“rough-around-the edges, yet refined”

December 19, 2019 11:59 AM

"He doesn’t actually know anyone named Tessa. He just likes the way it sounds, what it conveys. “I always thought of it as a nice, comforting name,” he says. “It seems to suggest a loving, female touch.” In Greek, Tessa translates to “born fourth,” and as the father of three daughters — the deli his figurative fourth — that made sense. Also, he adds, it’s a kind of ham." In 2019, Men Named Their Restaurants After Women
posted by everybody had matching towels (7 comments total)

manic pixie deli girl
posted by The corpse in the library at 12:24 PM on December 19, 2019 [21 favorites]

“It’s a pretty masculine management team here; we wanted some female power.”

By naming the restaurant Dear Inga. Not by, you know, hiring any women.
posted by hepta at 12:34 PM on December 19, 2019 [39 favorites]

Ehhhh.....I've been reading chef interviews for 20 years where [male chefs] cite the influence of their mother/grandmother cooking, regional cuisine, etc etc., without hiring or mentoring or promoting women within their organizations.
Now they can just take the names, I guess. No need for an actual influence at all, just that warm hospitality feeling.
posted by twentyfeetof tacos at 1:30 PM on December 19, 2019 [4 favorites]

Brunhilda defies you to criticize her sausages and kraut...
posted by jim in austin at 1:35 PM on December 19, 2019

I used to cringe at restaurants named oblique terms like Blue, Whisper, or Time. Now I'm cringing at restaurants named after people who have no involvement in them or people who simply don't exist. Perhaps we'll move on to harsh adjectives next, like Angrily, Forcefully or Chaotically. Prepositional phrases will follow.
posted by SoberHighland at 6:38 PM on December 19, 2019 [2 favorites]

Isn't the ham "tasso," not "Tessa?"
posted by GamblingBlues at 5:05 AM on December 20, 2019 [1 favorite]

Isn't the ham "tasso," not "Tessa?"

YES! Thank you. I would have assumed that would have been the first comment. Guy owns a deli so who am I to disagree? That argument from authority made me think there might be both?

Thank you for making me feel less crazy. (I ate Gumbo with Tasso ham within a day of reading this, FWIW.)
posted by a non mouse, a cow herd at 4:44 PM on December 21, 2019