One of the few rules I have in life is this: Eat where Jared Paventi tells me to eat.
Jared and I have been friends since 1995. We’ve been roommates and the best men at each other’s wedding. In that time, he’s cooked innumerable meals for me and my family, all of them stellar. He introduced me to the singular wonder of Momofuku Cereal Milk and to the wonderful Matchbox in Washington, D.C. He told me to eat at Franklin BBQ in Austin a few years ago, and I didn’t, and I still live with the shame.
There are very few things I trust as implicitly in my life as I do Jared Paventi’s food recommendations.
But this past weekend, Jared Paventi ate at Olive Garden. He did so with me and my family as part of The Chain Challenge, which raised more than $1,800 for the Alzheimer's Association.
He wrote about it on his must-read blog, which just got a complete overhaul:
“So, what’s my problem with restaurants like Olive Garden? They are a reflection of who we are as a people. We should want more for our money. We should demand higher quality food. ... We settle because driving downtown to a quality family-owned restaurant is too hard or because we believe the neighborhood is unsafe. Instead, we go to the suburban outpost with plentiful parking and burned pasta.
We have been deluded into the belief that mediocre is not only good, but it’s the best we can do.”
Thank you to everyone who donated to Jared's walk. You helped out an excellent and important cause, and led to a ... how shall we say ... memorable. night.
Jared will also appear on our friend Todd Lewandowski's Radio Blast podcast today (Tuesday. Nov. 25). This is just an excuse to check out Todd's new website for the podcast and to add it to your queue to listen to.