In honor of the Totally Sweet '90s Book Launch Party at Magers & Quinn, we compiled a whole slew of our favorite (and sadly, discontinued) foods available during the 1990s... and their respective commercial gems.

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​Everybody online today is enjoying the publication of The Greatest Restaurant Review Ever Written, a piece entitled "Long-awaited Olive Garden receives warm welcome" by Marilyn Hagerty of the Grand Forks Herald.

There are so many evocative parts of the review: The "two long, warm breadsticks," the raspberry lemonade that is proffered but rejected in favor of water. The understated yet wistful tone is reminiscent of a William Carlos Williams poem.

So far, the Olive Garden review has been tweeted over 6,800 times, and Liked on Facebook 4,477 times. The editors at the Grand Forks Herald are scrambling to assemble an article on the outsized reaction for tomorrow's paper, but in the meantime, we called Marilyn Hagerty to get her response to the sudden Internet fame.

UPDATE: I'd like to make clear that I didn't intend to come off as disrespectful in this post. The reason I asked about the lemonade and the breadsticks is because so many of her readers seemed to enjoy those lines in her review and I wanted to get the back story. I'm a fan of Marilyn and her work--I really do think she has a brilliant voice, both in print and on the phone--and I apologize if my enthusiasm seemed sarcastic rather than genuine.

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www.overstock.com

With costumes, as with menus,it pays to choose wisely

A Halloween costume can often be an extension of your personality. And for people who love to eat well, dressing up in some food-related outfit is a natural choice. But picking the right costume is fraught with peril. If you're clever and creative enough you could be the hit of the party, but make the wrong choice and you'll be broadcasting to the world that you're an idiot.

Yesterday we told you about some of our favorite Halloween costumes for food lovers. Here are five ridiculous costumes that are scary for all the wrong reasons.

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www.newegg.com

Halloween costumes good enough to eat

Halloween may have candy and pumpkins, but it isn't known as a food holiday the way Thanksgiving, say, or even Valentine's Day are. But food lovers who generally have one thing on their mind every other day of the year don't make an exception for October 31. While others may go as zombies or vampires or Rick Perry, foodies will predictably be dressing up as comestibles.

We wanted to see what other food-obsessed people are going as this year. Here are some of the funniest, wackiest, and most original costumes we found.

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He'd want us to remember him this way...

Last week, the nation was stunned to hear of the untimely demise of the widely reviled beloved mascot, The King.  His Shiny Plastic Highness was finally retired by Burger King ... but not before His Creepiness had a chance to taint every television viewer's image of BK.  Since his introduction, the King had united the nation in one giant 'WTF!?'  But he's not the first less-than-ideal mascot to be foisted on the public (and he probably won't be the last).  The Hot Dish has put together this list of the 10 worst "characters" used to hock munchies. From blatant racism to pedophilia to genetic mutations, these mascots make the King look like a genius idea.More »

Photo from MN150Years.org

"You're the one who said to order the scampi!"

Yesterday, we shared our list of the 10 dishes to avoid ordering on your Valentine's dates,   from stinky garlic to messy barbecue, ugly oysters to wings that zing--too much and in the wrong places. But some restaurants should just be avoided altogether, no matter what's on the menu. Let us share our list of the five local dining spots that we feel can only lead to heartbreak--or even worse, heartburn.  

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Miguelpdl/Flickr

Valentine's Day is a perfect excuse for journalists and bloggers to inundate the masses with lists and recommendations of romantic restaurants.  Thousands of words are expended every year recapping which eateries boast the best wines or have the most intimate dining accommodations.  But here's a list that might be just as useful: 10 dishes to avoid when seated across from that special someone.

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Pepsi

Learn the secret recipe of Snoop's Eight-Layer-Dip

​The Super Bowl is fast approaching. It is the day of the most traditional American sporting event that allows an entire population of environmentally aware, health-conscious, wannabe-locavore Americans to forgo their sensibility and enjoy a year's worth of glutton in dips, wings, and pizzas.

Although foodie sites like epicurious.com and foodnetwork.com make it look like you have to actually cook your own food for the Super Bowl party, these celebrity recipe videos are sure to get you in the mood for the big day without all the hassle.

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ABC

Jamie Oliver encourages kids to be friends with vegetables

If one of your New Year's resolutions is to eat more vegetables, congratulations on making such an important decision. Your committment can improve your health and help you lose weight.

Still, changing eating habits can be difficult, especially when the temperature keeps dropping. While it's all too easy to turn to comfort foods, adding more chopped onions in your meatloaf to increase your vegetable intake doesn't quite cut it.

To get to you over the hump, here are some TV moments guaranteed to get you motivated.

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WWPC?: What Would Prince Cook?

City Pages' sister publication, The Village Voice, recently reported on a NYC eatery's new dessert, the Volcano Flambé, designed by performance artist Marina Abramović.  This meringue-covered combination of chocolate ice cream, almond sponge cake, and banana mousse is intended to be eaten while listening to an MP3 player playing a recording of the artist as she "guide[s the guest] through the experience of the dish."

This got the Hot Dish to try to imagine what some of our local artists and celebrities might create, if offered a similar opportunity.

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