I believe that most Chinese carry-out restaurants use a computer program that randomly generates a name for the business – something along the lines of “choose one name from column A, another from column B,” with a total of about thirty words used. Happy, Lucky, Jade, Dragon, Gardens, China, Palace, Oriental, Panda … you get the idea.
Some Chinese restaurants I’ve come across include:
New Happy
Double Happy
Happy Lucky
Happy Taste
You Like
Taste Good (with a jar by the cash register, signed “YOU TIP PLEASE”)
Back in China, is every other business named Happy something or Lucky something?
Because Denver doesn’t have a large Chinese community (although there are very large Korean and Vietnamese populations), we’re not blessed with names like “Hung Long,” “Hung Lo,” or “Fu King.”
My favorite is “Uncle Ou’s.” Really, how do you prnounce that? Uncle Ou’s. Like tooth without the t, th. Ou! But actually, the food’s delicious. They make a mean General Tso’s.
I work with (genetically) Chinese boss, and he and his Taiwan born&raised wife say that the superstitions surrounding prosperity are deeply ingrained in the Buddhist/whatever background of Chinese culture. They very often name things with the equivilent words for “happy,” “lucky,” etc. So when they come to the States…
I’ve noticed the adjective/noun phenomenom as well:
Golden Dragon
Jade Garden
Black Pagoda
China Pearl
Happy Panda
etc.
I’ve also seen a plethora of “-ong’s”:
Wong’s
Fong’s
Leong’s
Hong’s
(…I haven’t ever seen a “Bong’s” or a “Dong’s,” although I have seen, in Portland, OR, a “Hung Far Low’s”
no s#it.
Some I remember from Brooklyn:
Golden Wok
Bamboo House
Wok-N-Roll (there was a dancing eggroll on the sign)
China King
and my favorite Kosher one, The Shang-Chai
I think the reason why it seems as though there are a lot of "-ong"s is because in China, there are only about 100 surnames. So 2 billion/100 = a lot of "-ong"s.
: It wasn’t the name, it was the location. There was a
: Chinese restaurant the was next door to and shared sign
: space with a, (ready?)
:
: …veternarian!
Aurora, Colorado – Ho Ho Dollar Scoop is next door to the Mississippi Avenue Animal Clinic. I worked not far from there, and our nickname for Ho Ho was …
On a related note, the neighborhood I live in (Berkeley, in northwest Denver) has a disproportionately high number of Mexican restaurants compared to the ethnic makeup of its residents. (Something like 80% of the restaurants 'round here are Mexican, while only 20% of the population is Hispanic-- and due to gentrification, it’s decreasing.) Some residents note that there’s no stray dogs around here, and that the large concentration of Mexican restaurants in the area is a factor. “Enchiladas con carne de perro,” anyone?
On the infamous Hilltop in Tacoma, WA there is a tiny Chinese place I used to frequent for lunch. Dunno the name, I think it was the Happy Dragon.
I kept going there even when I realized the opposite side of the building they were in, indeed the long tile hallway with the several floor drains which they shared with is…
a funeral home. And crematorium.
General Tso indeed.
One in Grand Ledge, near my town, called “House of Hsu”, pronounced “shoe”.
“Yes, I’ll have the Brown Oxford with Black Bean sauce”
A new one just opened on the big strip here in town called “Fortune House” (in an old Pizza Hut restaurant of all places). They make the best Moo Shu Pork I’ve yet had.
