# Inexplicably Stupid Restaurant Concepts **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [April 11, 2017, 4:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/inexplicably-stupid-restaurant-concepts/784245 "2017-04-11T16:50:10Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2017, 10:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/inexplicably-stupid-restaurant-concepts/784245/21 "2017-04-11T22:11:08Z")
> [@filmore](#): > > Saving money on utensils is probably not the case. The way you generally eat at a crawfish boil is with your hands, whether at a restaurant or in your backyard. You could use utensils, but it would be odd in the same way that eating NY pizza with a fork and knife is odd. > > Typically the tables have some type of disposable covering, like newspaper, to help with cleanup. I was gonna say. If I’m at a crawfish boil, I expect to get the damned things intact, not gutted for me. That’s part of the charm of a boil. (Along with the yummy potatoes and corn boiled in the spiced cooking liquid.) Plus some people (like me), enjoy sucking the heads, too, for a bit more of that crawfish punch. If you’re not into that then, yeah, get the etoufee or something. But this is a restaurant named “Boiling Seafood Crawfish.” If they _didn’t_ serve crawfish this way, I’d be pissed, because that’s the expectations the name of the restaurant sets for me. (OK, I don’t know about the plastic bag thing, but everything else sounds pretty right.) I mean, just google image search “crawfish boil.” ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2017, 10:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/inexplicably-stupid-restaurant-concepts/784245/22 "2017-04-11T22:13:31Z")
For me, I don’t quite get the whole “sushi-on-a-conveyor-belt” idea. ---
**Author:** ![running\_coach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/running_coach/32/15836_2.png) [@running\_coach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/running_coach)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2017, 10:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/inexplicably-stupid-restaurant-concepts/784245/23 "2017-04-11T22:38:52Z")
> [@pulykamell](#): > > For me, I don’t quite get the whole “sushi-on-a-conveyor-belt” idea. As God is my witness, I thought sushi could fly. ---
**Author:** ![hogarth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hogarth/32/1773_2.png) [@hogarth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hogarth)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2017, 10:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/inexplicably-stupid-restaurant-concepts/784245/24 "2017-04-11T22:48:07Z")
[Poop Cafe, Toronto’s first toilet-themed dessert restaurant](http://www.blogto.com/eat_drink/2016/10/toronto_goes_wild_for_grand_opening_of_the_poop_cafe/) Nuff said. ---
**Author:** ![Amateur\_Barbarian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/59ef9b/32.png) [@Amateur\_Barbarian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Amateur_Barbarian)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2017, 11:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/inexplicably-stupid-restaurant-concepts/784245/25 "2017-04-11T23:08:22Z")
> [@snfaulkner](#): > > +100 for the fondue thing. Here’s $35, can I please cook my own food? Thanks!:rolleyes: There was a very popular and trendy place that was basically a fondue house, except that it had entree courses where you cooked small bites in boiling broth. Expensive, messy and kind of over priced in that the kitchen did little more than prep. I was the grump who didn’t like going there and then having to pay. Of course, it was the popular birthday choice for about a year’s worth of celebrations. ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2017, 11:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/inexplicably-stupid-restaurant-concepts/784245/26 "2017-04-11T23:15:11Z")
> [@hogarth](#): > > [Poop Cafe, Toronto’s first toilet-themed dessert restaurant](http://www.blogto.com/eat_drink/2016/10/toronto_goes_wild_for_grand_opening_of_the_poop_cafe/) > > Nuff said. Reminds me of [Modern Toilet Restaurant](http://www.moderntoilet.com.tw/en/index.asp), a 2009 concept started in Taiwan with apparently several outposts (I count 3 on the website–but I seem to remember it being more.) Also, apparently, there was a [restaurant with poo-flavored curry on the menu](http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/japanese-restaurant-selling-poo-flavored-curry_us_55d792d8e4b0a40aa3ab0d4a) in Japan. ---
**Author:** ![Ukulele\_Ike](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/df788c/32.png) [@Ukulele\_Ike](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ukulele_Ike)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2017, 11:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/inexplicably-stupid-restaurant-concepts/784245/27 "2017-04-11T23:21:17Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > _Every_ restaurant is built on “that one corner”. The location isn’t special; the business is. Running a restaurant successfully is a lot harder than most people think, and requires a very different skill set, with the result that most restaurants fail very quickly. So you get one place open up somewhere, and unsurprisingly, it fails. It’s followed by another, and another, and unsurprisingly, they fail too. Eventually, if the place isn’t torn down, you get management in who has the knack for business, and you get a restaurant that sticks around for decades. Until the owner retires, and then the cycle starts again. Oddly enough, the best fictional depiction of running a restaurant (into the ground) was written and drawn by R. Crumb back in the '90s, in one of the “Mode O’Day” stories about a wannabe beautiful person in NoCal and her downscale pal Doggo, an anthropomorphic dog. Ended with Mode’s partner hitting the wine hard every evening, alienating the chef imported from the East, an armed robbery (neighborhood wasn’t quite gentrified yet), and Mode and Doggo climbing in the back window to steal stuff. ---
**Author:** ![Ukulele\_Ike](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/df788c/32.png) [@Ukulele\_Ike](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ukulele_Ike)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2017, 11:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/inexplicably-stupid-restaurant-concepts/784245/28 "2017-04-11T23:24:53Z")
“That one corner” in Manhattan was the SW corner of Bleecker and Leroy in the West Village. Only restaurant that lasted longer than six months was “Grandpa’s Place,” a red-sauce Italian-American joint owned by Ed Lewis of _The Munsters_ fame, and THAT closed after about two years. I think they burned the building to the ground, salted the earth, and built condos on the lot. Even now, they say no houseplant thrives there… ---
