The Beginning: Would You Like to Have Dinner?

I plan on eating at every restaurant in Washtenaw County.

Originally, I said I would do it in three years but that now seems a bit unrealistic. There are a lot of restaurants in Washtenaw County. I mean, a lot a lot. Someone even told me Ann Arbor (the biggest city in Washtenaw County) has more restaurants per capita than any other city in the United States. Is that true? I have no idea, but I like the person and I'm going to take their word for it.

Knowing this, what made me come up with this crazy idea, you ask?

Well, I'm in food. I love food. I eat a lot of food. I cook food. I talk about food. I love the word food (look at it for a moment; doesn't it make you just giggle?). I watch shows (even the terrible ones) about food. I read about food. I even read and watch things about people reading and watching and talking about food.

And it seems that because of this intense foodiness, people are often asking me what my favorite local restaurants are.

I've been giving the same 3 as a stock answer for at least 5 years. (Gratzi, Zola, Bomber)

After some thought, I realized that this was unfair to all the other restaurants I haven't eaten at before or haven't eaten at in the last 5 years. In order to give an accurate and honest opinion, I have to eat at every restaurant in the area. It just seems wrong to be so foodie and not try all of the food my local communities have to offer.

So where do I go from here?

First: Ground Rules

1. I will not count any national chains such as Applebee's, Chili's, Friday's, McDonald's (you get the idea, right?). It isn't that I have anything against said restaurants. Who doesn't get a craving for those intensely fabulous never-ending chip and salsa platters at Chil's? Is it just me? The reasoning for this is simple: these restaurants aren't local. Enough said.

2. I only need to eat at 1 location of any local chain. For example, I must eat at Mr. Pizza as it is local, but I do not have to eat at every Mr. Pizza. The reasoning for this is simple:chain restaurants are meant to offer consistency in product regardless of which location you dine at. So, if you've eaten at one, you've eaten at them all.

3. If I have not eaten at a particular restaurant in the past year, then I have to eat there again. Now this causes some issues, so I've made it even more complex. From the point of my start date, I do not have to eat at a restaurant again if I have already eaten at it since the start of my challenge. I do, however, have to eat at a restaurant again if I did not eat at it within one year of my start date. Does that make sense? Not really. Okay, so let's say I eat at Holiday's on 4/14/08. The start date of my challenge is 4/22/08. If I do not eat at Holiday's again by 4/22/09, I must add Holiday's to the list and count it as part of the challenge. If I eat Holiday's after my start date, I do not have to eat at Holiday's again in the duration of the project regardless of the length it takes for completion. This makes no sense whatsoever. All I know is that I have to eat at a lot of restaurants.

4. I may eat at a particular restaurant as many times as I want during the project, but may only review the restaurant based on my first experience. I do eat at Holiday's a lot and I wanted to make sure I could eat there still...a lot.

5. I must ask the waitperson what the best seller/#1 item/favorite item is. I must then eat said item no matter how gross it may seem to me.

6. I must take at least 1 person w/ me or verify by receipt that I did eat at a particular place at a particular time.

7. I must (try) to maintain an objective viewpoint regardless of what I have been told about a certain venue or my feelings on a particular type of food (just to let you know, I hate hot dogs).

8. I must document each dining experience, write a brief review and post it for all to see.

9. Each establishment will be judged on a predetermined set of criteria graded from poor to excellent utilizing a 5 point scale.

10. I must keep a running total of the cost of doing this crazy f*king thing. (Plus, then I can constantly be faced with the guilt of knowing how much money I could have put into a sensible savings account or IRA, just to raise the stakes.)

Second: Find Out What Washtenaw County Is?

What exactly is Washtenaw County? I looked it up on ewashtenaw.org to find out:

Ann Arbor
Chelsea
Milan
Saline
Ypsilanti
Barton Hills (Village)
Dexter (Village)
Manchester (Village)
Ann Arbor (Twnshp)
Augusta (Twnshp)
Bridgewater (Twnshp)
Dexter (Twnshp)
Freedom (Twnshp)
Lima (Twnshp)
Lodi (Twnshp)
Lyndon (Twnshp)
Manchester (Twnshp)
Northfield (Twnshp)
Pittsfield (Twnshp)
Salem (Twnshp)
Saline (Twnshp)
Scio (Twnshp)
Sharon (Twnshp)
Superior (Twnshp)
Sylvan (Twnshp)
Webster (Twnshp)
York (Twnshp)
Ypsilanti (Twnshp)

Land Area: 710 sq miles

3rd: The Restaurant List

This is not easy as it seems. I am currently going to use the following resources to compile a preliminary list:

ecurrent.com/guides/restaurants2007.php
yellowpages.com
restaurantlistings.com
menuism.com

By cross-referencing each local government with these restaurant guides, I believe I can garner a fairly accurate list. So scientific! But hey, if anyone has any other ideas, it would be much appreciated. I would hate to spend half my time trying to find the restaurant list. (Especially since I know I will spend half my time physically trying to find these restaurants. I am very bad at directions and don't read maps very well.)

4th: The Start Date: 4/22/08

Why this day? Well, it's Earth Day. I like that. It's a Tuesday, which seems like an exciting day to start a new project. Lastly, the date is comprised of all even numbers. I like that, too.


Coming soon..."The List!"

Happy Eating,

Jess