The Grammar Diva’s Gastronomical Greasy Spoon

If you owned a restaurant, what would you name it? Joe’s Place (substitute your own name)? Main Street Tavern? Cooked? The Grill? 

I recently read that there is a trend for names of restaurants to be adverbs. I thought I would find out, so I looked up the top thirty restaurants in my city. I found no adverbs. Did you ever hear of a restaurant called Slowly? Deliciously? When? I didn’t think so.

I did find one restaurant whose name is a complete sentence—an exclamatory one, with two exclamation points—What a Chicken!! It is actually a Mexican restaurant. I have been there once, and I won’t forget it. I apparently cut my tongue with a chip and nearly bled to death. But enough about me….

No adverbs, but I did find a few restaurants whose names were adjectives, actually past participles: Twisted, Seared, and Sauced (wine, steak, and ribs in that order). Those are three separate places.

Possessives were pretty popular, understandably. Just look at the title of this post. We have Gator’s Rustic Burger and His Creole Friends, Sax’s Joint, Chili Joe’s, Alfredo’s Italian Restaurant, Sarah’s Eats and Sweets, and Brewster’s Beer Garden. Makes sense that people like to name restaurants after themselves or their kids— or someone imaginary.

Some restaurants are named for their location: The River Front Cafe, The Water Street Bistro, Central Market (not actually on Central, but in the center of downtown), 256 North,  and Fourth and Sea, which is also a play on words. It’s a fish and chips place at Fourth Street and C. 

Many restaurants are solitary nouns: 

• Pearl—Someone’s name perhaps?
• Wishbone
• Crocodile (I think it’s French…)
• Stockhome–Another play on words. Scandinavian food (or the home of soup?)

Some owners name their restaurants by defining what they offer you: The Speakeasy, The Shuckery, Pub Republic, and Brasil BBQ.  You pretty much know what you are going to get there.

So what is left? Verbs? No, I didn’t see any verbs. But I saw a couple of names that didn’t fit into any category. 

• Cafe Zazzle. What is a zazzle? Maybe a cross between dazzle and zing???It says it is a cafe, but it really isn’t. It has a fusion menu. Kind of vegetarian, kind of Asian. Catchy, nonetheless. Wouldn’t’ you want to check it out?
• The Drawing Board. Beats me. 

So now, what is with the goats? I have heard of goat yoga. But in my general vicinity we have the Wild Goat Bistro, Flying Goat Coffee, and Crooked Goat Brewing.  Are goats wild? flying? or crooked?

 

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Grammar Diva News

Come to Writer’s World, sponsored by the Bay Area Independent Publishers Association! I will speaking about the Wonderful World of Words at 11 a.m. The event is on Saturday, September 8, at Dominican University in San Rafael, CA. Click here for more info.

On the same day as Writer’s World—in the afternoon from 2-5—come celebrate Petaluma authors at the Petaluma branch of the Sonoma County Library! Click here for more info.

I am waiting for the proofs from Amazon for To Comma or Not to Comma. Will be available in paperback in a week or less on Amazon. It will be available in a couple of weeks on all other online bookstores and to order from any bookstore.