'The Hobbit': Try a Tolkien breakfast at ... Denny's?
Movie and corporate tie-ins are nothing new 鈥� just ask any kid who ever got his own plastic Simba from McDonald's. But a somewhat unexpected pairing arose when the restaurant chain Denny鈥檚 announced that it would be serving a 鈥淗obbit鈥� menu to coincide with the release of 鈥�The Hobbit: There and Back Again,鈥� the first movie in the planned 鈥淗obbit鈥� trilogy.
The menu includes such items as Radagast鈥檚 Red Velvet Pancake Puppies (named for the wizard Radagast the Brown), Gandalf鈥檚 Gobble Melt, Bilbo鈥檚 Berry Smoothie, and Hobbit Hole Breakfast. The 鈥淗obbit鈥� offerings will be available at Denny鈥檚 locations through early January.
Reviews of the dishes have so far been middling. writer Alexandra Cavallow wrote that the Hobbit Hole, which consisted of fried eggs, hash browns, cheddar buns and bacon, was fine, though unhealthy. 鈥淏ut one imagines you'd need to carbo-load before risking life and limb in Mordor, so it made sense,鈥� she wrote. 鈥淎nd those egg-filled cheddar buns were good.鈥�
writer Rob Thomas said he was a little overwhelmed by the breakfast appetizer titled the Lonely Mountain Treasure, which was essentially lemon poppy seed nuggets with cream cheese frosting for dipping. 鈥淚'm sorry, I'm just too frightened right now to check the caloric content of that,鈥� he wrote. 鈥淚t was as if I could feel the baleful Eye of Mordor staring down and me and saying, 'You're going to eat all that? Really? Even my orcs have a little fruit with breakfast.' 鈥�
He said conclusions about the menu overall were hard to draw.
鈥淚 don't know if I can honestly say, 鈥業f you love 鈥淭he Hobbit,鈥� you'll love Denny's!鈥� Nor can I say with authority, 鈥業f you love Denny's, you'll love 鈥淭he Hobbit!鈥濃�� What I can say is that both things exist, in the same time and space, in America.鈥�
Visitors to the website , which featured pictures of the food available through the 鈥淗obbit鈥� menu, seemed confused and impressed by the fact that the promotion was happening at all.
鈥淲ho knew that a character from the Silmarillion, which is basically where Tolkien put all the appendixes that wouldn't fit in Lord of the Rings, would one day be given his own promotional breakfast food?鈥� a commenter named JulieMarieC wrote.
