A Chilis themed like The Office is opening in Scranton awesome blossom and all

It has been nearly two decades since the workplace mockumentary “The Office” first set an episode inside a Chili’s, where Michael Scott handed out Dundie awards to his ever-tolerant employees, including trophies for the whitest sneakers and for stinking up the bathroom.Over nine seasons, “The Office” regularly name-dropped real places and products associated with Scranton, where the Emmy-winning show was set.There’s the big pirate ship restaurant known as Cooper’s Seafood House and Poor Richard’s Pub inside a bowling alley.

But in 2005, there was no Chili’s in the Pennsylvania city.So, at last, the chain is filling a hole in Office lore by opening a Chili’s in Dickson City, about 6 miles north of Scranton.The restaurant will be decorated as it would have been in the mid-2000s with old signs and chalkboard art.It will also feature direct nods to the show’s fictitious paper company, Dunder Mifflin.

In one episode, Scott, played by Steve Carell, orders an awesome blossom — a deep-fried onion with a cheese dipping sauce — while trying to win a new client over lunch at Chili’s.That item, long struck from the Chili’s menu nationwide, is being reintroduced in the Scranton-area restaurant only.The new Chili’s will open April 7, when a “Scranton marg” will be available nationwide for the day.Two Office actors are appearing in commercials for the restaurant: Brian Baumgartner, who played the dimwitted accountant Kevin Malone; and Kate Flannery, whose character Meredith Palmer was a party-loving divorced mother working in supplier relations.

Other actors, including Melora Hardin, Andy Buckley and Amy Pietz, also feature in a promotional video.“It seems like a wrong was righted here at around the 20th anniversary of the show to finally have a Scranton branch of Chili’s,” Baumgartner told The Associated Press.Decades ago, when word got out that an American version of the British show “The Office” would center on Scranton, some l...