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Not a resto, but a market near my house; Hung Long Asian Market. Hate to say I always snicker on entering under the sign...
Have always wanted to open the 'Eat Up, Pay Quick, and Get Out" dinner.
Excellent from scratch dinner food, served very well by superb wait staff who flip shit the entire time, and encourage you to follow through like the name says :)
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Here are a few places I have seen around the country
Grumpy Dicks (I think it's closed now) in Fort Lauderdale
Pho Que (Near Dallas)
The Nut House (Fort Wayne, IN)
Chicken Out (Washington DC)
Fuglies (not a restaurant, but a liquor store) in Merritt Island, FL.
Munchies 420 in Sarasota FL.
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U. Better Liqour........Thank you Uncle Better! Actually, I think the sign read University Better Liqour, but somehow the bulbs in the "niversity" never got replaced!!!
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re: grayelf
As I said somewhere else, this is even odder if you look up the dictionary definition of "dork" Kinda reminds me of the old joke about the two old ladies who have never had a hot dog before and order some from a cart after reciveing them one opens the wrappings and looks. she then turns to the other and says "And what part did you get?"
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In my current location of Central Florida, my favorite is Yellow Dog Eats (a gourmet cafe and wine bar).
In my home town of Amarillo, Tx and the vicinity:
Cattle Call (awesome BBQ)
Feldman's Wrong Way Diner (absolutely amazing chicken fried steak, named after a character in Gilligan's Island)
and the local convenience store chain that I frequented, Toot'n'Totum or as we call it still, Fart and Fetch It
And Bahama Buck's Island Ice (snow cones and such) -
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just recently on diners, drive-ins and dives, guy went to a place called "pizzalchick."
oh, don't think those nasty thoughts.....think "pizza, salad, chicken." get your mind out of the gutter. ;-).
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the thing is, this aging hippie dude and his family made some good lookin' food! -
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the gobbler supper club: http://www.lileks.com/institute/motel...
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i love lileks' site! -
There used to be a place called Grumpy Dicks in Fort Lauderdale, FL area.
Going Bonkers (more for kids type restuarant with a play ground and arcade. Lewisville, TX
Red Neck Heaven Lewisville, TX
The Nut house in Fort Wayne, Indiana. (It's not a restaurant, but they have assorted nuts and popcorn, and desserts and snacks)
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Not funny, but kinda cool.I have a concept for a grilled cheese/grilled sammy resturaunt called Melted. It would be a casual dining, no tipping joint that served the best tomato soup you ever had for dunking, in house artisinal breads, and sammys with conventional and really unique cheeses and meats. I would even served grilled dessert sammys. Alas, I could never procure a business loan and have zero resturaunt experience, so it will never happen.
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In Chicago there is restaurant company that used to have a place names. named Jonathon Livingston Seafood.
also in Chicago, Wiener and Still Champion, The Wiener's Circle. and Top Dog, all hot dog places. Plus a bar called Peek Inn which has kind of a Killroy Was Here logo.
in Wisconsin I've seen the Cave Inn.
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Probably shouldn't bring back this thread but I can't resist mentioning Thai Tanic in Washington, DC. It's been mentioned elsewhere but not here.
Other punny restaurant names are noted in:
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The Sleepless Goat (Kingston, Canada)
Common Ground (Kingston, Canada)Helt Rått (Stavanger, Norway - in Norwegian it means "completely raw" - but also slang for "totally cool" - it's a sushi place)
OH! And Philthy McNasty's - bar that serves food - chain as well I think, but I just thought it always sounded horrible!!
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re: K K
"WORLD'S WORST HAMBURGHER"
existed for sometime here in Toronto near the Eaton Centre. I was never intrigued enough to enter the place and now it's gone. A testament to a terrible name for an eating establishment.
also
"WORD OF MOUTH" (Saturday Ribs)
This is the name of an underground rib place in Don Mills, a northern suburb in Toronto. I've tasted their celestial ribs at a Saturday poker game but have no idea of how to order them for myself. The card host will not devulge any information other than they are available ONLY on Saturdays and that you have to be referred to get delivery. A clandestine rib business?? Strange, however, the ribs were some of the best if eaten and the poker game is always well attended.
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Mr. Cat Chow remembered that in Van Nuys there is a hot dog place called "Law Dogs" and on a certain day of the week you could go get a hot dog and free legal advice or something like that. I googled it and yep, there it is!
Law Dogs
Free legal advice Wednesday nights 7 p.m.
14114 Sherman Way, Van Nuys, CA 91405›1 Reply -
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In South San Francisco, there is a famous italian-american bakery, Galli's Sanitary Bakery. It's been on Grand Aveneue since 1909.
