So you've got a good thing going. You've been selling 'em like crazy, advertising 'em on your billboard for the last year, and by your account they've been flying out the door, despite their, uh, questionable name. So why issue a press release? A press release! You gotta be wanting some publicity, or have a death wish, or both.
"Ghetto Fries" are all over the news in Chicago right now. Apparently they've been on the menu at Max's Famous Italian Beef for over a year now, but a brand-spanking new press release has only just started making the rounds. And pissing people off. The fries, a combination of -- what else-- french fries, cheddar, giardiniera, gravy, barbecue sauce and raw onions. You wouldn't find me within a mile of the place, but I guess that's why I only just heard about it today.
Mark Brown, a columnist at the Sun-Times, wrote about the origin of the name and the controversy in an article published today:
"One of those workers [at Max's], whose nickname was Ghetto Girl, became so enamored with the cheese-giardiniera-gravy-barbecue sauce-onion concoction that she ate it every day as her main meal. Ghetto Fries, he said, were named after her. Eventually, the employees prevailed upon Estes to put it on the menu.
"It's been flying out the doors ever since," Estes said. "The rest is history.""
And now, almost March '06, the sign is still up. Eh.
