Olive Garden

Dear Marilyn Hagerty, I want to eat at your Olive Garden . I mean the new Olive Garden in Grand Forks, N.D. that you reviewed so warmly in the Grand Forks Herald. Because the Olive Garden where I just ate is not so nice. Still, I enjoyed reading your review (and so did millions of other people). Actually, it turns out it's not a review at all but a weekly EATBEAT column. I think I read somewhere that the company that owns the Olive Garden is giving the new restaurants an updated look to make them feel warmer and more inviting, but the one I just went to is kind of tacky and very bright like an old Trailways station or the fanciest restaurant in Timonium.

Dear Marilyn Hagerty, I want to eat at your Olive Garden . I mean the new Olive Garden in Grand Forks, N.D. that you reviewed so warmly in the Grand Forks Herald. Because the Olive Garden where I just ate is not so nice. Still, I enjoyed reading your review (and so did millions of other people). Actually, it turns out it's not a review at all but a weekly EATBEAT column. I think I read somewhere that the company that owns the Olive Garden is giving the new restaurants an updated look to make them feel warmer and more inviting, but the one I just went to is kind of tacky and very bright like an old Trailways station or the fanciest restaurant in Timonium.

THE MOST DANGEROUS intersection in the Westminster area comes at a steep downhill grade for westbound traffic on Carroll County's busiest highway.Is that where you'd want to place a new family restaurant? If so, you agree with the county Planning and Zoning Commission and owners of the popular Olive Garden chain. The county planning body last month approved plans for the 6,000-square-foot Italian restaurant at the intersection of Route 140 and Gorsuch Road.The approval came despite protests of Westminster officials for further study of intersection traffic and additional road improvements.

— First Lady Michelle Obama applauded the parent company of Olive Garden and Red Lobster Thursday for pledging to cut calories and sodium at its restaurants over the next 10 years. Speaking at the Olive Garden, a restaurant known for its all-you-can eat pastas and breadsticks, Obama called the move by Darden Restaurants, the world's largest full-service restaurant company, an industry "breakthrough" and a key step in her campaign against childhood obesity. "What's good for kids and families can also be good for business," she said.

Everybody agreed yesterday that allowing a new restaurant near Gorsuch Road and Route 140 would bring more traffic to a congested intersection, but the county planning and zoning commission approved the plans anyway.The argument that the intersection would remain congested whether or not the restaurant is built proved persuasive for the commission, which voted 4 to 2 to approve plans for a 6,020-square-foot Olive Garden restaurant with 126 parking spaces on 2.3 acres next to Westminster Elks Club.

Rosales presented with top honor of Olive Garden chain Joe Rosales, general manager of the Olive Garden restaurant in Columbia and a resident of Salisbury, has been presented with the company's top honor, the Diamond Club Award. The award recognizes managers whose restaurants rank in the top 5 percent of the company's 477 restaurants for financial performance, and the top 5 percent in guest satisfaction scores. Clive presents results of compensation survey Craig N. Clive, principal with Baylights Compensation Consulting LLC of Ellicott City, presented the results of a comprehensive salary survey at the annual conference of ACCSES Virginia, a nonprofit association of vocational rehabilitation facilities that provide employment opportunities for people with severe disabilities.

— First Lady Michelle Obama applauded the parent company of Olive Garden and Red Lobster Thursday for pledging to cut calories and sodium at its restaurants over the next 10 years. Speaking at the Olive Garden, a restaurant known for its all-you-can eat pastas and breadsticks, Obama called the move by Darden Restaurants, the world's largest full-service restaurant company, an industry "breakthrough" and a key step in her campaign against childhood obesity. "What's good for kids and families can also be good for business," she said.

Olive Garden sends manager to Italy Elsayed Ragab, a Bel Air resident and the general manager of the Olive Garden on Perry Hall Boulevard in Baltimore, was recently selected to train at the company's Culinary Institute of Tuscany in Italy. The weeklong training program, now in its sixth year, is designed to expose 100 Olive Garden managers to Italian dining experience. The managers learn traditions of Italian cooking, such as layering sauces and cooking al dente pasta. Patty's certified as a female business Patty's Gifts and Baskets LLC, a corporate gift consulting firm, has been recertified as a Women's Business Enterprise by the Women Presidents' Educational Organization-Washington, D.C. The certification process is designed to confirm the business is at least 51 percent owned, operated and controlled by a woman or women.

The intersection of Route 140 with Gorsuch Road had more than twice as many accidents in 1995 as any other in the Westminster area. And it's likely to get worse, say frustrated city officials.Despite vigorous opposition, an Olive Garden restaurant is to be built at the corner on a site owned by Westminster Elks Club -- property at the heart of the Route 140 business corridor but outside the city limit."Now, [state highway officials] have designated it the No. 1 dangerous intersection here," said City Councilman Stephen R. Chapin Sr.The Olive Garden proposal was approved in a 4-2 vote by the Carroll County Planning and Zoning Commission on Jan. 21.Before the decision, Thomas B. Beyard, Westminster's director of planning and public works, had twice written to the planning board asking for a delay to study traffic.

