Grand Forks

"This body of work, these 30 years of reviews of dining in North Dakota, is in a sense a history of dining in America." —Anthony BourdainIn Grand Forks, North Dakota, a small town where professors moonlight as farmers, farmers moonlight as football coaches, and everyone loves hockey, one woman covered the culinary scene for more than twenty-five years: Marilyn Hagerty. In her weekly Eatbeat column in the local paper, Marilyn gave the denizens of Grand Forks the straight scoop on everything from the best blue-plate specials—beef stroganoff at the Pantry—to the choicest truck stops—the Big Sioux (and its lutefisk lunch special)—to the ambience of the town''s first Taco Bell. Her verdict? "A cool pastel oasis on a hot day."No-nonsense but wry, earnest but self-aware, Eatbeat also encouraged the best in its readers—reminding them to tip well and why—and served as its own kind of down-home social register, peopled with stories of ex-postal workers turned café owners and prom queen