# Restaurants that make no sense **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [May 10, 2012, 4:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/restaurants-that-make-no-sense/621475 "2012-05-10T04:05:36Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Ferret\_Herder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/e47774/32.png) [@Ferret\_Herder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ferret_Herder)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2012, 3:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/restaurants-that-make-no-sense/621475/41 "2012-05-10T15:37:09Z")
> [@Flutterby](#): > > There is one not too far from my place that’s more of a take out joint, it’s the same building as a car and dog wash but I’m not sure if the same people own the whole thing. Probably, because I never see people in the food place and I’m too afraid to try it. > > Why? Because they can’t decide what to sell. All over the window they advertise their food, pizza, bubble tea, schwarma, Tom yum soup, sushi and I can’t recall what else. If it were one or two cuisines I’d be all right and try it but having so many cuisines coming out of this tiny shop makes you question if any of them will even be ok. Maybe I’ll brave it for bubble tea one of these days but that’s about it. Restaurants like that always scare me! You wonder how much is prepackaged and microwaved. **WhyNot** , I wonder if whoever rents/owns the bakery is using the bakery kitchen to make food? If I had access to a giant kitchen compared to a probably shabby, tiny apartment kitchen, I know where I’d go! ---
**Author:** ![Bosstone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/22d042/32.png) [@Bosstone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bosstone)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2012, 3:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/restaurants-that-make-no-sense/621475/42 "2012-05-10T15:44:06Z")
> [@bup](#): > > [Here.](http://maps.google.com/maps?q=howard+and+western,+chicago,+il&ll=42.018214,-87.690125&spn=0.00939,0.013797&oe=utf-8&client=firefox-a&fb=1&gl=us&hq=howard+and+western,&hnear=0x880e2c3cd0f4cbed:0xafe0a6ad09c0c000,Chicago,+IL&cid=0,0,10310160885632222747&t=m&z=16&layer=c&cbll=42.017999,-87.69012&panoid=ii_hAMAmq5EkK2vVpAYNqw&cbp=12,91.99,,1,3.98) My guess is that they’re just out of business. > > I was at the 24 hour Walgreen’s across the street from here last night. Small world. Maybe it’s because of all the posts in this thread, but I had to read that Do Not Enter sign a couple of times before I realized it _didn’t_ say “Except CIA Buses.” ---
**Author:** ![bup](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/6bbea6/32.png) [@bup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bup)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2012, 3:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/restaurants-that-make-no-sense/621475/43 "2012-05-10T15:45:29Z")
> [@WhyNot](#): > > How come your links link and my link last night didn’t? ☹ There’s a trick to linking Street Views. When you first do one, it takes up half the page. On the left side of the page, near the top, near the right side of the left side of the page, is a button with a link (chain link) icon on it. You need to press that and copy the url out of the resultant popup. ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2012, 3:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/restaurants-that-make-no-sense/621475/44 "2012-05-10T15:48:16Z")
The van at the side of the building suggests that maybe they went into catering. ---
**Author:** ![Zeldar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/b77776/32.png) [@Zeldar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zeldar)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2012, 3:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/restaurants-that-make-no-sense/621475/45 "2012-05-10T15:48:39Z")
> [@Bosstone](#): > > Maybe it’s because of all the posts in this thread, but I had to read that Do Not Enter sign a couple of times before I realized it _didn’t_ say “Except CIA Buses.” Same here! And I was also seeing Bosses. ---
**Author:** ![WhyNot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/c77e96/32.png) [@WhyNot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WhyNot)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2012, 3:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/restaurants-that-make-no-sense/621475/46 "2012-05-10T15:53:17Z")
> [@bup](#): > > There’s a trick to linking Street Views. When you first do one, it takes up half the page. On the left side of the page, near the top, near the right side of the left side of the page, is a button with a link (chain link) icon on it. You need to press that and copy the url out of the resultant popup. Yay! Thanks for the tip. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Crown\_Prince\_of\_Irony](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ed655f/32.png) [@Crown\_Prince\_of\_Irony](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Crown_Prince_of_Irony)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2012, 4:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/restaurants-that-make-no-sense/621475/47 "2012-05-10T16:11:28Z")