I was on vacation last week, so I was delighted when John Lindner, a frequent contributor to Dining@Large (baltimoresun.com/diningatlarge), volunteered his list of Top 10 Signs You're a Foodie. Needless to say, it sparked some outraged comments: 1 You remember where you were and what you were doing when you heard that Martick's closed. 2 You know that basmati is not the capital of India. 3 Your meal is ruined when you're served from your left (or right -- the point is, darn it, it matters)

The folks over at Sun Magazine had a cool feature in their latest issue where 100 Charm City celebrities shared what they love about Baltimore , and a handful of sports figures were among those who chimed in. Cal Ripken Jr. predictably said his favorite thing in Baltimore was Camden Yards. Billy Cundiff likes to grab a bite to eat at Kooper's Tavern in Fells. Domonique Foxworth thinks Harbor East is Baltimore's Inner Harbor for non-tourists. And Jim Palmer's favorite dish is the Veal Saltimbocca at Da Mimmo's.

I was on vacation last week, so I was delighted when John Lindner, a frequent contributor to Dining@Large (baltimoresun.com/diningatlarge), volunteered his list of Top 10 Signs You're a Foodie. Needless to say, it sparked some outraged comments: 1 You remember where you were and what you were doing when you heard that Martick's closed. 2 You know that basmati is not the capital of India. 3 Your meal is ruined when you're served from your left (or right -- the point is, darn it, it matters)

Olive Garden sends manager to Italy Elsayed Ragab, a Bel Air resident and the general manager of the Olive Garden on Perry Hall Boulevard in Baltimore, was recently selected to train at the company's Culinary Institute of Tuscany in Italy. The weeklong training program, now in its sixth year, is designed to expose 100 Olive Garden managers to Italian dining experience. The managers learn traditions of Italian cooking, such as layering sauces and cooking al dente pasta. Patty's certified as a female business Patty's Gifts and Baskets LLC, a corporate gift consulting firm, has been recertified as a Women's Business Enterprise by the Women Presidents' Educational Organization-Washington, D.C. The certification process is designed to confirm the business is at least 51 percent owned, operated and controlled by a woman or women.

Rosales presented with top honor of Olive Garden chain Joe Rosales, general manager of the Olive Garden restaurant in Columbia and a resident of Salisbury, has been presented with the company's top honor, the Diamond Club Award. The award recognizes managers whose restaurants rank in the top 5 percent of the company's 477 restaurants for financial performance, and the top 5 percent in guest satisfaction scores. Clive presents results of compensation survey Craig N. Clive, principal with Baylights Compensation Consulting LLC of Ellicott City, presented the results of a comprehensive salary survey at the annual conference of ACCSES Virginia, a nonprofit association of vocational rehabilitation facilities that provide employment opportunities for people with severe disabilities.

WEARING A gray blazer and black T-shirt, Eric Cicora approached two young women in the lobby of the Olive Garden restaurant in east Columbia. "I'm the Olive Garden's house magician," he said. "Would you like to see some magic?" For the next few minutes, magician Cicora used a deck of cards to entertain sisters Rebecca and Danielle Spare as they waited for their table in the restaurant. "I like to use objects that people are used to like cards or coins and freak them out or amaze them," Cicora said.

It's hard to take a restaurant seriously that sounds as if it's been named after a pasta, but Rigatoni's deserves a little respect. It offers good value for the money and live music Tuesday and Saturday nights. What more could you ask? After all, it's not as if owners George and Spyros Mamalis, who are natives of Greece, could name it after themselves and expect people to realize that Rigatoni's is an Italian restaurant -- a sort of local, upscale Olive Garden. Rigatoni's is an apartment-house dining room, as Hampton's of Towson, its predecessor, was; but it's doing more to draw in customers from outside (note the bold signage)

It didn't take long for the implications of a 1990 consumer survey showing that Columbia residents and workers heading out of town in droves for dining out, to sink in with Edward A. Ely."We definitely had a restaurant vacuum on our hands," said the senior land sales and marketing director with the Rouse Co., Columbia's developer.For a solution, Mr. Ely and other land development experts at the national company turned to a successful concept used at their shopping malls across the nation -- the food court.

The folks over at Sun Magazine had a cool feature in their latest issue where 100 Charm City celebrities shared what they love about Baltimore , and a handful of sports figures were among those who chimed in. Cal Ripken Jr. predictably said his favorite thing in Baltimore was Camden Yards. Billy Cundiff likes to grab a bite to eat at Kooper's Tavern in Fells. Domonique Foxworth thinks Harbor East is Baltimore's Inner Harbor for non-tourists. And Jim Palmer's favorite dish is the Veal Saltimbocca at Da Mimmo's.

THE MOST DANGEROUS intersection in the Westminster area comes at a steep downhill grade for westbound traffic on Carroll County's busiest highway.Is that where you'd want to place a new family restaurant? If so, you agree with the county Planning and Zoning Commission and owners of the popular Olive Garden chain. The county planning body last month approved plans for the 6,000-square-foot Italian restaurant at the intersection of Route 140 and Gorsuch Road.The approval came despite protests of Westminster officials for further study of intersection traffic and additional road improvements.

The intersection of Route 140 with Gorsuch Road had more than twice as many accidents in 1995 as any other in the Westminster area. And it's likely to get worse, say frustrated city officials.Despite vigorous opposition, an Olive Garden restaurant is to be built at the corner on a site owned by Westminster Elks Club -- property at the heart of the Route 140 business corridor but outside the city limit."Now, [state highway officials] have designated it the No. 1 dangerous intersection here," said City Councilman Stephen R. Chapin Sr.The Olive Garden proposal was approved in a 4-2 vote by the Carroll County Planning and Zoning Commission on Jan. 21.Before the decision, Thomas B. Beyard, Westminster's director of planning and public works, had twice written to the planning board asking for a delay to study traffic.