# Restaurants named "EAT"

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/restaurants-named-eat/392043>\
**Category:** Cafe Society\
**Created:** [February 13, 2007, 6:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/restaurants-named-eat/392043 "2007-02-13T18:20:03Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 7\
**Page:** 3

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**Author:** ![Musicat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/musicat/32/20189_2.png) [@Musicat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Musicat)\
**Post date:** [February 15, 2007, 5:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/restaurants-named-eat/392043/41 "2007-02-15T17:35:52Z")

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[QUOTE=Booker57]  
Rules for life

1. Never eat at a place called “MOM’S”
2. Never play poker with a man called “Doc”
3. Never sleep with a woman whose troubles are greater than your own.  
[/quote]  
I’ve always heard that credited to Nelson Algren. What is your source?

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**Author:** ![Beware\_of\_Doug](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/278dde/32.png) [@Beware\_of\_Doug](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beware_of_Doug)\
**Post date:** [February 15, 2007, 7:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/restaurants-named-eat/392043/42 "2007-02-15T19:04:29Z")

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[QUOTE=singular1]  
In Phoebus, Virginia, a little town outside of Hampton, there’s a locally famous place called Fuller’s, which has a sign that proudly proclaims “Eat Dirt Cheap at Fuller’s”. As I recall, they sold hats and T-shirts with that saying on it.  
[/QUOTE]  
In case the double meaning is passing anybody by:

_Eat Dirt Cheap at Fuller’s  
Eat Dirt Cheap at Fuller’s_

It’s even clever-er in that “Fuller’s” carries associations of “fuller’s earth” (a kind of clay) - probably what made them think of it in the first place.

Also, some Southerners do [eat dirt](http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?sec=health&res=9402E5DC123BF930A25751C0A962948260).

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**Author:** ![Skywatcher](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skywatcher/32/254_2.png) [@Skywatcher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skywatcher)\
**Post date:** [February 15, 2007, 8:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/restaurants-named-eat/392043/43 "2007-02-15T20:59:29Z")

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We had an EAT around here. It was really [Whitey’s](http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp-dyn?pagename=article&contentId=A18147-2003May5&notFound=true) but the **EAT** was the first thing one would see.

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**Author:** ![Ol\_Gaffer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/8e8cbc/32.png) [@Ol\_Gaffer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ol_Gaffer)\
**Post date:** [February 15, 2007, 9:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/restaurants-named-eat/392043/44 "2007-02-15T21:40:49Z")

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On Ocean Avenue in Lompoc, CA there is (was) a restaurant called HI! LET’S EAT complete with a huge neon sign. It had been closed but has recently reopened as the Jalama Beach Grill…and they kept the sign.

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**Author:** ![Sal\_Ammoniac](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/8dc957/32.png) [@Sal\_Ammoniac](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sal_Ammoniac)\
**Post date:** [February 15, 2007, 10:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/restaurants-named-eat/392043/45 "2007-02-15T22:13:06Z")

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Until a year or two ago, there was a restaurant called “eat” in my neighborhood. Not part of a chain, not part of American roadside culture – just a kind of trendyish place serving new American cuisine, whatever that is.

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**Author:** ![Alan\_Smithee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/2acd7d/32.png) [@Alan\_Smithee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alan_Smithee)\
**Post date:** [February 16, 2007, 4:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/restaurants-named-eat/392043/46 "2007-02-16T04:47:56Z")

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Wow, reading this thread and imagining all these places, I feel just like Zippy.

Are we having fun yet?

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**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\
**Post date:** [February 16, 2007, 3:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/restaurants-named-eat/392043/47 "2007-02-16T15:06:45Z")

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The Elite Diner in the little Ohio River town where I grew up had a neon “EAT” sign out front. My dad, quoting an old radio show, joked that it was “Where the Elite Meet to Eat.”

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