Tastes of Italy, High and Low

Why do we favor fancy Spiaggia over lumpen but ambitious Olive Garden?

On a day too cold to fuss about where we ate, a friend and I ducked into the Olive Garden in Times Square, hoping for the best. How bad could it be, anyway?

TV ads touting Olive Garden's creativity had made me wonder what the largest Italian casual-dining chain could do to improve dishes for which Italian cuisine is famous world-wide. And if I was such a fan of all-out innovators in the kitchen such as Alinea's Grant Achatz in Chicago, shouldn't I keep an open mind about Olive Garden? Why not treat this meal as if it were...

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