Did you ask for a [cheeseburger](http://www.hulu.com/watch/3533/saturday-night-live-the-olympia-restaurant) instead? ---
**Author:** ![etv78](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/d78d45/32.png) [@etv78](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/etv78)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2012, 4:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/restaurants-that-make-no-sense/621475/48 "2012-05-10T16:20:36Z")
> [@Pixel\_Dent](#): > > I remember a restaurant that looked like that a couple decades ago outside Boston. However, in that case it was a legitimate restaurant that I’d have placed in the top 10 in Eastern Mass. at the time. You almost had to be “in the know” to try it and realize what a gem this dark room next to a sub shop was. > > After a couple years in the tiny, uninviting space they found investors and moved into a large, modern building and you had to have reservations a month in advance. I missed the old days but was very happy for the owners who deserved their success. I just looked them up and after almost 20 years in their new location they’re still getting great reviews. Where near Boston, and what’s the name? ---
**Author:** ![Crown\_Prince\_of\_Irony](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ed655f/32.png) [@Crown\_Prince\_of\_Irony](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Crown_Prince_of_Irony)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2012, 4:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/restaurants-that-make-no-sense/621475/49 "2012-05-10T16:23:07Z")
Oh, and as for restaurants of dubious purpose - I knew a couple who owned a restaurant/deli (I met my wife while she was working there), and after years of being in the business, they decided to sell. The folks that wound up buying the place ran it into the ground - the quality of the food went to shit, their business hours went all over the place, they started letting street kids hang out in the restaurant, and it was generally just a horrible place to grab a bite. The rumor was that they were using it to launder money from some sort of illicit operation, and that toward the end, they were cooking meth in the kitchen and using the street kids to run drug deliveries out of the restaurant. Needless to say, they defaulted on the loan, and 12 years later, the place is still vacant despite being in a pretty prime spot, which only reinforces the meth rumors. ---
**Author:** ![markdash](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ba8739/32.png) [@markdash](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/markdash)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2012, 4:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/restaurants-that-make-no-sense/621475/50 "2012-05-10T16:27:54Z")
There was an Italian (!!!) deli near my work that my wife and I decided to try one day. We went in with the intention of ordering sandwiches, only they were out of our top 3 choices of meat (from the menU) and several types of cheeses as well. This place was kind of dank, poorly lit, and there was only one person working there and no other customers. After that we referred to the place as the “mob front deli.” ---
**Author:** ![Athena](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/35a633/32.png) [@Athena](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Athena)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2012, 4:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/restaurants-that-make-no-sense/621475/51 "2012-05-10T16:38:06Z")
> [@Ferret\_Herder](#): > > **WhyNot** , I wonder if whoever rents/owns the bakery is using the bakery kitchen to make food? If I had access to a giant kitchen compared to a probably shabby, tiny apartment kitchen, I know where I’d go! Another guess is that the business is closed, but whoever owns it or the building is renting out the kitchen as a commercial kitchen. I know in my area it’s not uncommon for kitchens to moonlight for different uses. For example, a local bread bakery got its start renting a [Pasty shop’s](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pasty) kitchen in the wee hours of the morning and selling the bread at the Farmer’s market. I know another woman who is in search of a commercial kitchen to make cakes, cookies, and muffins in to sell locally. You can’t just make a batch of cookies in your kitchen and sell them legally, at least not around here - you have to prove that they were made in a licensed commercial kitchen for health and safety reasons. Local churches tend to have commercial kitchens as well, and they do the same thing. Basically a certified commercial kitchen is definitely something that can be rented out for a profit. ---