**Author:** ![Amateur\_Barbarian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/59ef9b/32.png) [@Amateur\_Barbarian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Amateur_Barbarian)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2017, 11:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/inexplicably-stupid-restaurant-concepts/784245/29 "2017-04-11T23:34:13Z")
Then there was the small kiosk place in the middle of an undistinguished strip mall, repurposed from a Fotomat or coffee place, selling BBQ. The sign looked like it had been made by a 12yo and had a very badly drawn pig (think greyhound with a fat face) and the name, which still haunts me… “Driv-A-Rib” Lasted about two months, IIRC. ---
**Author:** ![Shalmanese](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/45deac/32.png) [@Shalmanese](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shalmanese)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2017, 1:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/inexplicably-stupid-restaurant-concepts/784245/30 "2017-04-12T01:04:46Z")
> [@nearwildheaven](#): > > The novel “Cat’s Eye” had a character who proposed a restaurant where you select your own food out of the refrigerator, cook it yourself, and clean up afterwards. 😛 I dream about a restaurant like that. A place with pro grade equipment and every sort of utensil you would ever need, already stocked with ingredients so it’s never out of that one thing you forgot to get at the store, and just charges you for what you use. I could do without the cleaning part but if there were such a place that I could rent out by the hour, I could get rid of my entertainment space at home and just use that space any time I wanted to host a dinner party. ---
**Author:** ![Isamu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/7c8e57/32.png) [@Isamu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Isamu)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2017, 1:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/inexplicably-stupid-restaurant-concepts/784245/31 "2017-04-12T01:11:52Z")
> [@Chefguy](#): > > There was a restaurant in Anchorage that was apparently trying to riff off of Kramer’s “make-your-own-pizza” idea. It lasted about 30 seconds. Make your own pizza sounds like a great idea, but people have no self-restraint and always add too much. Pizza is one area where less is more, and where ingredients that comlement eachother are vitally important. ---
**Author:** ![Annoying\_Buzz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/eb8c5e/32.png) [@Annoying\_Buzz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Annoying_Buzz)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2017, 1:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/inexplicably-stupid-restaurant-concepts/784245/32 "2017-04-12T01:16:23Z")
> [@pulykamell](#): > > For me, I don’t quite get the whole “sushi-on-a-conveyor-belt” idea. Personally, I love them (gotta avoid the really cheap ones, though). Same for the Korean BBQ places that give you a plate of seasoned raw meat and a charcoal grill. The appeal comes partly from the quality of the meat and other dishes, but mainly the quantity of the alcohol provided with it. ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2017, 1:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/inexplicably-stupid-restaurant-concepts/784245/33 "2017-04-12T01:17:14Z")
> [@Shalmanese](#): > > I dream about a restaurant like that. A place with pro grade equipment and every sort of utensil you would ever need, already stocked with ingredients so it’s never out of that one thing you forgot to get at the store, and just charges you for what you use. I could do without the cleaning part but if there were such a place that I could rent out by the hour, I could get rid of my entertainment space at home and just use that space any time I wanted to host a dinner party. I was just in Budapest a few weeks ago and I spotted this [DIY restaurant](https://dailynewshungary.com/budapest-makery-hungarys-first-diy-restaurant/) that is somewhat along those lines. Basically, you order a dish, get the ingredients, a video for how to make it, and cook your own food. No, I didn’t visit it, but it does seem like it could be a fun “date night” type of thing to do. ---
**Author:** ![Ukulele\_Ike](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/df788c/32.png) [@Ukulele\_Ike](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ukulele_Ike)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2017, 1:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/inexplicably-stupid-restaurant-concepts/784245/34 "2017-04-12T01:18:47Z")
I’ve been to breweries out in Montana and Wyoming where they keep a big grill hot outside and sell you raw chicken and steak, marinated and not, cheap…like $5 for a chicken breast, $10 for a sirloin. Every seasoning you’d want for a dry rub is set out on a table next to the grill. Nice lady from a local farm is on hand to sell you homegrown peppers, onions, potatoes, corn, anything else you want to throw on that grill. You stand there with a freshly pulled delicious beer in hand and cook dinner for your family, who are all drinking freshly pulled delicious beer at a picnic table thirty feet away. That was nice. ---
