A2 Dining

I'll admit it, when I first saw the sign for Mani Osteria go up, I thought it was just going to sell seafood. I guess I just sort of assumed that "osteria" translated to "oystery" or "a restaurant specializing in oysters." I told few about my error, especially after Quinn wrote her review of the place. That's why I'm glad A2 Dining had the courage to admit he made the same error in the first line of his review of Mani. I also admire A2 Dining for the simplicity and impracticality of his mission: to objectively rate every restaurant in Ann Arbor. From the blog:

I look to take on a project I have always wanted to venture into – trying my best to objectively judge the range of restaurants of a community I live in. While I don’t think I was endowed with talents greater than any other foodie out there, I believe that my heart and mission is in the right play. My recent move to Ann Arbor, with its rich store of cultures and restaurants, has provided me with an opportunity too good to pass up. I want to do this for me as much as the prospective readers out there. I even look forward to conversations with those whose opinions differ from mine!

In my attempt to write fair, objective reviews of restaurants I have established three primary directives that I will my hold myself to until I deem this project complete:

That a formal rubric will be established at the beginning and that all restaurants will be scored based on that same rubric.
That I, and those who join me in reviewing restaurants, will be reflective about the pre-judgments and tastes we have and work best to shelter those elements from our decision making and judgement call. This will (hopefully) result in eliminating some of the gastronomical boundaries we all seem to have set for ourselves.
That I will use this project as a way to meet new talented practitioners, taste great food, and share a table with friends and family.

Check out A2 Dining's review map here.