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Grand Forks: A History Of American Dining In 128 Reviews (2013)

by Marilyn Hagerty(Favorite Author)

3.36 of 5 Votes: 1

ISBN

0062228897 (ISBN13: 9780062228895)

languge

English

genre

Food & Cookbooks

publisher

Anthony Bourdain/Ecco

review 1: As much the story of Marilyn Hagerty's daily life in Grand Forks as it is a culinary history of the city, Grand Forks: A History of American Dining in 128 Reviews is a delight to read. A selected compilation of Hagerty's newspaper columns, the reviews range from the local diner, Dairy Queen, various incarnations of theme restaurants in the same location and ethnic eateries. She'll touch nicely on service, place settings and of course the food. If something's off, there's a mild one liner commenting on the miss. Down to earth and fun to read, it's interesting to reflect on the critical storm that Hagerty's Olive Garden review raised, and Hagerty's pleasant nature in the spotlight. Lovely that Anthony Bourdain selected the reviews and wrote the introduction, putting the work... more into context of American foodways.
review 2: Marilyn Hagerty is not a remarkable food critic, and Grand Forks, North Dakota is not really a hub of restaurant culture. But what makes this book so interesting is story that is captured over time - twenty five years of reviews are included here - about dining in America. In the early years, it's all about Blue Plate Specials, pot pies, and local specialties of Norwegian and Germanic cuisine. [I freely admit to being previous unaware of lefse (a soft flat potato bread) and lutefisk (fish steeped in lye?!) before I picked up this book.] Then, slowly, the names of chain restaurants begin to encroach. Taco Bell (a cool pastel oasis, per Mrs. Hagerty), Subway (where you have to make too many choices), and Dairy Queen are among the first to appear. They are later joined by McDonalds, Red Lobster, Wendy's, Arby's, Applebee's. The heartbreaking element of this picture is written in the epigraphs following each review, how many of the small family owned businesses are no longer in business, and how many of the chains are still operating and thriving in the area. Marilyn Hagerty reviews every new restaurant in town. She goes to the chains, she revisits old favorites, she looks into the restaurants that operate out of truck stops, meals served at the VFW, local dinner theater offerings, and everything in between. Her writing style reminds me of Dot Weems' bulletins in Fried Green Tomatoes and the Whistle Stop Cafe. (Sample observation: "Pretty good. That's exactly what Constant Companion says when he is pleased with something. Men don't get exuberant." ) She is folksy and plain spoken. She tells you what she likes (white table linens, cloth napkins, servers who do not swoop in to clear your plates before everyone in the party is done eating) and what she doesn't (spelling errors on menus, overly salty soup, plastic silverware).Through it all, she has a politeness that I associate with my grandmother's generation, a desire to accentuate the positive in any experience, instead of dwelling on the minuses of any particular restaurant experience. She's also not a genuinely adventurous eater (if a Rueben or a club sandwich is on the menu, she may not need to look further for her order) but she is genuinely engaged in the enterprise of food reporting as she tries lavosh bread for the first time, or orders a chickpea curry, and even - towards the end of the book - octopus while in New York. When she doesn't seem to like the food she might describe it as "good enough" or "adequate" and then quickly move on to describing the restaurant's decor in detail. The book also winds up being an unintentional chronicle of life in Grand Forks both before and after the flood that ravaged this area of North Dakota in 1997. And a chronicle of Marilyn Hagerty's life before and after the death - during the year they spend in Bismarck while Grand Forks was recovering from the devastation - of her husband and Constant Companion. You get a sense of her pluck as she goes out for new meals with friends old and new after she gets back to town. Although this is a book that is composed entirely of restaurant reviews, it captures so much more in its pages. The only reason that I am not giving this book five stars is that I think less might have been more in terms of some of the inclusions here. Her unaffected style is great, but over the course of 128 reviews, starts to seem a bit repetitive towards the end. But, as we are likely to see the end of daily printed newspapers in my lifetime, it makes me unaccountably happy that Marilyn Hagerty and her Eatbeat column can still exist in this world. She is one of the last of her breed, and I really enjoyed her company over the course of this collection. less

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