**Author:** ![jackdavinci](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jackdavinci/32/3259_2.png) [@jackdavinci](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jackdavinci)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2017, 1:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/inexplicably-stupid-restaurant-concepts/784245/35 "2017-04-12T01:21:07Z")
> [@Johnny\_Ecks](#): > > When I was a kid in the early eighties a mall in my area had a “Sophie’s Choice” themed restaurant. Didn’t last long. > > Also, anyone who opens a place on that one corner- you know the one. Has anything there lasted longer than six months? So there were two menu items and you are only allowed to order one and the other one gets thrown away? ---
**Author:** ![Two\_Many\_Cats](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/8dc957/32.png) [@Two\_Many\_Cats](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Two_Many_Cats)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2017, 1:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/inexplicably-stupid-restaurant-concepts/784245/36 "2017-04-12T01:44:34Z")
> [@jackdavinci](#): > > So there were two menu items and you are only allowed to order one and the other one gets thrown away? HA!! ---
**Author:** ![nearwildheaven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/90db22/32.png) [@nearwildheaven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nearwildheaven)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2017, 2:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/inexplicably-stupid-restaurant-concepts/784245/37 "2017-04-12T02:03:46Z")
> [@Shalmanese](#): > > I dream about a restaurant like that. A place with pro grade equipment and every sort of utensil you would ever need, already stocked with ingredients so it’s never out of that one thing you forgot to get at the store, and just charges you for what you use. I could do without the cleaning part but if there were such a place that I could rent out by the hour, I could get rid of my entertainment space at home and just use that space any time I wanted to host a dinner party. The closest thing I can think of is my local VFW hall, or some churches which have commercial kitchens that can indeed be rented by the hour by anyone willing to pay; however, you do have to bring in your own food. People who make cooked food for farmer’s markets, and live in an area where it must be prepared in a commercial kitchen, are common renters for these facilities. ---
**Author:** ![MEBuckner](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mebuckner/32/2896_2.png) [@MEBuckner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MEBuckner)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2017, 2:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/inexplicably-stupid-restaurant-concepts/784245/38 "2017-04-12T02:12:32Z")
> [@Johnny\_Ecks](#): > > When I was a kid in the early eighties a mall in my area had a “Sophie’s Choice” themed restaurant. Didn’t last long. "Kids eat free! …Well, _one_ of them does." ---
**Author:** ![Joey\_P](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/919ad9/32.png) [@Joey\_P](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Joey_P)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2017, 2:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/inexplicably-stupid-restaurant-concepts/784245/39 "2017-04-12T02:40:34Z")
> [@Johnny\_Ecks](#): > > When I was a kid in the early eighties a mall in my area had a “Sophie’s Choice” themed restaurant. Didn’t last long. > > Also, anyone who opens a place on that one corner- you know the one. Has anything there lasted longer than six months? There’s a place in Milwaukee, used to be a Sizzler. Back when it was a Sizzler there was a an E.coli outbreak including the death of a 3 year old girl. Soon after the restaurant closed, someone I know made the comment that the place should never be a restaurant again, they should just turn it into an office building or a store or something. Personally, I didn’t thing it would be that big of a dea. That was 17 years ago and since then, there’s probably been a half a dozen restaurants that have either started up in that building or moved to that location (must have cheap rent and I’ll bet all the equipment is brand new because of the first person after Sizzler putting in new stuff), and most of them last about a year, maybe two. Sure, maybe they just don’t do well for whatever reason. OTOH, I know some of them have had other places for many many years, moved here and are now gone. At least one already had another location, opened and closed this one and still have the first. Honestly, I’m surprised banks give people loans for this place. And, to be clear, it’s a great location. What sucks, for the restaurants that move there is that when they’re a few weeks from opening there’s always a small write-up in the newspaper, but it seems every single time, one of the first lines is 'hey, remember that Sizzler that killed the little girl…". Jeezus, stop saying that, it’s not helping, and we’re far enough out (nearly two decades) that a lot of people don’t remember it any more. Seems every time a new place opens, there’s an article like this one, just read the first line: [http://www.bizjournals.com/milwaukee/stories/2001/02/26/tidbits.html](http://www.bizjournals.com/milwaukee/stories/2001/02/26/tidbits.html) ---
**Author:** ![John\_Bredin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/96bed5/32.png) [@John\_Bredin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Bredin)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2017, 3:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/inexplicably-stupid-restaurant-concepts/784245/40 "2017-04-12T03:03:02Z")
The scary thing is some googling finds more than one Sophie’s Choice restaurant still in existence, including one in the suburbs of London (UK) that opened after the movie. :eek: [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/inexplicably-stupid-restaurant-concepts/784245.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/inexplicably-stupid-restaurant-concepts/784245.md?page=3)