Olive Garden's Breaded Shrimp Scampi

One Friday night, as I was serving drinks at the cocktail lounge where I worked as a waitress, a regular customer walked in with his dinner – breaded shrimp scampi.

"That smells sooooo good," I told him.

"Wanna try it?" 

Of course I did, and he obliged. What I tasted had my taste buds dancing. It had the perfect combination of butter and garlic, giving the scampi not only the flavor I didn't even know I was craving, but also the texture that felt so good in my mouth. 

The restaurant where my cocktail lounge's patron ordered these delectable shrimp was located in Calumet City, Illinois, a few miles from where I worked. 

Throughout several moves to different states and several decades later, I have searched – in vain – for breaded shrimp scampi that matches in excellence the ones I tasted so long ago. I almost gave up searching, but I never gave up hope.

Good thing, too, because now, FINALLY, I found it – on Olive Garden's new menu. 

I don't know if Olive Garden uses the same recipe as that long ago Calumet City restaurant did or if the owner of the restaurant in Calumet City moved to Orlando to open an Olive Garden chain, but when my taste buds rose to attention and started dancing that familiar dance, I knew I'd found that same p-l-e-a-s-u-r-a-b-l-e feeling again! 

If you haven't tasted Olive Garden's breaded shrimp scampi, you owe it to yourself to experience possibly the best breaded shrimp scampi ever. You'll find it on their appetizer menu.

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