**Author:** ![bup](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/6bbea6/32.png) [@bup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bup)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2012, 4:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/restaurants-that-make-no-sense/621475/52 "2012-05-10T16:55:21Z")
> [@markdash](#): > > We went in with the intention of ordering sandwiches, only they were out of our top 3 choices of meat (from the menU) and several types of cheeses as well. I think you walked into a Monty Python sketch. ---
**Author:** ![Rhythmdvl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/85f322/32.png) [@Rhythmdvl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rhythmdvl)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2012, 5:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/restaurants-that-make-no-sense/621475/53 "2012-05-10T17:06:05Z")
Any DC area Dopers spend time on Capitol Hill at the turn of the century? Kentucky Ave. SE, somewhere in the six or seven blocks between Lincoln Park and the Safeway was the “spy house.” This is an excellent, upper middle class area of DC, about 12 blocks from the Capitol. Very clean. But one house on the corner of (?) and Kentucky (or was it between Licoln Park and Eastern Market? Hmm… but if you know the house you’ll, you’ll know the house) was an extraordinary oddity. Its windows were constantly covered by… sheets of newspaper. Not old, faded lazy newspaper, but a relatively refreshed set. There were occasional signs of life within (a TV on or heard through an open door), but never any sign of people in or out. I lived in teh area at the time and did a lot of walking around, so while it’s possible that timing was off, I never saw who lived there. Oh, and I think the lights were rarely on. Fodder for the Very Vaguely Creepy thread. I’ve been up and down the street on Google maps, but it seems like either it’s no longer there (shut down after ten or so years), I misremembered the location, or Large Marge lived there. Any chance a Doper saw the same place? ---
**Author:** ![Push\_You\_Down](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/push_you_down/32/9095_2.png) [@Push\_You\_Down](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Push_You_Down)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2012, 5:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/restaurants-that-make-no-sense/621475/54 "2012-05-10T17:10:57Z")
> [@MaltLiquor](#): > > Trust the internet to paranoid. There are many places that are not open for lunch but start to open close to that time for more an evening crown. Sounded to me like a bar that was closed but decided to open since they had the staff there. For all they knew you just wanted some onion rings and a beer. I like that the guy named “MaltLiquor” assumes the burger joint is a bar. ---
**Author:** ![GrandWino](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/grandwino/32/67_2.png) [@GrandWino](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GrandWino)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2012, 5:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/restaurants-that-make-no-sense/621475/55 "2012-05-10T17:12:07Z")
> [@bup](#): > > [Here.](http://maps.google.com/maps?q=howard+and+western,+chicago,+il&ll=42.018214,-87.690125&spn=0.00939,0.013797&oe=utf-8&client=firefox-a&fb=1&gl=us&hq=howard+and+western,&hnear=0x880e2c3cd0f4cbed:0xafe0a6ad09c0c000,Chicago,+IL&cid=0,0,10310160885632222747&t=m&z=16&layer=c&cbll=42.017999,-87.69012&panoid=ii_hAMAmq5EkK2vVpAYNqw&cbp=12,91.99,,1,3.98) My guess is that they’re just out of business. > > I was at the 24 hour Walgreen’s across the street from here last night. Small world. I live not far from there in Evanston and drive past it all the time. I’ve noticed the same thing about it, but just assumed it was long-closed for good. ---
**Author:** ![DoctorJ](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/doctorj/32/2904_2.png) [@DoctorJ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DoctorJ)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2012, 5:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/restaurants-that-make-no-sense/621475/56 "2012-05-10T17:28:57Z")
In Lexington, KY there’s a chain of pizza places called [Sir Pizza](http://www.sirpizzaky.com/index.htm). There are six of them, plus one in Winchester; there used to be a lot more. I lived in Lexington for eight years and grew up nearby. I never ate at Sir Pizza. I probably asked everyone I knew at one point or another–most of whom were college students, no strangers to pizza–and I never talked to anyone who had eaten at or ordered from Sir Pizza. I never saw anyone eating at one when I drove by. I never saw their delivery cars, even though I saw them all the time from other stores. They barely advertised, while other pizza places blanketed the city. “Legitimate business front” was the obvious conclusion. I thought pizza restaurants were a little on-the-nose as a front for an organized crime syndicate, but some people don’t do subtlety. (The more likely truth is that it was a popular chain before I lived in Lexington that mostly got pushed out of the market by the big national companies, and has low enough overhead that they’ve never quite closed.) ---
