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Posted

There have been several comments on the name of the new restaurant Per Se, opened in New York City by Thomas Keller. Many members have indicated "Per Se" is a horrible name for a restaurant and at least one person said they wouldn't eat there because of the name.

What are some of the best and worst restaurant names? Would a name either encourage or discourage you to attend?

Best - Sidebern's - Tampa, FL (very clever being next door to Bern's)

Henry's End - Brooklyn, NY (evokes pity)

Hemingway's - Orlando, FL (quite bohemian)

The Rattlesnack Club - Dallas, TX (mystery, danger & romance)

Union Pacific, NY, NY (reminiscent of train food when it was good - much like the Chattanooga Choo-Choo)

Worst - El Bulli - Spain (reminds me of matadors)

Victoria & Albert - Disney World (tobacco in a can)

Babbo - NYC, NY (a child's bathwater)

Felidia - NYC, NY (did a porno star name this?)

Sweet Basil - Staten Island, NY (I like basil, but it's not sweet)

Rich Schulhoff

Opinions are like friends, everyone has some but what matters is how you respect them!

Posted (edited)

There is the lovely little establishment called "Yo Mama's Cafe'" in Vincent, Alabama. I have pics of the building I can post later today...

Edit: Found the picture i6676.jpg

The best one I've seen was in Austin, Texas. A little burger joint not too far off campus called "Dirty's". God, they make some great food there.

And I almost forgot the all-time favorite - "Pho Shizzle" :smile:

Edited by FistFullaRoux (log)
Screw it. It's a Butterball.
Posted

any name that can be tinkered with to sound gross is pretty bad...there's a chain here called Buca Du Beppo... I always refer to it as Poopoo du Crappo...

ummm...I know, I'm weird...

I like restaurants with names that do not immediately give away the faire....I mean, I work at a place called the Paris Bistro...guess what kind of food we do...

hehe

There used to be a place in town called Bacchus...I like that name...

"Make me some mignardises, &*%$@!" -Mateo

Posted

In Ottawa, Nate's Deli owns a steak house next door called "The Place Next Door."

A diner opened across the street calling itself "The Place Across the Street."

Then of course there's the Hung Fatt.

And the Phuoc Yu banmi joint.

"I've caught you Richardson, stuffing spit-backs in your vile maw. 'Let tomorrow's omelets go empty,' is that your fucking attitude?" -E. B. Farnum

"Behold, I teach you the ubermunch. The ubermunch is the meaning of the earth. Let your will say: the ubermunch shall be the meaning of the earth!" -Fritzy N.

"It's okay to like celery more than yogurt, but it's not okay to think that batter is yogurt."

Serving fine and fresh gratuitous comments since Oct 5 2001, 09:53 PM

Posted

There's a lebanese-owned sandwich shop near me called "the rock". I know it refers to a geologic feature off the coast of beirut (as I happen to be from there) but around here people think it was named for the wrestler.

Posted

I've always thought that Il Fornaio (pronounced "Ill for now") is a terrible name.

A funny Santa Cruz story. A friend, chef David Jackman, owned a place called "So Say We," which he eventually sold and opened another spot downtown, called "Chocolate." Soon thereafter, some people opened a place called "Soif" (pronounced "swahf," it's French for "thirst"). A friend of David's said, "Hey, I saw your new restaurant. So If! What a funny name!"

So. If.

:laugh:

Posted (edited)

There is a pretty nice little place near here called the 'Back Burner Cafe'. There was a period of time however that for the life of me I could never remember the same of the place, and always referred to it as the 'Backend Cafe' or the 'Backdoor Cafe'. Both, IMO, are far more colorful names, and tend to be what everyone refers to it as now ;).

There is a small, very good , Italian joint around as well, but has the unfortunate name of 'Cafe Gelato'. They do, in fact, serve a tremendous variety of Gelato (Gelati?), but I had no idea they even served real food there because the ice cream display is up front,and looking through the window and seeing only the name you just write it off as a little ice cream place and never know there is actually a nice restaurant inside.

