incredibly stupid food / resto names [General]

2008 Feb 22
I just got back from the cafeteria where I noticed they have "Otis Spunkmeyer" cookies. I don't think their marketing team really wants to know what kind of image that one conjures up for me, but I certainly won't be buying them.

I also avoid places with really stupid names, just because.

I guess maybe the popularity of Orville Redenbacher popcorn has made marketers look for "that next silly name that will hit the big time".

2008 Feb 22
Begs the question .... Who in their right mind would drink an ale called, "BogWater Dirty Brown Ale" !!!!!




OK ....... me. And real soon I'll have my first taste of that 'stupid' sounding product.


I betcha I know a 'person who studies fermentaion' around here, who would probably like a taste of the 'ol BogWater... if he or she hasn't already tried it., that is.









2008 Feb 22
See my other post CC - it doesn't "beg" any questions, it "raises" them :-)

But yes, actually, "Lugtread" is already on my list of really stupid names. (EDIT : and Steve already knows that) Mainly because nobody I know of (even farmers) knows what the heck it is.

But there is a tradition of outrageous names in the craft brewing industry. And it's beer, so they are already forgiven :-)

2008 Feb 22

2008 Feb 22
My current chef used to have a restaurant named "Thyme;s Short" - I which I personally think is kind of a silly name seeing as it was a fine dining resto, and the name suggests that you need to eat fast and get the h3ll out. It later became "A Moment in Thyme" , which makes more sense IMO.

Also, growing up we never went to "Fuddruckers" because my motherfound it in poor taste that they were "trying to get you to mess up and say a bad word" lol.

Someone at my restaurant was complaing about a Mexican resto in Saskatoon called "Avocado" - they thought it was stupid, I think it is cute!

2008 Feb 22
"Fuddruckers" ?

How about Mother Tuckers Food Experience ?, a buffet chain from down near Hamilton.... now called just Tuckers Market Place. ottawafoodies.com/vendor/1014

Story goes that people travelling up the 403 did not like the huge "Mother Tuckers" sign outside the chains head office and complained enough for them to not onlty bring down the sign but it led them to re-tool the whole name.
]
Oh yes.... the sign had HUGE letters for the words "Mother Tuckers" and little letters for the words "Food Experience"

How about 'Thyme and Again' ... Again ? Huh ??? I just don't get it.... or does it imply you'll go back 'again' and 'again' ??








2008 Feb 22
Hey Zy,

Thanks for the "begs the question" info. I'll stand... no no , I'll sit corrected.

Don't forget I'm from Cape Breton and we Capers use "irregardless", as well as "begs da question". They are in the Cape Breton Dictionary (Subtitled: 'Da Mudder Tung'). www.cbc.ca



PS: An Upper Canadian once told me that 'irregardless' was redundant-redundant. Now that begs..... whoops.... raises the question : "Is 'redundant-redundant' ... redundant ????".

2008 Feb 22
How about "Cumin & Goan", it's cute if you think it sounds like "coming & going", not so cute for a restaurant if you think of food poisoning. Probably not the best choice.

There is a wine called "Goats do Roam" a take off of course on Cotes de Rhone. In this case this is brilliant" marketing, riding the cote-tales (pun) of a more famous wine.

CaptainC - In Quebec that would be pronounced Hears-regardless... and that about sums it up.

2008 Feb 22
There's this chain of Pho restaurants in California.

Takes advantage of all the people who don't know that Pho is pronounced *Fuh* and not *Foh*

it's cute. :P

2008 Feb 22
Heres another play on words for people who don't know how to pronounce "PHO"
I think the english version is well fitting for this west coast resturant.

2008 Feb 22
I realise it's pronounced fuh as in "foot" with out the 't' and not foh as in "photon" without tho 'ton'.

but ..... boy are my peeps are so quick to correct me or look puzzled when I say "Let's go for some Pho(fuh)".

2008 Feb 22
My vietnamese co-worker told me it's "Fa". But I am still having trouble with the play-on-words in "Fa-20"

2008 Feb 22
Da Butcher - Ha! It's always time for a bowl... that's good. That reminds me... *cough cough*

I always get a kick out of Cock Sauce. Had a dinner party at a friend's house not long ago and we just couldn't let the cock sauce jokes stop... they kept coming! No pun intended!

2008 Feb 23
Haha, I love "Cock on the hill" Brand.

2008 Feb 23
One more stupid/funny name.

The A&K Lick-a-Chick www.atyp.com/aklickachick/, found in (Little) Bras D'Or, Cape Breton, NS, was about a 4 km hike from my folks place.

The chicken is quite like Yuckky Fried Chicken (I guess that would be YFC now), but more spicey, more tastey, more crispy ..... and most importantly, on the way to my favorite swimming spot, on the Bras D'Or Lakes.

One could swim from late morning till dark on a snack pack and a Hires Rootbeer. If ya got really hungry, we would steam up some wild mussels in a rusty 'ol can, over an open fire.

aaaaahhhhh .... those were the days...........


2008 Feb 23
Ah yes the Lick a Chick used to be outside Antigonish as well and used to be a big source of amusement for me and my brother as kids!

2008 Feb 24
It's been nine days since I ate there, and I'm STILL thinking of clever witticisms involving Dick's Drive-In and Dairy Dip.

I will say no more.

2008 Feb 24
You don't need a bad resto name to still have issues. What about the poor town of Dildo Nfld. I'm not sure if they have a Dildo Dairy Queen, but....

2008 Feb 24
Yes, a buddy of mine from the area used to tell me about the newspaper headline after the fish plant in Dildo reopened in the early 90s. Since it was typically the men on the boats, it was mainly women working in fish plants. So the headline apparently read "Women Ecstatic as Dildo Plant Re-Opens"

2008 Feb 24
HEading east down the 417 this weekend, I noticed a sign for a place called "Jacques' Trap". I assume it's a sports bar, so the name is fitting.

