years without ever really changing the food or the decor—and locals love them for it.
These local diners and dining rooms serve soups and half-sandwiches. They have loaded salad bars and host Sunday brunch specials, with steam tables holding French toast, eggs, home fries, and bacon. They have cakes and pies displayed in glass cases and under clear domes on the counter. Many have ice cream windows that open to eager customers as soon as the weather gets nice.
Hagerty's reviews in Grand Forks include truck stops, diners, and family restaurants. They also cover chain restaurants in the Grand Forks, North Dakota area, such as Shakey's, Player's, Dairy Queen, and even McDonald's.
Honest, earnest, but never cruel
Hagerty's reviews are forthright but never mean or snarky. She shares the prices of dishes she tries, and comments on other items on the menu. She likes to share about the folks with whom she dines, like her anonymous "constant companion", as well as friends and her children.
Occasionally a review will mention something about a dish or the establishment that she feels could use a change. There are also dry-humored jabs at misspellings on menus.
In the end, she's there to tell her readers about the eateries, but she's not out to skewer anyone. "What point, I wonder, is there in tearing down hard-working restaurant people?", Hagerty notes. "If a place is just too bad, I move on." In a Wall Street Journal article titled "When Mom Goes Viral", her son James R. Hagerty says this of his mother's reviews: "If she writes more about the decor than the food, you might want to eat somewhere else."
I have eaten in many, many more places like the ones reviewed in Hagerty's book. And the truth is, the food in these local eateries is good! The meals, desserts, and hot cups of coffee are filling, comforting, and affordable, especially for families eating out with their kids.
Filling, tasty, and comforting: that's like the food I cook at home and the recipes I share on this website! I love good food, and, like Hagerty, I love to share good food with good people.
Stephanie Faris says
I love that books capture this piece of American history. There are so many places I remember from my own childhood that are now long gone.
Nancy Mock says
I agree Stephanie, so many of those restaurants have gone out of business. The reviews in this book are decades old, and the author notes on many of them that they have "long since left" Grand Forks.
Armchair Squid says
Ha! Thanks for the chicken pie supper shout out.
This book sounds like a lot of fun. I agree with you: comfort food restaurants are way under-appreciated.
The Armchair Squid says
Looking forward to the chili cook off!
Nancy Mock says
Me too me too!
Meradeth Houston says
Sounds like a really interesting book, with a cool backstory! Thanks for sharing it!
Nancy Mock says
It has been a fun read, and funny to think of this 87-year old woman at the center of a media frenzy!
Tony Laplume says
Sounds like a fun read, the diners version of the kind of travelogue I like reading (the books of William Least Heat-Moon).
Nancy Mock says
Oh interesting, I haven't read his work. Is there one in particular you would recommend?
Tony Laplume says
His most famous one is "Blue Highways," in which he travels the whole country. I would personally recommend "PrairyErth," which sees him explore an entire county.