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Olive Garden Wants You To Choose Its New Sample Platter

Olive Garden Wants You To Choose Its New Sample Platter
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On Assignment For HuffPost

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This image released by Darden Restaurants on Monday, March 3, 2013, shows the new "Olive Garden" logo. In a call with analysts on Monday, executives at Darden Restaurants Inc. expressed confidence they could bring about a âbrand renaissanceâ at the Italian chain with a new look and updated menu that presented food with âa sense of flair and sophistication.â (AP Photo/Darden Restaurants Inc.)

A war is being waged between Northern and Southern Italy, and it's all thanks to Olive Garden.

The restaurant chain wants to add a new sample platter to its menu, but first it's asking customers to test two options, a Northern Italy theme and a Southern Italy theme. Then they can vote for their favorite using the hashtags #TeamNorth and #TeamSouth on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.

#TeamNorth is all about the cheese, according to Olive Garden's website. That platter features "Chicken Lombardy topped with savory cheese, house-made creamy parmesan sauce and finished with a fan favorite: bacon," "Asiago Tortelloni with Meat Sauce" and "Fettuccine with a rich Parmesan Portobello sauce."

#TeamSouth is heavier on the tomatoes and peppers. This platter includes "Spicy Pesto Shrimp, bites of Mezzaluna Marinara and Bucatini with Spicy Tomato Bacon Sauce."

So far, there's been a little bit of support for both.

The winning entree will be added to the menu permanently, and participants could win a trip to Italy.

The Never Ending Pasta Pass is so last week. May the best region win!

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Before You Go

Olive Garden Items You Won't Find In Italy
Hot Artichoke-Spinach Dip(01 of06)
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What Olive Garden Says: A blend of artichokes, spinach and cream cheese. Served with Tuscan bread.What We Say: Artichoke spinach dip is awesome, but it definitely isn't an Italian creation. We get why Olive Garden wants it on the menu -- who doesn't like hot, creamy dips -- but this is more of a chain restaurant staple than something you'll find across the pond. (credit:Olive Garden)
Chicken & Gnocchi Soup(02 of06)
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What Olive Garden Says: A creamy soup made with roasted chicken, traditional Italian dumplings and spinach.What We Say: You can definitely find gnocchi in Italy, but it is usually a standalone dish with sauce and definitely isn't something served in soup. Gnocchi is pretty rich on its own, so it hardly needs creamy broth and chicken to accompany it. (credit:Olive Garden)
Tour of Italy(03 of06)
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What Olive Garden Says: Homemade lasagna, lightly breaded chicken parmigiana and creamy fettuccine alfredo.What We Say: You'll get blank stares if you say the word "fettucine alfredo" to Italian, despite the dish's popularity, stateside. Likewise, chicken parmigiana is everywhere in the U.S. but not nearly as ubiquitous abroad.Flickr: Casey Florig (credit:Flickr: Casey Florig)
Moscato Peach Chicken(04 of06)
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What Olive Garden Says: Grilled chicken breasts with a moscato wine and peach glaze served with spinach, tomatoes and curly mafalda pasta in a creamy parmesan sauce with a touch of pancetta bacon.What We Say: Moscato is an Italian sweet wine, so Olive Garden sort of gets some points there, but there's just way too much going on here to think that this is actually based on an Italian dish. (credit:Olive Garden)
Chicken & Shrimp Carbonara(05 of06)
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What Olive Garden Says: Chicken and shrimp with bucatini pasta in a parmesan cream sauce with pancetta bacon and roasted red peppers, baked and topped with seasoned breadcrumbs.What We Say: Carbonara is typically made with pancetta, egg, cheese and black pepper. While U.S. restaurants will sometimes use a cream sauce in place of raw egg for food safety reasons, we're not sure where the red peppers come from. Italians probably wouldn't put additional proteins in a carbonara. (credit:Olive Garden)
Grilled Pork Veneto(06 of06)
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What Olive Garden Says: Tender boneless pork ribs topped with a sweet red wine glaze, served with tomato and mozzarella ravioli topped with roasted garlic tomato sauce and alfredo.What We Say: We're not sure why the northeast region of Veneto has been tacked onto this dish title. Grilled pork is hardly a standout of that region, nor is all the other dish accoutrements. But hey, sure, let's just throw a random Italian region on a dish name. Why not? (credit:Yelp: Michael C.)
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