Name my wife's new cafe!

In My Humble Opinion
1

OK, my wife has an itch she may actually get to scratch–buying a local out-of-business bistro and converting it to a cafe. Laid back, French/European in style, modest in menu (largely soup/sandwich/salad assortments and small plate items during the week, a few rotisserie options and expanded breakfast on the weekends), reasonable in price–she’s mapping everything out, from equipment she’ll need to her full menu rundown (she’s run much larger restaurants than this before).

So what might be a good name to call it–either in English or in French? The French shouldn’t be too obscure, but not too cliched either (primarily because it will probably already have been used; we’re in NorCal so there are cafes everywhere). For English, something nice and quaint, but not too homey or rustic; she’s looking to create a simple but casually sophisticated environment and wants a name to suggest a non-pretentious place to relax and enjoy some quality food and a coffee or glass of wine. Humor is good (play-on words, etc.), because it’s playful and memorable, but certainly not essential.

This is beyond a pipe dream (we’ve got the money and resources), but far from a done deal, but anything that makes her more excited about the prospect of pursuing this is a plus for me (even if it never happens, this is the happiest I’ve seen her in a while), so the vast pool of clever inspiration among Dopeland is more than welcome. Any thoughts?

Thanks! :slight_smile:

And of course, if this thing does come to pass and we actually use your suggestion, we’ll make good on it in our own humble way…

2

Java the Hut! :smiley:

Very stolen from a TV show. Can’t remember which one.

3

Des Idees/
French for ‘the ideas’…and it sounds like Daisy Day in English.

4

Actually, there are quite a few real ones out there in the world, including the official one across the Bay in SF (hint: it’s on the property of a certain studio owned by a guy named George).

Plus, my wife has never seen the original SW movies

5

Hmmm… how about Oui?

Now I don’t know whether that name has been taken, and it’s so simple that it probably has… but it has the advantage of being a euphonic pun with the word ‘We’, which I think suggests a nice place for friends to gather, and of course it means ‘Yes’, which is exactly what you want customers to think about going there for a nosh.

Caution–resist the urge to double up on that name… :slight_smile:

6

délicieux.

7

Hmmm, or maybe Bonne Idée. No?

8

Doesn’t fit any of your criteria, first thing that popped into my head, I have no idea where it came from.

The Playful Otter.

9

I like this, too. When you hear it, it sounds like “Wee cafe” (small, cute) but when you see it as Oui Cafe, the French adds a little extra je-ne-sais-quoi. :wink: Merci! Keep 'em coming…

10

I always liked saying this in French class, “bunny day” :slight_smile:

11

With Rabbit pate on Easter. :smiley: But it does flow off the tongue nicely.

12

petit joie

13

If it’s not already taken, Vie? “Life” in French, and happens to also be the name of a well-regarded restaurant in the Chicago burbs that I’m going to tomorrow.

14

[Shrugs] Cafe NorCal.

It’s what it is, it’s where you are, and when spoken aloud sounds French.

15

Just as an aside, there’s a hot dog shop here that goes by the name Le Chien Chaud. I laugh every time I think about it. Okay, back to business.

whatever street or district Haven.

name’s Kitchen, or Corner.

I know a place called The Lazy Loaf and Kettle. Small, great atmosphere, always busy, and has amazing food. How about Loaf and Kettle?

16

I really like Oui, and if I were to use it, I would call the place just Oui. Not Oui Cafe. I understand that for marketing purposes you might want to use “cafe,” but if you can tell what it is from across the street or driving by, do you really have to have “Cafe” in the name? For your advertising, you will probably mention that it’s a cafe, so it wouldn’t have to be in the name…I dunno.

17

I realise this name is in use elsewhere but I strongly recommend your wife name her establishment Chez Guevara.

Every café must have a theme in order to succeed, and I see this venue as a mecca for the more subversive elements of NorCal. It will provide a safe haven where guerrillas, revolutionaries, and military theorists can sit at corner tables sipping wine, nibbling cucumber sandwiches (with the crusts cut off) while plotting the overthrow of the government of their choice.

English authenticity can be augmented by the provision of cream teas, Cornish pasties and pig’s trotters. If a French atmosphere is required, just hang a few onion strings from the ceiling.

The dress code will of course be military fatigues and berets, enforced by a doorman/bouncer armed with a gas operated 7.62mm AK-47 assault rifle. This will help to deter the entry of ‘undesirables’ i.e. people dressed in shorts, baseball caps, sneakers, etc.

If this venture turns out to be a roaring success, please contact me via PM regarding my consultancy fee. However, if your wife is arrested on a charge of assisting a revolution somewhere in Central America, I will obviously deny all knowledge of any involvement.

Good luck.

18

Oui was a nasty hardcore sex mag, I know I found one in my dad’s drawer when I was younger.

Not being much of a coffee or cafe person, when I want to go get a bite or have a beer, I want to be able to describe the place simply. I want a the____ or ____'s.

Real life examples that stick in my head,

THE brew
THE pub
THE blue moon
THE Deli (that was the whole name)

Names,

McDonald’S
Hoot’n’annie’S (great name for a bar)
Starbuck’S (I don’t know who starbuck is, but he’s rich).

We now have a Sugar Bear’s in town, fantastic food, but a wussy name that doesn’t seem to flow, a little too cutesy. We have been referring to it as “that new place”.

Seems to me, not being a marketing major, that the food, burger, beer, coffee places that are successful have simple names. Hooter’S?

I think the test is, does your name flow easily in this sentence.

    Lets go down to (blank) and grab a coffee/beer/burger/triple mocha carmel cholesterol sugar bomb.

Imagine the tech guys a block away in an office building, they have to work Saturday and decide to have breakfast together on Saturday morning so they can bitch about it(or figure out what they actually have to do).

Another sentence.

I’ll meet you at (blank) at 8.

If (blank) is “that place on the corner with that f’d up name I can’t pronounce” it could impact your business.

If your wife has a cool name, name it that.

I’ll meet you at Katie’s at 8. sounds pretty good.

Or the coffee shack.

I’ll meet you at the Shack at 8.

Just thinking out loud and throwing some thoughts.

19

I always thought a good name for a cafe (probably been done a thousand times) “A Clean, Well-Lighted Place,” from the Hemingway story, and the takeout menu would obviously have to be called A Moveable Feast.

Or what about your wife’s name?

20

Cafe Maria