Wednesday, May 9, 2012

Alphabet Soup

With this, our first post, I'd like to introduce you to the JOPA.  JOPA...?  Many of you likely are asking. It's the first of a certainly endless string of acronyms and jargon, but I hope you'll forgive us that-- you'll shortly see why we speak our own language.  We are the Junior Officers (JOs) of the wardroom of a local university ROTC program.  Three Navy LTs-- Ethan, Garrick, and me-- and a Marine Corps Captain-- Kevin-- we comprise the instructing and advising staff of the command.  We are a varied bunch: a couple of aviators, a submariner, and a ship driver-- all eagerly embracing this, our first taste of "shore duty" since completing our obligatory first tours at sea.  Two of us (Ethan and I) are local alumni, returning to the Nashville area after 4-7 years away from our adopted home.  Kevin is a Tennessee native as well, though he hails from the eastern side of the state.  Garrick is our only resident alien, a product of the Windy City, and a new Southerner. 

What we all share (aside from a coffee pot, some office space, and our military experience) is a love of food, friends, and great beer-- preferably a combination of all three.  We also love any excuse to get out of the office for an hour or two.  From these interests, the Alphabet Lunch Series was born.  We have made it a weekly ritual to grab a quick lunch together somewhere in the neighborhood.  While we have our routine favorites, we all wanted to get out into the community and start really seeing what the Nashville food scene has to offer.  Ethan proposed the alphabet approach-- a new restaurant every week, with a name starting with the next letter in the alphabet. 

We've been eagerly adding to our list, compiling current favorites, friends' recommendations, and the places we keep hearing about but haven't gotten around to trying yet.  It's apparent that we may have to make more than one lap through (we're up to 3 B's already), and that some letters are going to prove challenging-- any X recommendations out there?  But a great time, and alot of great food are sure to be had by all. 

While I doubt many will actually read the blog, we all knew that we don't stand a chance of remembering all of the places and plates we've tried without some sort of record.  And with that, we give you-- "Fork and Knife School"!  Got a place you think we should try?  Tell us about it!    If it's within 20 minutes of Midtown, and open for lunch, we're there.  Care to share a lunch with us? Come on out!  We promise not to share too many sea stories...

~B

No comments:

Post a Comment