Here are some common questions about the Ann Arbor Bi Bim Bop (a2b3) lunch group, with answers.
1. What is a2b3?
The Ann Arbor Bi Bim Bop lunch group (a2b3) is a group of people organized by Edward Vielmetti who meet for lunch on Thursdays in Ann Arbor at Eastern Accents.
2. Who comes to a2b3 meetings?
The county clerk, a city council person, graphic artists, designers, programmers, community organizers, techies, project managers, grief counselors, Wayne State University library school students, market researchers, Google Adwords and Google Analytics experts, bloggers, University of Michigan graduate and undergraduate students, people looking to hire, people looking for work, contractors offering and looking for contract work, and whoever shows up.
3. When are a2b3 meetings?
Every Thursday. We start to pull tables together at about 11:30am, and the group is usually starting to break up by 1:15pm.
4. Where does a2b3 meet?
Eastern Accents is on Fourth Avenue in downtown Ann Arbor between Liberty and Washington St, next to Bandito's. Parking nearby is at the Fourth and Washington structure, the Library Lot on Fifth Ave, and sometimes street parking on Washington. The AATA's Blake Transit Center is one block south if you are taking the bus.
5. Why a2b3?
a2 is Ann Arbor; b3 is bi bim bop, a Korean dish with a bowl of rice topped with vegetables, beef or tofu, and a fried egg. There are fifteen restaurants in Ann Arbor that serve bi bim bop; the first few months of a2b3 were organized around finding a good permanent home for the group. We settled on Eastern Accents downtown for the location and the ambiance and the ease of handling a group our size, and also because its menu includes more Asian lunch dishes like pineapple chicken, kim bop (Korean style sushi), tea, and buns (mmm, bacon and onion bun; mmm, red bean bun).
The best city-wide guide to bi bim bop is on Arborwiki's bi bim bop page.
6. Who started the a2b3 group?
Edward Vielmetti started the a2b3 group in August 2005. He had been working at a California company remotely and was never able to have lunch out because of 9am Pacific time meetings. The group first met on South U at the Coffee Cup (recommended) with four people.
7. Sounds great! How do I join a2b3?
Join the Yahoo a2b3 group to get added to the mailing list, which sends out meeting reminders, meeting brief summaries, and the occasional event or news announcement relevant to the group.
It seems to me that if you really wanted to be wired (or whatever term is in vogue today) you'd decide on the location each week by using the Wheel of Lunch:
http://www.coverpop.com/wheeloflunch/
Put in "48105" and "Korean". Give it a spin.
Posted by: uh_clem | February 22, 2007 at 04:38 PM
Back in the day we used to make the rounds to various B3 places... that was fun. I know -- Eastern Accents likes the business and it's good to have a stable location that people can find. But Seoul Korner has stone bowl!
Posted by: Matt Hampel | February 26, 2007 at 01:53 AM
Where I live now, the nearest bi bim bop is 150 miles away. We just got our first Japanese restaurant. What we lack in ethnic diversity (which is a lot) we make up for in nature and wildlife. Still - I may have to make my own bi bim bop...
Posted by: Edith OSB | February 27, 2007 at 12:51 AM