happy_stomach wrote:I guess, like the comfort of Avec's chairs, the utility of LTH threads is in the eye of the beholder.

Or the ass.

Apropos of nothing, but possibly relevant to thread title (and nominally the thread subject as well), I saw a barbecue joint in Harvey somewhere on Sibley yesterday (sorry I cannot pinpoint the exact location) called "Slop 'n' Lick BBQ"

I hope to report back with a review at some point in the future. It is possibly the least appetizing (barring The Money Shot) restaurant name I've ever heard but I feel like I have to take one for the team here.

JimTheBeerGuy wrote:I saw a barbecue joint in Harvey somewhere on Sibley yesterday (sorry I cannot pinpoint the exact location) called "Slop 'n' Lick BBQ".

Sounds like one of the most honest names I can think of for a BBQ joint.

I get particularly annoyed with overly gimmicky, cute, or twee names - just think about how many nauseatingly sweet cupcake place names you've heard opening over the last year. But it extends beyond bakeries.

Oh, what comes to mind. What about the 50/Fifty? Why must one be numerical and one be alphabetical? The nonsensical spelling is exacerbated by the menu, which features both a "fifty burger" and a "50 burger." Its confounding to think how a patron might go about ordering one and trying to distinguish his order from the other. Why be deliberately confusing? It just makes me think (and going into this bar doesn't change my perception) that there just isn't much thought about substance over style. Although, I do like that my bloody mary there comes with a piece of bacon in it...

Puns also rub me the wrong way, and the lame jokes (even though I always nerdily laugh at them) get old real quick. Eleaven, for instance. Sure, it's cute you worked a reference to bread's rising agent into your bakery/sandwich shop's name. But why are you referencing the number 11? Does that have something to do with the food or store, or did it just fit in with your punny name? Eggsperience works a little better, I guess, but they all make me think about Denny's-esque names like "moons over my hammy."

amyliz wrote:Puns also rub me the wrong way, and the lame jokes (even though I always nerdily laugh at them) get old real quick.

I was on a Metra train heading west recently and spied a cafe called 'That' Cafe somewhere along the way. Very difficult to Google, and I'm curious how regulars refer to it.

I know that it refers to an herb, but that's not what I think when I hear the restaurant name Sawtooth. Not a pleasant association. Maybe I'm more afraid of the dentist than I thought.

amyliz wrote:Puns also rub me the wrong way, and the lame jokes (even though I always nerdily laugh at them) get old real quick. Eleaven, for instance. Sure, it's cute you worked a reference to bread's rising agent into your bakery/sandwich shop's name. But why are you referencing the number 11? Does that have something to do with the food or store, or did it just fit in with your punny name? Eggsperience works a little better, I guess...

Bakin' & Eggs on Lincoln isn't an awful place (and in this case, the pun at least works, in the sense that they major in baked goods as well as "bacon flights"), but I would undoubtedly go there for breakfast more often if they didn't have such a stupid name. Give me S & G (down the block, with its no-nonsense initials for Sam and George) any time.

It's kind of like by even just going into Bakin' & Eggs, you're giving your tacit approval to dumbass puns, and I just can't do that lightly.

amyliz wrote:Puns also rub me the wrong way . . .

Me too but puns don't necessarily mean a place isn't great. For example, Wiener & Still Champion is an exemplary hotdog stand.

Some others that immediately come to mind:

As for Once Upon a Bagel
Upper Crust Bagels
U Dawg U
Wiener Takes All
Wieners Circle

One that always cracked me up was the fictitious Souper Crackers from the now-defunct Showtime series Party Down (probably nsfw) . . .



=R=

ronnie_suburban wrote:...puns don't necessarily mean a place isn't great. For example, Wiener & Still Champion is an exemplary hotdog stand.

There is a special pun exemption for hot dog stands and Jewish delis.

riddlemay wrote:

ronnie_suburban wrote:...puns don't necessarily mean a place isn't great. For example, Wiener & Still Champion is an exemplary hotdog stand.

There is a special pun exemption for hot dog stands and Jewish delis.

Apparently so!

