This discussion on hot dog chains brought up the restaurant Wienerschnitzel which does not serve wiener schnitzel. This reminded me of a restaurant that used to be near my house called Laksa which was, obviously, a vietnamese restaurant that served pho and vermicelli but not any laksa.
Any other examples of restaurants named after a food that doesn’t have that food on the menu?
In the UK there are several restaurants and chains that have ‘Wasabi’ in their name, but very few of these use ‘true wasabi’. Most use ‘western wasabi’, a kind of horseradish.
In my town there is a business named “Cedars Bakery”. Sounds like a sort-of North American store selling various breads and baked goods right?
Nope; it’s a Lebanese butcher shop / spice grocery store / take-out restaurant. The only thing remotely baked is one kind of pre-packed Pita bread they sell, clearly labeled as made in a different town’s big industrial plant (ie they just buy and re-sell it).
Bit of a stretch, but Outback Steakhouse doesn’t serve the uniformly gristled, overcooked mystery cuts of toughened beef I’ve always encountered in my outback Australian experience. Lift your game!
There’s a place in my mom’s neighborhood called Frank’s Falafel House. While they do have falafel, you have to look pretty closely at the menu to find it. Their top-ticket item seems to be gyros.
Back where I lived in Ventura, there was a terrific Mexican fast food place called The Green Burrito. Their star food item was a chile verde burrito, i.e., a green burrito. It was extremely good.
The Green Burrito was bought by/merged with Carl’s Jr. They still are called The Green Burrito on the signage, but they do not serve chile verde burritos anymore. Their stuff is at about the same level as Taco Bell now.
These posts bring to mind Quaker Steak & Lube, who 1) though they do have steaks on the menu, are known primarily for chicken wings, and 2) do not offer any sort of lubricant.