Empire Mayo Releasing Flavor Inspired by SNL Spoof
(via Saturday Night Live/YouTube)
That widely linked to but not all that funny Saturday Night Live skit about gentrification in Bushwick is having real life ramifications. Because nothing can just be a joke anymore, Empire Mayonnaise, the artisanal mayo shop actually located in Prospect Heights that the show spoofed as “Martha’s Mayonnaise” is responding to their gentle shellacking by host Kevin Hart and all by rolling out a limited-time flavor that was name-checked on the show, garlic truffle mayonnaise.
Co-owner Elizabeth Valleau noted to DNA Info that though they don’t yet have a roasted garlic mayonnaise yet, “It would be amazing. We’ve mixed our roasted garlic with our truffle before, and it’s been good.”
Valleau is used to jokes about her product, which will run you $8 for a jar of the white truffle. The storefront on Vanderbilt Avenue actually doubles as a production facility, where Empire Mayo cranks out 60,000 jars of artisanal mayonnaise a year for distribution at grocery stores and such. “They just don’t understand what we’re doing,” Valleau said. “Calling it a mayo store rather than a production facility is a misunderstanding.”
Is it though? We’ll refer to comedian Wyatt Cenac, who also riffed on Empire Mayo in his stand-up special Brooklyn, and jokingly called it “downright racist to white people.” Look for the limited-time flavor at Empire Mayo in coming months. Or don’t. Whatever.