=R=

ronnie_suburban wrote:

riddlemay wrote:

ronnie_suburban wrote:...puns don't necessarily mean a place isn't great. For example, Wiener & Still Champion is an exemplary hotdog stand.

There is a special pun exemption for hot dog stands and Jewish delis.

Apparently so!

=R=

Add Thai and pho places to the list.

amyliz wrote:Puns also rub me the wrong way . . .

Though I have no opinion on his food, I've had enough of Foss's Meaty Balls Pun. Yes, balls are slang for testicles -- hilarious! How much mileage can he possibly get out of this joke?
I mean, schweddy balls?

This joke =


--Rich

JeffB wrote:
Add Thai and pho places to the list.

http://www.thaimeupnyc.com/
http://www.bowthai.com/
http://9021pho.com/
http://www.whatthepho.net/

Let's not forget about the now closed Once Upon a Thai

And for a disastrous meal, try one of Washington D.C.'s crappy Thai chains, Thai Tanic or Thaiphoon. Bleurgh.

--Rich

Hi,

I was just talking to a friend about puns used as business names earlier today. I thought people fall in love with the joke, then really use it as their business name. It's a joke, but one repeated so often it begins to loose currency real fast. All these comments validate what I felt.

Long ago when I was in high school, I remember turning heads when I asked a friend, "Being called a lush isn't a compliment, is it?" Nope, not back then. I do have a hard time separating the negative connotations when there is now a trendy liquor store named Lush.

Regards,

There's always A Salt and Battery (fish & chips, New York)

amyliz wrote:Puns also rub me the wrong way, and the lame jokes (even though I always nerdily laugh at them) get old real quick.

Better stop reading right now.

riddlemay wrote:There is a special pun exemption for hot dog stands and Jewish delis.

Certainly owners of hot dog stands seem fonder of puns than other restaurateurs. Here are some in and around Chicago (many are no longer in business): Dog Day Afternoon, Dog House, Dog Pound, First National Frank, Frankly Speaking, Frankly Yours, Franks A Lot, Franks a Million, Franks for the Memories, Hot Diggity Dawgs, Hot Diggity Dog, Hot Diggity Dogs, Hot Doug's, Hound Dogs, Irving's For Red Hot Lovers, Lulu's Hot Diggity Dog, Mustard's Last Stand, Red Hot Mamas, Relish the Thought, Three Dog Night, U Dawg U, Uncle Frank's, Underdog, Wiener and Still Champion, Wiener Take All, Wiener's Circle.

For delicatessens, I'm having a hard time coming up with anything other than Barnum & Bagel. What names did you have in mind?

I've always wanted to open up a pancake house called "The Crepes of Wrath"

riddlemay wrote:There is a special pun exemption for hot dog stands and Jewish delis.

I recall a hot dog stand in the western or near west suburbs named 'Eat It and Beat It".

Rene G wrote:For delicatessens, I'm having a hard time coming up with anything other than Barnum & Bagel. What names did you have in mind?

That was the one.

I've always wanted to open up a pancake house called "The Crepes of Wrath"

Which brings to mind Allan Sherman's song about the Jewish vintner, "The Grapes of Roth."

riddlemay wrote:Which brings to mind Allan Sherman's song about the Jewish vintner, "The Grapes of Roth."

I believe that was from The Ballad of Harry Lewis, in the cloth industry, who worked for an Irving Roth, so he knew where "the drapes of Roth" were stored.

Full lyrics: (to the tune of Battle Hymn of the Republic)
I'm singing you the ballad
Of a great man of the cloth
His name was Harry Lewis
And he worked for Irving Roth

He died while cutting velvet
On a hot July the 4th
But his cloth goes shining on

Glory, glory Harry Lewis
Glory, glory Harry Lewis
Glory, glory Harry Lewis
His cloth goes shining on

Oh Harry Lewis perished
In the service of his Lord
He was trampling through the warehouse
Where the drapes of Roth are stored

He had the finest funeral
The union could afford
And his cloth goes shining on

Glory, glory Harry Lewis
Glory, glory Harry Lewis
Glory, glory Harry Lewis
His cloth goes shining on

Although a fire was raging
Harry stood by his machine
And when the firemen broke in
They discovered him between

A pile of roasted Dacron
And some french fried gabardine
His cloth goes shining on

Glory, glory Harry Lewis
Glory, glory Harry Lewis
Glory, glory Harry Lewis
His cloth goes shining on

nr706 wrote:

riddlemay wrote:Which brings to mind Allan Sherman's song about the Jewish vintner, "The Grapes of Roth."

