Long story short: Someone you’ve never heard of shared a hot take on Twitter, it went viral, and it upset some people. Evergreen lead and par for the course, of course, in 2021 — but this particular incident hit close to home, as a Florida lawmaker bashed D.C.’s darn-good food scene. (Yeah, this piece will be decidedly slanted, because District Taco doesn’t deserve that kind of talk.) First the tweet, from Florida state Rep. Omari Hardy, who is also running for U.S. Congress in South Florida.
Can we talk about DC food being terrible? Because it’s not great y’all.
— Rep. Omari Hardy (@OmariJHardy) September 27, 2021
Yes, a man who is working hard so he can spend more time in D.C. took aim at every place from which his staffers might order his dinner. Brilliant! Fun fact: Twenty-three of those are Michelin-starred restaurants. Miami, on the other hand, has none. You might not have thought this through sufficiently, Mr. Hardy, but kudos for raising the profile of your political brand by trolling. You’ll fit in quite well with many of your would-be coworkers. (And no, that is not an endorsement.) Yours Truly isn’t the only one who couldn’t help but be a little cheesed off. Hardy’s troll attempt drew the ire of none other than D.C.’s living saint: The Great José Andrés.
With all due respect,Sir, even if you were right, with facts, with a person in your position, wouldn’t be nice to talk about anything you did like, versus “trashing” thousands of cooks and restaurants owners, and food trucks etc that are still trying to save their restaurants? https://t.co/vKI2BOtVNB
— José Andrés (@chefjoseandres) September 27, 2021
Andrés was just one of many who contributed to that ratio of Hardy’s tweet. Some were unsparing in their criticism: “As a candidate *aspiring* to get to DC, bashing DC locals may not be your best move. Try sticking to solving issues in your own district before you come for ours.” Others took aim at Hardy’s home state: “aww, do you miss having 17 olive gardens, chili’s, and friday’s within 10 minutes?” Hundreds joined in on the dunk-a-thon, presumably because it was Monday and one has to channel that negative energy into something. WTOP has reached out to Hardy through his campaign website for a response to the, uh, responses.