Crumbs in my 'Stache: When you’re here, you’re family

Wednesday, March 25, 2009

By Ben Cannon

Jackson Hole, Wyo.-I beg your pardon that you allow me to share with you an unsubstantiated rumor fluttering about the valley regarding a new restaurant: The word on the street is that the Jackson building most recently home to the Village Inn may one day soon become … an Olive Garden?

That’s what I heard the other day, anyhow, but could neither confirm nor debunk this with Olive Garden’s marketing person nor Clarene Law, who owns the building at the five–way intersection of Broadway and Pearl.

That building has sat vacant since Village Inn pulled out of Jackson Hole in December, though so little visible action has been taken to reuse the space that the even the orange Village Inn letters still remain. A peek through the building’s tinted windows last week revealed that no apparent renovations have yet commenced on the inside. Indeed, tables were still stacked atop one another – as if waiting for the late-night vacuuming and early-bird breakfast skillets and endless coffee refills of a morning that would never come.

One particular valley-based food writer has before professed to me her adoration of Olive Garden’s longstanding all-you-can-eat soup, pasta and salad deal. Yet I couldn’t even share this rumor with her, lest she scoop me on the story.

I have a hunch at least a handful of residents  would express some sort of dismay at the prospect of a chain ‘family’ restaurant coming into the valley. Jackson Hole, after all, is home only to a few food options of the kind that litter the interstates of this country – McDonald’s, Taco Bell, Wendy’s and Subway.

But Olive Garden or no, Law’s restaurant building, barring very major renovations, only seems suitable for some sort of value-style restaurant. If a big box food retailer like Olive Garden comes in, one could imagine the business it would do come summer, when thousands of average American families visit or pass through the valley. I’m sure I’d hit it up, at least once.

And that’s exactly why I’m hesitant to heed my publisher’s request that I start Twittering all my dining exploits live onto the internet. Broadcasting my every meal on Twitter would remove the careful control I have over my public eating persona.

Sure, I’ve unashamedly written in the past about eating hot dogs late at night on Jackson street corners and chitterlings from Sublette County that refuse to yield their tougher bits, but I’m a little reluctant to announce in real time how much ‘I really enjoy the recession value of all-you-can-eat soup and breadsticks all for $8.95!’ That would just take away some of the magic of my parlor trick. PJH
Olive Garden may or may not open at 100 Flat Creek Drive.

Courtesy photo
If the Village Inn becomes an Olive Garden, Benjamin Cannon will not twitter about it.


PERMALINK:
Crumbs in my 'Stache: When you’re here, you’re family | Planet JH News Article: Restaurants And Dining

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