I guess when they opened up they had to convince people that it was clean, because the stereotype was that Italians were not clean (not true of course!). The cakes are great, but wouldn't you think given the history and the times, they would opt for Galli's Bakery or Galli's Italian Bakery and do away with the "Sanitary"?
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re: Cat Chow
In Seattle, the Sanitary Market,is a smaller market that once competed with the Pike Place Market (it is located across the street) and remains in operation to this day, although it is now considered a part of that market. The "Sanitary" part of the name came from the fact that no horses were allowed inside, which is a concern long since rendered obsolete.
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Near Olympia, Washington, I remember a place called "The Place." I don't remember a sign, but on the front of the menu it read "since there's no place like this place anywhere near this place, then this must be The Place." And there really wasn't much of anything at all near it.
Place in downtown Olympia was the "Herb and Onion," which was also the "Urban Onion"--one name on the outside, the other on the menu.
In Portland Oregon, "Old Wives' Tale."
In Tacoma, Washington, there was a coffee shop near the Law School called "Grounds for Coffee."
In San Francisco, there is a coffee shop called "Sacred Grounds" practically in the shadow of a huge Catholic Church.
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Here in Ottawa, Canada there's an Indian restaurant called Cumin and Goan.
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Somewhere along the road through Saugas, Ma there's a restaurant name that always made me smile as I passed by: Beau Thai
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Driving through Greektown in Toronto the other day and noticed a sign for a restaurant that was either in the process of opening or closing--couldn't tell which.
Sign Said "PHO PA". It was either a nod to the Greek neighborhood or and admission of a soon to be made mistake(faux pas)
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Here's another one from Rhode Island. For many years, on the outskirts of beautiful downtown Pawtucket, was the First Chance/Last Chance Cafe. If you were heading downtown, you saw First Chance on the sign. Heading away from downtown, you saw Last Chance.
Now it's just the East Ave. Cafe and they don't really cater to local rummies, from what I hear. So I guess that's a good thing.
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re: bbbron
We have "Rockefellers" in Virginia Beach serving the next best Oysters Rockefeller next to Antoine's in New Orleans....it's so close to the original recipe & there's NO spinach (authentic) - a combination of oysters, parsley, and parmesan cheese, topped with a rich sauce of butter, herbs and breadcrumbs & the real secret is the all-important ingredient Herbsaint (or substitute Pernod).
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Not nearly as funny as some of these, but in Cleveland we have a gourmet grilled cheese place called Melt Bar and Grilled, a soup stand called Souper Market and a southern joint called the Town Fryer. Also, when a rival Vietnamese place called No. 1 Pho set up shop a door down from Pho Hoa on Superior Avenue, Pho Hoa staked a claim to better soup by renaming itself Superior Pho.
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a bar on beverly near virgil in los angeles: "My Brother's Place"
a bar (now closed) in cardiff-by-the-sea: "The Office"
my favorite, however, was a sign on a bakery (now also closed) on wabash @ evergreen in east la (near el tepeyac) which said: "Wedding Cakes for All Ocassions".
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Here on the Outer Banks of North Carolina...
Awful Arthur's Oyster Bar
Dirty Dick's Crab House
and, my favorite, a Mexican take-out joint in Corolla called Donkey Hotay's...cause the owners were crazy enough to open a southwest food joint in an area that features seafood...crazy like Don Quixote! -
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Just to add:
Yeung Fong (DC)
Crabby Dick's (chain)And in my hometown there used to be a place called the American Burger Center, but the irony was there was a huge chicken statue out front.
Thanks for this thread it was so funny. I bet there would be an even better one for beauty shops. I lived near the Curl Up N Dye.
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re: tochipotle
In the 70's In-N-Out Burger used to have bumper stickers that had their name, but people would always scratch out the B and the R to show "In-N-Out Urge". I think that the burger is sinfully good, but apparently the marketing department didn't like it. Now the bumper stickers just say In-N-Out.
But yeah, the double entendre has always been part of the appeal, to say nothing of it being the fast food burger around.
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I don't know if it should be called "great" but one of my all time favorite restaurant names is the Irregardless Cafe, which is in Raleigh, NC.
Here in New Jersey we have The Frog and The Peach in New Brunswick and Lo-Fatt-Chow in Flemington. The former offers fine dining; the latter doesn't!
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re: ricepad
Yes, and that's where the restaurant in New Brunswick (and several others in the US) got it's name. Pete and Dud's F&P was located in Dartmoor (lots of free parking on the moors) and served only one "appetizer", namely spawn cocktail.
Here's a transcript of the original skit:
http://www.davehitt.com/july99/frogsk...
