Taylor Gourmet Eats Humble Pie for Rubio Flap
Taylor Gourmet’s attempt to capitalize on Twitter love from the office of Sen. Marco Rubio left a very bad taste in one loyal customer’s mouth.
The food fight erupted after political observer Elayne C. Burke spotted the hoagie joint crowing about the Florida Republican’s pre-State of the Union dinner plans:
“Fun fact: @marcorubio comms team went w/ @Taylor_Gourmet for dinner. 12 inchers, fried ravioli, & risotto balls all around,” Taylor Gourmet promptly retweeted after Rubio aide Val Mack broadcast Team Rubio’s penchant for homegrown sammies.
“funny,hearing @marcorubio ate there after voting against Violence Against Women Act makes me never want to eat @taylor_gourmet again,” the self-described civil rights advocate fired back online.
“Seems if you’re a food place in D.C. … you should be aware that someone like me is going to be offended, especially as the VAWA vote just happened,” Burke told HOH of her reaction, adding that the hospitality purveyors ought “to be sensitive about whom they choose to spotlight.”
Swearing off the chain would be no easy task for Burke, either. She said she’s a regular at the Taylor Gourmet near Dupont Circle — she says she eats there “once a week or so” — and is no stranger to the other outposts. “I’ve been to all of the T.G.’s in D.C. at this point,” she asserted, listing the Frankford Avenue and Lombard Avenue locations as her go-tos for breakfast and lunch, respectively.
For now, at least, Taylor Gourmet’s pledge to add the boilerplate “retweets do not equal endorsements” proviso to its Twitter seems to have defused the situation. “I think they realized they had gone to a place they didn’t mean to when they tweeted that new policy,” Burke said, adding, “I’ll continue to support them.”
Taylor Gourmet did not respond to email requests for comment. At press time, the promised disclaimer was still absent from the @Taylor_Gourmet Twitter feed.