Two regional mini-chains that I love the name (and food) of are:

Cluck-U (best buffalo wings I have had anywhere, bar none, and I have had a lot)

Peace-a-Pizza (gourmet pizza shop, with actually very tasty traditional pizza crust).

Edited by NulloModo (log)

He don't mix meat and dairy,

He don't eat humble pie,

So sing a miserere

And hang the bastard high!

- Richard Wilbur and John LaTouche from Candide

Posted
The best restaurant name is Hooters.

They serve food there? I thought it was just a place to see and be seen.

Rich Schulhoff

Opinions are like friends, everyone has some but what matters is how you respect them!

Posted

There used to be a restaurant in Manchester, VT, called Pam-Pam. Underneath the name on the sign it said (quotes theirs) "A Good Place to Dine". Talk about dimwitted marketing.

Posted

How about these restaurants from Omaha:

Nooner's Deli

Mo' Napkins Smokehouse

Dixie Quicks

"A good dinner is of great importance to good talk. One cannot think well, love well, sleep well, if one has not dined well." Virginia Woolf

Posted
Nooner's Deli

Dixie Quicks

Are these spinoffs of Hooters?

Rich Schulhoff

Opinions are like friends, everyone has some but what matters is how you respect them!

Posted

:laugh::laugh::laugh:

No, but Dixie Quicks is run by a drag queen- lots of memorabilia in the place. He serves up pretty good southern food!

"A good dinner is of great importance to good talk. One cannot think well, love well, sleep well, if one has not dined well." Virginia Woolf

Posted

I once wrote a piece on this type of topic and read about some of the more humorous names:

A Salt and Battery (West Village, NYC)

The Horny Toad and The Satisfied Frog (both barbecue places in Cave Creek, Arizona , near Scottsdale)

Pooh Ping Palace (Chinese food, near Victoria, Australia)

Ciao Mein (Chinese/Italian in the Hyatt Regency, Waikiki)

Genghis Cohen (Chinese kosher in Los Angeles)

Melissa Goodman aka "Gifted Gourmet"

Posted

There was, for a long time, a seafood place in Bucktown, New Orleans (directly across the street from Deanie's) that was apparently named "Fresh Hardware". I am sure that the place had another name, but they did not have enough money for a whole sign. The joint had previously been the location of a local hardware store and they only had enough paint for "Fresh" and ran out before they got the "Seafood" painted. :laugh:

It was like this for years.

Brooks Hamaker, aka "Mayhaw Man"

There's a train everyday, leaving either way...

Posted

Everytime I see 'El Bulli' I think E Coli! Like the main course at Sam & Ella's Diner!

Bob R in OKC

Home Brewer, Beer & Food Lover!

Posted

There used to be a place in Vancouver called Fish on Yew, but the staff took the rhyming possibilities to heart in their attitude and it soon closed.

Arthur Johnson, aka "fresco"
Posted
I once wrote a piece on this type of topic and read about some of the more humorous names:

A Salt and Battery (West Village, NYC)

The people who own that place also own Tea & Sympathy.

"Some people see a sheet of seaweed and want to be wrapped in it. I want to see it around a piece of fish."-- William Grimes

"People are bastard-coated bastards, with bastard filling." - Dr. Cox on Scrubs

Posted

And who will not find these places well-named?

Latte Da (coffeehouse chain)

Grounds for Divorce (Santa Barbara) and, of course, Sufficient Grounds (Berkeley)

The Stinking Rose (the very well known South Beach garlic-themed restaurant in SF)

For Heaven's Cakes (bakery)

Melissa Goodman aka "Gifted Gourmet"

Posted

In the D.C. area where I live, there are some not-so-good names:

Il Mee

City Lite Buffet

Ray's the Steaks: I can't decide whether I like this name or not.

Posted
Ray's the Steaks: I can't decide whether I like this name or not.

I'll decide - no! :laugh:

Rich Schulhoff

Opinions are like friends, everyone has some but what matters is how you respect them!

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