I don't think anyone ever picked up on another restaurant name mentioned in the skit - The Vole and Pea!
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On the University of Florida campus in Gainesville, whose colors are orange and blue, is a little breakfast/coffee shop called the Orange and Brew. In Tallahassee, a church coffee house is called Holy Grounds (but I suppose if it were a synagogue, it could be called HeBrews.)
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How about "A Moveable Feast"? It's a health food place in town, but it is a little disgusting to me, I mean, after all, isn't all food that? LOL!
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I kinda like Grateful Bread.
http://www.gratefulbreadbaking.com/
There's also a grocery store called Erewhon, which was supposed to be Nowhere spelled backwards.
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Not a restaurant, but I've always been amused by the name of this Italian bakery in Toronto called North Pole Bakery.
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In Toronto it is "Reliable Fish & Chips". After all isn't that what you want in your fried fish - reliability?
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re: mercyteapot
George Berkowitz's father Harry owned a store called "Legal Cash Market" in Inman Square. The "Legal" referred to the Legal Green Stamps that they gave out. These stamps were forerunners to S & H Green Stamps -- but made by the same company. George opened a fish market next door to the "Legal Cash Market" and then a seafood restaurant -- called "Legal Seafood."
You can watch a little historic slide show on their website:
http://www.legalseafoods.com/index.cf...
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There's a liquor store here in Calgary called: Liquor Box.... naughty naughty naughty lol.
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re: danhole
The classic one for liquor stores is of course Bunghole Liquors in Mass:
http://www.bungholeliquors.com/histor...
Pictures of that all over the web.
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In Port Chester, NY there was a greasy spoon establishment called "Pat's Hubba Hubba"
that was owned and operated by a very nice elderly couple. They had chili, fries, burgers, dogs, that kind of fare. It was especially great at 2am after a night out of drinking.I had this hazing routine I'd do to unsuspecting new hires at work. When they would step away from their desk, I'd leave a note stating that a Pat Hubbard called, and to call him or her back at .... and I'd leave the number of Pat's Hubba Hubba. What a hoot to watch the expressions on the newbies faces when the person at the other end of the line says ' There's nobody here by that name, this is Pat's Hubba Hubba.' ... I'm laughing to myself as I type this. Hilarious !!!
I was much younger then -- you'll have to excuse my behavior. : )›1 Reply-
re: Cheese Boy
I miss Hubba water!
My favorite Pat's Hubba Hubba story is from my brother - he was there late in the evening when a fight broke out. The guy working the grill picked up the phone, pressed speed dial and said - "it's Pats," then hung up. The cops pulled up one minute later. Another typical PC night!
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re: LabRat
Correction, the Dive Bar in Worcester, MA is an awesome place... Alec has beers you've only dreamt about. He's really done a lot with the place, GO THERE and you will ask yourself why you haven't gone there sooner. Ps. he's also got some "boutique" type liquors some of the craft breweries are now producing.
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In Toronto, there's a Chinese restaurant in the east in the Beaches area with the official name of Garden Gate. For years, it had a huge neon sign out front that said Garden Gate, Good Food, but both "ds" in Good Food burnt out like maybe 30 years ago and was never replaced. It looked like Goof. Now the restaurant is popularly known by all and sundry, even beyond the Beaches, as The Goof.
Here's a photo of the old neon sign of The Goof -
http://www.doublecrossed.ca/index.php... -
A couple of years ago I drove past an Indian fast food place in NYC that was called "Curry in a Hurry"...I laughed so hard I almost ran into a bunch of pedestrians!
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When I was growing up, in that bastion of culinary greatness, Johnstown, PA, there was a vegetarian restaurant called Lettuce Eat.
Here in San Diego, there used to be a Vietnamese restaurant called Chiu Ahn (Chew On). I never did find out if that was meant to be a play on words or just a very odd coincidence.
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"The No Name" in Boston. There was no sign. That's what everyone called it. That was its name.
www.littlecomptonmornings.blogspot.com›3 Replies -
There used to be a shack on an island off the coast of Pattaya, Thailand that had a sign that advertised "Food & Dope". Here in NH, the Roadkill Cafe recently went out of business. I've always wanted to open a restaurant called "Chix, Flix and Lix" that served fried chicken, rented movies and sold ice cream cones. The sign would read downwards so you'd get the XXX effect.
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re: whs
The Road Kill Cafe in Sturgis, SD is probably the most well-known, but there are a lot of (unrelated) others:
http://www.road-kill-cafe.com/address...
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There used to be a restaurant in Houston named either "Richard's Head" or "Dick's Head" and their logo, at a glance, was a caricature of a man's face, but if you looked closely it was, ah, much more obscene. Just picture a long nose with jowls for cheeks. It was a favorite hangout for waiters.
