regional food

[Laurence Horn]

At 2:51 PM -0500 3/28/02, Kathleen E. Miller wrote:
>Blooming Onion, I remember in the early 1990's, while I was in college in
>TX, Chili's and Outback Steakhouse were in a legal battle over the
>"blooming onion." Outback still calls their's that - making me think that
>Chili's must have lost that battle...
>
>Katy Miller
>NY Times
>
Oddly enough (or should I say synchronically enough?), the very first
Nexis hit for "blooming onion", after which there are a whole bunch
more, begins by mentioning K-Paul (of blackened redfish fame) in
almost the same breath.  It appears from this that Outback does have
pride of place, and I certainly have this lexical item stored (as
"bloomin' onion") with Australian vowel, besides the fact that I
always assumed "bloomin'" here is analogous to its use as a
euphemistic Cockney modifier (as in the celebrated infix of Mr.
Doolittle--"abso-bloomin-lutely"), which again strongly selects
Outback over Chili's.   Notice too the reference to Outback's
"*trademark* blooming onion", although that may be a figure of
speech.    I think I'll have an order of that gator gumbo, heavy on
the okra, light on the tailmeat.

larry

=======
St. Petersburg Times
  October 13, 1991, Sunday, City Edition

  SECTION: BRANDON TIMES; Pg. 1
  HEADLINE: A yummy day in the park

  BYLINE: MARTY ROSEN

  DATELINE: TAMPA
   Perhaps it was the ultimate sign of Florida's good taste.

     In the middle of autographing "Taste of Florida" programs
Saturday, famous Cajun chef Paul Prudhomme stopped to sniff the
pungent garlic scent wafting through the
  University of Tampa's Plant Park.

     "It smells good here," said Prudhomme, the owner of K-Paul's
Louisiana Kitchen in New Orleans and a featured cook at the
festival's celebrity corner.

     Other cities celebrate their foods in outdoor street fests, but
this was a first for Tampa. More than 40 of some of the Tampa Bay
area's favorite restaurateurs gathered to
  offer samples of their tastiest foods at the weekend festival.

     There were 50-cent samples of chocolate peanut butter mousse pie
from Bern's Steak House and giant chocolate eclairs from Alessi
Bakery. Cafe Creole cooks were
  there with jambalaya. Bella Trattoria's offered grilled shrimp on linguine.

     And what could be more Floridian than alligator in all its many
culinary forms gator gumbo, gator sausage, fried gator.

     "This is real nice," said Al Copeland, of Tampa, who spent $ 18
on a taste of just about everything.

     He decided the Outback Steakhouse had the best food steak with
button mushrooms and the best value. The lines were longest Saturday
afternoon outside the restaurant
  chain's booth, where the trademark blooming onion sold at a cut-rate
$ 3.50 each.