What's In a Name

***Blogger Notes: This is a "restaurant review" I wrote a couple of weeks ago. A few of the identifying facts have been changed to protect somebody random***


Would a rose by any other name smell quite as sweet? Possibly. However a place named Paulie's Fish and Chips sans fish items would definitely not smell the same. We arrived at this restaurant last night expecting to order some clams as an appetizer and I was considering the shrimp basket. Water came quickly to the table along with the owner (who was serving) and he began to tell us about the rockfish. I half-listened, knowing I wouldn't be ordering the rockfish special. But no, he wasn't telling us about the special. He was informing us that rockfish was the only seafood they had in the enitre restaurant. "Interesting", I thought to myself but then thought "They must have sold a ton of fish this week to be out of everything else" He pointed to the burgers on the regular menu, letting us know that's all we could order from there other than the rockfish. He then handed us a separate menu that consisted of entirely mexican food.



I love mexican food. I truly do. However, I rarely order it out because it is near impossible to find anyone who makes good mexican food at a restaurant. I seriously don't even go to Mexican restaurants very often knowing that I prefer my sister's enchiladas, my mother's burritos, etc. But these were our choices - rockfish, burgers or mexican. At this point I considered walking out. But I didn't. Mainly because the owner knew my husband and my husband wouldn't want to do that to someone he knows. The owner returned for our order. I had mulled over the choices, still not sure what I would get. I wasn't ready yet. At this point, my husband asked about the clams (just in case they hadn't been mentioned but were still really an option) and we were then informed that they would no longer be selling anything off their seafood menu except the rockfish. They would keep the burgers but be serving mainly their mexican cuisine.



I was taken aback. How could this be? My husband loved their clams! (even though he'd only had them twice). So my husband asked the logical question - were they planning to change their name? The answer shocked me. No, they were probably going to keep it the same. But is it possible to have a restaurant with "Fish and Chips" in the name and yet be a mostly mexican restaurant? The locals will probably overlook it, considering it to be a quirky landmark. But any tourist coming to town this summer (and we do have a large tourism industry) would be appalled, outraged even!



I decided to give the enchilada a try, but ala carte and with chips and salsa. The chips and salsa arrived quickly and were decent. My husband knew at this point that I was in an uproar. I'm very particular about names and I decided that this place needed a new name and I was going to come up with it. I started to throw out names - Paulie's No Fish and Chips. Paulie's We Used to Sell Fish and Chips. Paulie's Burger and Fries. Paulie's Mostly Mexican. Paulie's Don't Expect Fish and Chips Here. My husband decided at this point it would be a good idea to distract me. He knew the three large televisions in the room wouldn't be enough, but he spied my weakness - card games.



Yes, this "Paulie's We Don't Serve What's On Our Menu" had thought ahead to have games there to keep me from obsessing over this basic lack of protocol. We began to play a game of Pokey and it did keep me from thinking about the name issue for a little while. My husband won once, I won once and then the food arrived. I must note here that the service was exceptionally fast. This is probably their best selling point (other than having card games).



I must admit that I didn't excpect much from their mexican and it didn't disappoint (no expectations means no disappointment), but it also didn't wow me. It was mediocre at best. My sister makes better enchiladas. Actually, I even make better enchiladas. So I trudged through my food, not disappointed, but not thrilled either. But my husband insisted I try his burger. He loves a good hamburger and he promised this one was amazing. I took a bite, closed my eyes and chewed. Immediately I was transported in my mind to a sunny, summer day - barbecue in the backyard, the sweet scent of summer all around. It was Heavenly. And I was shocked. It was here that I decided to go into the restaurant review business.



I also knew at that moment they must change their name to Paulie's Burgers of Summer - but they won't. And every time I drive by their sign I will voice my disapproval. And my husband will roll his eyes at me.