2008 Feb 25
I think "Jacques' Trap" is a sport theme bar but in it's former life it used to be a strip club, I guess they needed to keep the name low brow.



My own addition to the theme, while not all that bad is a chip stand in Gatineau called "Gaga patate" they serve a take on the pogo but rather than sausage is cheese, served with their own sweet mustard is actually quite a treat.

2008 Feb 25
Deep Fried Cheese Sticks.... sounds artery-hardening ... but in a good way.

2008 Feb 28
Was in 168 (New 168 Market ) last weekend.
I remembered this forum topic and whipped out my camera phone when I saw these.

Hahahahaha love it!

2008 Feb 28
sorry for the poor image quality though ;)

2008 Feb 28
Spotted dick always gives me a good chuckle but then again I am totally immature and cracking up over this entire thread.
I always thought Jack Astor's was stupid.

2008 Feb 28
Anyone here who rides OC Transpo knows all about spotted dick. That big poster of the upturned overripe banana... Get tested! LOL

2008 Feb 28
Actually, you can buy a tin of Heinz Spotted Dick from the Bulk Barn at Carlingwood shopping center (along with tinned sticky toffee pudding, and treacle) I've got a tin of the sticky toffee pudding!

2008 Mar 28
I hadn't noticed this thread before so pardon my delayed response!

Pete, I cannot confirm or deny the existence of a Dildo DQ but I do know there is a restaurant called "Kountry Kravins and Krafts". Cravings for what, I don't know!

The Dildo highway sign is very frequently stolen - as demonstrated by a couple of my girlfriends who went camping there a few years ago.

2008 Mar 28
Oops.. it's all my fault. If you now google the words Ottawa, and Dildo, the FIFTH answer (won't mention answers 1 through 5) is THIS Ottawa Foodies website. Sorry FreshFoodie ;-)

2008 Mar 28
hahaha this is too funny.

I've never understood that banana ad in the OC busses. Are they saying the speckled banana is a bad banana?

and Pete, what were you doing googling Ottawa and Dildo in the first place? hahaha

2008 Mar 28
This was my butcher in Munich...

2008 Mar 30
Oh, I just remembered, in a little town in BC there is a restaurant called "Country Citchen". I pronounce it affectionatly as "Country Sit-chen".

2008 Mar 31
I wish I'd had my camera with my in Grace Ottawa yesterday. On second thought, I should've bought this item.

There was a chicken soup base there. In French: Coq. In English: Cock.

I nearly fell over laughing. I'm so bringing Mr. Nanookie in next time so we can have a laugh.

2008 Apr 10
Nanook funny you should say that because I picked up this little gem at Wal-Mart the other day. "Cock flavour" noodle soup!!


2008 Apr 10
I trust everyone here knows that cock (or coq) meant rooster long before it got applied to a part of the male anatomy.

As in : "He's the cock of the block".

So these 'cock products' aren't really all that funny. They would be outrageous if thet were called the 'C' word (slang for a female anatomy part) instead.

Now back to regular scheduled viewing ...


2008 Apr 10
Speaking of cock, there's a restaurant on the QC side called "Au Coq", which is like a cheap(er) version of St-Hubert. I'd sit around the table and moan and groan "Au coq... AU COQ... AU COQ!!!", makes for a nice When Harry Met Sally moment.

2008 Apr 11
It was more the awesome translation into english.

Melody: it was actually that same brand!


2008 Apr 11
How about a toilet-themed restaurant called Modern Toilet in Taiwan and Hong Kong?

Eating from your toilet bowl! Go Pee-pee or go poo-poo? LOL.



2008 Apr 11
Ashley - I guess my sense of humour isn't what is used to be... I believe I am grossed out.

2008 Apr 11
Speaking of eating from the toilet bowl - today at the brewers' lunch at the Clocktower (Pete, where were you this time?) one guy was telling a story about when his kids were young, a trick that he played on them. He had just scrubbed the toilet bowl (especially well) and took some chocolate frosting from a can and smeared some on it. He then called all the kids into the bathroom and started (pretend) ranting and raving about someone not cleaning the toilet up when they were done in the bathroom. Then he proclaimed "I know how to tell who it was - I'll do the taste test" and he carefully put his finger into it so as to get some that had not touched the bowl, then he stuck the finger in his mouth and made facial expressions as though to determine who it was.

He said his one son is now 27 and is still totally grossed out by the experience - and that was some 20 years ago :-)

2008 Apr 11
Zymurgist - oooooooo!

Does the 27 year old and his awol brother (who wouldn't be after that) still visit their Dad in the institution? That has got to be sickest thing I've ever heard!

2008 Apr 11
This all sounds soooo Freudian. As in, how potty training can have an impact on your whole life.

2008 Apr 13
Yeah I know what cock means but I still found it funny. *shrugs* I told you I was immature. :P

2008 Apr 13
I bet if you google cock, and ottawa... the foodie site will rate pretty high. Zym.. sorry I couldn't make the Clocktower gig... I had already agreed to have lunch on Friday with an old friend I hadn't seen in months. Too bad I missed the story.. would've had me in stitches!

Ashley... I would SO order that potty food...

2008 Apr 14
P-I-O, you may also want to order your drink in this mini-urinal (if you order tea, I am sure it will be yellow color in the urinal, ha ha).

I am not sure if it is a good place to take someone on a first date. But if eating from a toilet-shaped bowl and siting on real toilet bowls for your meal are your thing, then this is the place for you. Ha ha ha...


2008 Apr 22
On a road trip through New Hampshire and Vermont we saw a cafe called
"Road Kill Cafe". I always wondered who would have the nerve to stop ;)