Yesterday was April 1 – April Fool’s Day for those who ‘celebrate’ the occasion. I didn’t hear about any particularly amusing stunts but I did a double-take when I read the first reviews of The Olive Garden’s new (limited time, of course) Giant Classics Menu. Surely they were kidding, I thought…
The Giant Chicken Parm: What kind of chicken to you get an 11 in. cutlet from?
But it appears they weren’t. Now through May 27, you can get any of 4 Giant Classics at Olive Garden. OG doesn’t say that it intends you to take home copious leftovers in a giant doggie bag, but maybe they felt that was obvious enough without saying so.
What you get…
The four classics on the special menu include a Giant Chicken Parmesan, A Giant Meatball and Spaghetti, a plate of Giant Shell Pastas stuffed with Cheese and that same plate topped with a generous handful of Jumbo (what else?) Shrimp.
How big is ‘Giant’?
For a start, the Chicken Parm measures 11 in. / 27.5 cm and comes with a small side of Fettuccine Alfredo. The Meatball (which has appeared for a limited time at OG before) weighs in at 12 oz. / 340 g. It, too, dwarfs its side (Spaghetti with Marinara). You get 5 huge Pasta Shells stuffed with a Four-Cheese blend and Cheese Sauce, and the deluxe version (according to the official photo) comes with 9 Jumbo Shrimp.
Okay, I want to know…
From what kind of Chicken do you get an 11 in. / 27.5 cm Breast Fillet? A Capon, perhaps? I mean, even after it’s been hammered out into a Cutlet, the biggest Chicken Breast I’ve ever seen wouldn’t meet OG’s definition of ‘Giant. Is it, perhaps, a Franken-Breast, using two or three regular Breasts ‘sewn’ together? You wouldn’t notice, under all that Breading… Or is it a composite ‘cut’ formed (like McD’s McNuggets) from shredded, de-boned Chicken meat? I’m just curious…
Do OG Test Kitchen Chefs realize that a 12 oz. / 340 g Meatball is three times the size of the recommended adult serving for Meat proteins?
Or that one of those Giant Pasta Shells, stuffed with all that Cheese and Sauce, would constitute a reasonable portion?
Or that any 3 of those 9 Giant Shrimp would be considered a proper regular serving?
Why ‘Giant’ Entrées in the first place?
At a time when Coke, Pepsi and Dr. Pepper are banding together (in the same commercials!) to advertise their collective efforts to reduce obesity by reducing Sugar in their products and offering smaller portion sizes, why is The Olive Garden pushing Giant entrées?
You’d think resto chains like OG would also be showing how responsible and responsive they are to current warnings about the global obesity epidemic.
Sounds to me like OG’s marketing team is running the show. Healthy portions and healthy ingredients? Who cares. We’ll sell a boatload of these Giant menu items. We’ll see how the special promo works out for them. I predict a lot of ‘big’ people will flock to the Olive Garden for these mammoth mains. And, based on their eager patronage, we’ll see Giant menu items back again this time next year… *SIGH*
~ Maggie J.