**Author:** ![Coup\_Fourre](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ce73a5/32.png) [@Coup\_Fourre](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Coup_Fourre)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2012, 5:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/restaurants-that-make-no-sense/621475/57 "2012-05-10T17:39:53Z")
I gotta tell you, I love this message board. I learn so many things! Having said that, I grew up in Chicago, but five years ago moved to Rockford. There is a restaurant there called Lucerne’s. It’s apparently a fondue place. I have been baffled about this restaurant since I moved there. They are hardly ever open, but they are not closed. I think I’ve seen them open twice since I moved to the Rkfd. I asked someone about it once and they claim that they only open if you call them. I thought that was weird–and I’ve NEVER heard of a restaurant doing something like that. Now I’m thinking about the whole money laundering/front thing. Anyone else know about this place? ---
**Author:** ![cwthree](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/9de0a6/32.png) [@cwthree](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cwthree)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2012, 5:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/restaurants-that-make-no-sense/621475/58 "2012-05-10T17:41:08Z")
> [@WhyNot](#): > > There’s a “bakery”\* near where I used to live in West Rogers Park like this. Blinds always tightly drawn, the front door is always locked despite the “OPEN” sign, absolutely zero web presence, doesn’t even show up on Google “Search Nearby” or Yelp! or Centercity. …I’ve never had the nerve to go inside. > \*I’ve got an absolutely perfect picture of it on Google Street View, but it doesn’t seem you can share a link to it, being Flash and all. If you’re terribly interested, look for the CTA depot at Western and Howard, and then back up about 100 feet. Look east. Spooky, eh? That red pedo van is ALWAYS there, too. I remember when that bakery was closing. cwSpouse and I bought a boatload of pastries at half price and stowed them in the freezer. After they sold out of foodstuffs, we bought a pile of baking pans and baking sheets. We checked out the kitchen and marvelled at theh room-size bread oven and bowls for the Hobart floor-mounted mixer, big enough to marinate a good-sized missionary. If it wasn’t a legitimate bakery before they went out of business, it was a very convincing imitation. These days? I dunno. When the building didn’t sell, I assumed that the it was either overpriced or needed so much work that it was unappealing to investors. These days I wonder if the owner died and it’s caught up in probate, or if the owner abandoned it and the city is owed a small fortune in back taxes. That van is creepy, though - it is ALWAYS there. ---
**Author:** ![cwthree](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/9de0a6/32.png) [@cwthree](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cwthree)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2012, 5:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/restaurants-that-make-no-sense/621475/59 "2012-05-10T17:50:35Z")
> [@cwthree](#): > > These days? I dunno. When the building didn’t sell, I assumed that the it was either overpriced or needed so much work that it was unappealing to investors. These days I wonder if the owner died and it’s caught up in probate, or if the owner abandoned it and the city is owed a small fortune in back taxes. That van is creepy, though - it is ALWAYS there. Several folks upthread beat me to this. I didn’t realize it had sold. That would explain lights going on and off. Renting out the commercial kitchen would make sense, too. When it was closing, cwSpouse and I flirted with the idea of buying it and running the gluten-free bakery of cwSpouse’s dreams. Didn’t happen, obviously. ---
**Author:** ![Saint\_Cad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/saint_cad/32/18907_2.png) [@Saint\_Cad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Saint_Cad)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2012, 6:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/restaurants-that-make-no-sense/621475/60 "2012-05-10T18:16:54Z")
> [@bup](#): > > I think you walked into a Monty Python sketch. Because the only meat they had was SPAM. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/restaurants-that-make-no-sense/621475.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/restaurants-that-make-no-sense/621475.md?page=4)