This year is the year when most ninety somethings sat indoors and either put puzzles together or learned how to Zoom with family. Not so much with ninety-four year old Marilyn Hagerty. She still reviewed restaurants in her native North Dakota. She's an inspiration for foodies of all ages.
Restaurant reviewer and regular contributor Pete Wells wrote about this remarkable woman in yesterday's New York Times food section. Ms. Hagerty first got into the business by writing about the first Olive Garden to open in her town of Grand Forks. She had been already been retired for two decades when she started to write again. She is still covering local restaurants which intrigued Mr. Wells whose job has been severely curtailed thanks to the pandemic. North Dakota, especially Grand Forks has very few people, despite the fact that the city does have something of a cosmopolitan air about it. It's directly south of Winnipeg Canada and north west of Minneapolis. There are art museums that feature dali and Picasso along with a big outdoor activity scene. Yet it's not New York with the city's myriad choices of eateries. You would think her career would die. it didn't.
Yet , unlike Mr. Wells, Ms. Hagerty renews chain restaurants , her favorite seems to be The Olive Garden. She's reviewed it several times, even when she had to take out shrimp scampi, another favorite. from her local one. There is also the local Ramada Inn where she reviews the bar's food. There are also critiques of local Thai, Vietnamese and Somali restaurants. There's another factor . The nonagenarian uses factual data instead of her own tastes which is a refreshing departure from decades of either sharp criticism or rapturous praise. It got the attention of Anderson Cooper who had her on his show twice. it also has given her a legion of fans too. She also writes about little random items and events for the paper that her late husband, Jack was the editor. (their son is an obituary writer at the Wall Street Journal).Whatever catches her eye gets a mention. Even in her self imposed isolation there has been a dearth of things to write about such as the search for smaller Thanksgiving turkeys along with the adaptations for pandemic safety made at the University of North Dakota along the rush for chippers, chocolate coated potato chips.
Marilyn Hagerty is a unique restaurant reviewer for many reasons. She has outlasted this pandemic and will probably be visiting restaurants afterwards. She is truly an inspiration to all food critics across the globe.
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