Fifty-Two Redux

Tue, 01 Aug 2006 01:47:34 GMT

Wally asked me to go ride tonight, but I couldn't go. I rode yesterday, but that wasn't so much the reason. Mrs. Guy is in town this week, and had planned on doing errands - with me - tonight. I would have been very politically incorrect for me to go off bike riding in view of that, especially considering how much she's been away lately (and will be again and way too soon). However, I have made it known that I will be riding tomorrow, so I should be in the clear for that. I'm trying my best to keep to an every-other-day riding schedule right now anyway.

So Mrs. Guy and I went to the bank. And to the gas station. And to the grocery store. And to the post office. Then, when we got home, she made vegetable lasagna. I'm not usually a lasagna fan, but she has converted me for the dish. I've been trying to get upstairs so I could paint some more in the bathroom and write this post, but she wanted to play cards for a while, so I'm just now making it up here.

Anyway, I had about twenty different post ideas go through my head, and almost all of them went right back out again before I could get up here. Fortunately, one stayed with me, so I now get to explain the title of tonight's post.

Years ago, and I mean several years ago (at least a decade), Mrs. Guy and I decided to try a different restaurant every week for a year. The only rules were that we couldn't go back to the same restaurant, and that we couldn't even go back to the same restaurant chain (that is, if we went to a Ruby Tuesdays on the west side of town, we couldn't go to any other Ruby Tuesdays).

As we were driving home from the post office, Mrs. Guy turned to me and said "Remember doing The Fifty-Two?" (which is how we referred to it). "Yeah," I said, "I remember that." "We should try that again," she said, more as a statement of decision than as a suggestion. However, I think it's a good idea anyway. She did suggest a new rule: No Chains Period. That means that we won't be going to ANY restaurants that are part of a national chain. There are certain local "chains" that we will be allowing (such as Aubrey's, since I think they have three places now, but they started local and still are - all three places are within a thirty mile radius or less).

So now, in addition to my other regular stuff I tend to post (more or less), you can expect that once a week I will likely be giving a report on whatever local restaurant we decided to visit during a given week. I know it would seem to make more sense as a 'restaurant review' series if you are a local, but for those of you who aren't, you just never know when you might decide to head through the Knoxville area, especially since we have two Interstate Highways that pass through town (I-40 and I-75, and I-81 begins only 25 to 30 miles east of town), and we also have the Great Smoky Mountains National Park on our back doorstep, so to speak.

So anyway, we'll be starting that back up soon enough. And what of our previous list of Fifty-Two? Well, sadly many of them no longer exist, such as the Kiva Grill. A few others have come and gone since we did our original tour de local eateries, such as Mrs. Guy's beloved Bogartz. Some which received low marks on our first pass still exist for whatever reason (perhaps Black Magic is involved). How will they fare this time around? Time will tell, time will tell...

Big Guy on a Bicycle: Food

Fifty-Two Redux