I believe that was from The Ballad of Harry Lewis, in the cloth industry, who worked for an Irving Roth, so he knew where "the drapes of Roth" were stored...

Ah yes! Thank you. (For the correction, and for the fond memory.)

Still waiting for someone to open Thaiarrhea or maybe the more subtle Thai-a-Ria. Or at least for Ria to have a France-meets-Thailand dinner tabbed "Thai à Ria."

Matt wrote:Still waiting for someone to open Thaiarrhea or maybe the more subtle Thai-a-Ria. Or at least for Ria to have a France-meets-Thailand dinner tabbed "Thai à Ria."

Thai Aree has been open for years, and I never fail to make the obvious joke in my head every time I eat there, though the name could be considered false advertising, since the food is quite excellent and well prepared.

Thai Aree
3592 N Milwaukee Ave
Chicago, IL 60641
(773) 725-6751

Anyone name a bagel shop 'Everything Bagel' yet? Apparently, everything bagel jokes have circulating on Twitter the last few months.

Jason Kotke wrote:Come on, Everything Bagels, who you tryin' to fool? You got like 6 seasonings on there. That's a lot, but it ain't everything.
-- @patrickmarkryan

Hey everything bagel, you don't have everything on you, so shut the f*** up.
-- @ihatejeffbaker

This "everything bagel" is great. Has onions, poppy seeds, garlic, cheese, q-tips, Greenland, fear, sandals, wolves, teapots, crunking...
-- @johnmoe

You call this an everything bagel?! Where are the french fries & the pizza & the pot brownie & the Taco Bell fire sauce?!
-- @ronniewk

Flossing after an everything bagel is important b/c as the name implies, you don't just have *something* in your teeth, you have every thing.
-- @phillygirl

Last time I had an everything bagel I got poppy seeds, Mira Sorvino, and Hegel's Phenomenology of Spirit all over my shirt.
-- @dwineman

The title "everything bagel" is a gross exaggeration.
-- @avphibes

The "everything bagel" really only has like three things. Just what I want for breakfast. Lies.
-- @missrftc

You might want to scale back on calling yourself an "everything bagel." I mean, right away I can see there are no M&M's on here.
-- @friedmanjon

I once ate at Diora and Ria in the same week. My admittedly sophomoric perception was that it was funny.

=R=

Rene G wrote:Certainly owners of hot dog stands seem fonder of puns than other restaurateurs. Here are some in and around Chicago (many are no longer in business): Dog Day Afternoon, Dog House, Dog Pound, First National Frank, Frankly Speaking, Frankly Yours, Franks A Lot, Franks a Million, Franks for the Memories, Hot Diggity Dawgs, Hot Diggity Dog, Hot Diggity Dogs, Hot Doug's, Hound Dogs, Irving's For Red Hot Lovers, Lulu's Hot Diggity Dog, Mustard's Last Stand, Red Hot Mamas, Relish the Thought, Three Dog Night, U Dawg U, Uncle Frank's, Underdog, Wiener and Still Champion, Wiener Take All, Wiener's Circle.

What, no Doggie-Style Dogs?

=R=

ronnie_suburban wrote:What, no Doggie-Style Dogs?

=R=

Ask and ye shall recieve.

Here's another: Olive or Twist

stevez wrote:Here's another: Olive or Twist

Yes, but the message is unclear. Should we all refuse to go there because Fagin abused his position and forced children into thievery or should we all patronize it because eventually Oliver comes out on top? I'm still trying to come to grips with this whole notion of measuring restaurants only on their names and not on whether they are good restaurants.