Len Grappa

Len grew up in the big city, but in middle age when the economy went South and he found himself laid off, he took a job in Knoxville. His friends chided him for moving to the sticks, far away from civilization, and he grumbled to every polite face that would listen. People asked him how he got by and he told them, "It isn't so bad. You just have to be selective." For example he found a place that sold that strong Ethiopian coffee he likes, they ship it down from an importer in Manhattan. He knows to only get bread from the place with the guy who worked in The Bronx with the guy who trained over in Italy. He takes his new yokel friends to get Belgian Frittes just like they make in the East Village, and they always love them. And just yesterday he had a great Bahn Mi from a cute little Vietnamese girl with a food truck, he hadn't gotten to the bottom of it yet but he'd guess she immigrated straight from Brooklyn. "Yup," Len thought, "you can get by just so long as you find the people who know all the best stuff comes from New York."