As It Happens'The chicken alfredo was warm and comforting': Food critic who wrote viral Olive Garden review dies at 99
When Gail Hagerty first read her mother's earnest restaurant review of Olive Garden 13 years ago, she thought nothing of it.
She certainly didn't expect it to go viral. Or that it would turn her elderly mother, Marilyn Hagerty, a North Dakota newspaper columnist, into an overnight internet sensation.
"The chicken alfredo was warm and comforting on a cold day," Marilyn famously penned in the 2012 review, describing the chain's interior decor as "impressive … fashioned in a Tuscan farmhouse style with a welcoming entry way."
It drew national media attention, even capturing the eye of the late famed chef and TV host Anthony Bourdain, who publicly defended Hagerty from online trolls mocking her love of the chain's food.
Marilyn Hagerty died on Tuesday. She was 99.
Her daughter confirmed that Marilyn died at a hospital in Grand Forks from complications related to a stroke.
Hagerty is pictured in archival photos, at right and left, and at the Grand Forks, N.D., lift station named in her honour in the middle. (Submitted by James Hagerty)Born in Pierre, South Dakota on May 30, 1926, Marilyn broke into journalism as a teenager, writing city briefs for the Pierre Capital Journal.
She used her journalism degree from the University of South Dakota to write for the Grand Forks Herald for more than 70 years, making the effort to get to know the people and the community, her daughter says.
In the wake of her mother's death, Gail says she remembers how much her mother was loved by people near and far. Here is part of that conversation with As It Happens host Nil Kökal.
Gail, you know well that people read your mother's column for years in Grand Forks. A lot of people thought of her not just as a journalist, as a writer, but as their friend. So how have they all been reacting to the news that she's passed away?
It's been really warmed my heart in the past day to know how many people loved Mom. Mom was 99 and she had such a good and such a rewarding life. And so losing her is just gut wrenching and it's very hard, but I feel really very fortunate that we had her for as long as we did.That she got to grow old in a city where she was beloved and where people knew her and recognized her and spoke to her. And it's a very difficult time, but I'm remembering a lot of really wonderful times as the hours pass.
People are laying flowers at a spot that was named for your mom because she became so loved?
There are a few flowers in front of the Marilyn Hagerty Lift station #8 on Belmont Rd. in Grand Forks. The Lift station was named after her.
How did she get that honour?
She lobbied for it…. She would write about how she'd like to have something in Grand Forks named after her. Even a lift station would be a good thing. And the city complied and did name the lift station after her. It was our shared joke.
She was well known, as we've said, there at home in Grand Forks, but then the entire country — maybe the world — got to know her after that column about the Olive Garden in Grand Forks opening up. What did she think when she found out that people way outside of Grand Forks were looking at that piece?
Well, at first she didn't really have time for it because she did have bridge club schedules and she was getting calls from around the country. She didn't know what it meant to go viral and so she asked my brother what that was all about. So she took it all in stride. It didn't change the way she looked at the world or the way she did her work. She had some wonderful opportunities that kind of flowed from that and she really enjoyed that. She said that if you were in your mid to late 80s and if you were going to have 15 minutes of fame, you needed to do it soon.
Hagerty reviewed a range of restaurants from humble fast-food joints to those that offered finer dining. (Submitted by James Hagerty)She knew how to seize the moment. What did you think when you read that column?
I thought nothing at all because it was so very typical of the writing that she did. She reviewed all kinds of restaurants from some of the nicest, finest places in the city to Taco John's and she did a review of all of the McDonald's restaurants.
I read an interview with your brother where he said if your mother was talking about or writing about the decor of the restaurant a lot, that meant that the food was probably not great. So, more talk about decor means food wasn't great, that's the way she conveyed that. Does that sound right to you?
Well also, if she said there's a lot of convenient parking, that was a dead giveaway.
For her book Grand Forks: A History of American Dining in 128 Reviews, famed chef and TV host Anthony Bourdain wrote the foreword. (Mark Lennihan/AP)Initially as you know, people were mocking or even condescending. But she got a lot of support, big name support. Anthony Bourdain was among those supporting your mom. What did he like about your mom's work?
I believe what he liked was just that it was authentic, it was genuine. There wasn't any posturing or trying to be something other than what mom was. She wasn't trying to make out to be a great food critic or to be kind of a food snob. Instead, she enjoyed eating and she enjoyed going out to eat and she wanted people to know what she experienced, what they might expect if they went.
And then he ended up publishing her book, writing the foreword to it. Did they become friendly?
They were friendly. She called him Tony, she said she could teach him how to pay bridge if he would pay attention. She thought he was a wonderful young man but she was kind of concerned about his language.
How did he respond, I wonder? I don't think he changed his language. Did he learn how to play bridge?
He didn't learn how to play bridge and he was as authentic as she was. She was very loyal to her community, to her family, to the Grand Forks Herald.