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There used to be a restaurant off the West Side Highway in Manhattan called Pasquale and Wong's. Yes, they served Italian and Chinese food. One current cleverly named spot: A Salt and Battery, the popular Brit takeout place for fish n chips (and deep fried Mars bars!).
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There was a bar in Lexington KY near the UK campus called "The Bearded Clam" back in the 80's/early 90's. They got shut down because the coke they were selling wasn't the kind you drink. I always wondered at the time how they could afford their 25 cent draft beer thursdays.....
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Out of Grants Pass Oregon there was a restaurant called the Boarding House Reach
At UC Davis the Student Counseling center was called the First Resort and the on-campus pub, where I worked, the Last Resort.
Coffee shop in Berkeley - Sufficient Grounds
Bar in SF The White Swallow.
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Nothing hillarious but some amusing ones....
> Alibi Room (Trailer Park bar in West L.A.)
> Dick's Last Resort (San Diego bar)
> O.K. Chinese Food (Monterey Park)
> C.O. JONES (wannabe Mexican place in the East Coast)
> Pink Taco (wannabe Mexican joint in Arizona)
> Vitaminas para Hombres (Mariscos truck in L.A.)
> La Venganza del Emperador Moctezuma (Tijuana taco stand) -
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Al the Wop, an Italian place in the otherwise completely Chinese Locke, California.
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stuff yer face in new brunswick, n.j. gets my vote. mario batali worked there between classes at rutgers.
here's a link:
http://www.stuffyerface.com/ -
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There is a Nachomama's in suburban St. Louis, too.
A good name for a Southern soul food and seafood restaurant in Plainfield, NJ is Freshwater's. Turns out the chef's last name is Freshwater. I always thought it was the perfect name.
A bit of topic, but a great restaurant sign is in Brattleboro, Vt. A steakhouse with a towering sign reading "STEAK" closed and became a Chinese restaurant. This restaurant, called Panda North, removed two of the letters and the sign now proclaims "TEA." (visible from Interstate 91)
Great food at all three places, by the way.
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There used to be a place in Harrisburg called "All My Chicken" and it was a roadside take-out chicken joint. I also recall in Ocean City MD a place called Big Pecker's Bar & Grill and another place called The Brass Balls Saloon.
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re: Lucia
And just Joe Mama's in Pittsburgh. http://www.joemamas.com/
Drive by it every day now.
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There's a small local chain in Buffalo with the odd combination of chicken wings (of course) and Chinese take-out, called "Ying's Wings & Things".
There's also a small neighborhood Chinese restaurant in Syracuse call Rong Cheng. I was always afraid to pay in cash.
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I always thought Fudruckers was a rather strange name for a restaurant. There used to be a place in Boston's Chinatown called, O Wat Joi.
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There used to be a place in Nashville - and might still be there - called:
Noshville
Always loved that name.............
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There used to be a dive in lower Manhattan that had a neon sign out front the said, "BAR" but the neon didn't work on the top of the "B" so it was called the Ear Bar.
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There's a bar in College Station, home of Texas A&M, called The Library. Very useful when telling parents where you spend your time.
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There's a pho restaurant near Seattle called "What the Pho." I'd be willing to bet it's not the only one...
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re: roma_girl
http://www.flickr.com/photos/abulafia...
Not sure if it's photoshopped, but funny regardless.
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In the late 50s-early 60s there was a place in Morro Bay (or Cayucos?), California, named or sub-named something like, "Chat and Chew the Terrible Food". Our parents, brother, and I ate there--don't know if for the food or the name.
Later in the early 70s my fist wife and I (and any others) would make an I-5 stop somewhere between Fresno and Eugene at (as the lighted sign visible from the freeway said) "Andy and Chong's American and Korean Restaurant".
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A terrific Mexican place here in New Canaan, CT is named Tequila Mockingbird!
And a take-out food shop in town, which serves up soups, salads, sandwiches and two or three hot entrées with sides daily, is named I Made It Myself, so when the dinner is served up at home, and appreciative family members ask, "Gosh, where did you get this awesome meatloaf?" the host or hostess can reply honestly...
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re: WendyBinCT
Hi Wendy - I grew up in New Canaan, but there were no creative restaurant names when I lived there. Even our beloved Deli-Bake is gone, Ive heard. I like the notion of a bar called "He's Not Here". It reminds me of one that was in Norwalk called "The Office" (as in "Im working late at The Office" or "Im meeting someone at The Office" etc.
Now I live in Houston and would get a laugh when I passed the Chinese restaurant on the Gulf Freeway named "Yummy Chow"
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