The Name Game: Castropoda (or some variation)

Help me name my future restaurant! I'd love to hear what you think of some names I've come up with... and I'd be tickled if you'd share your suggestions for a name. EVERY DAY I'LL POST A NEW NAME. Please express your honest opinions in the poll and leave comments. Thanks for playing the Name Game!

Our second contestant (of seven) is Castropoda or one of the other variations on the theme fusing Castro with epicurean words that begin with gastro (gastropod, gastronome, gastronomy, gastropub).

The Story:

My restaurant is located on Castro Street in San Francisco's Noe Valley neighborhood. Castropoda is a play on gastropoda, the scientific class that includes the snail. The snail is the symbol of Slow Food, an organization that embodies the ideals that I strive for in my cooking. "Castro" here replaces "gastro," which is the root word for gastronomy, the study of the relationship between food and culture, including the art of cooking. (See other variations on this castro-gastro theme below and let me know if you favor one over the others. Of all my upcoming name ideas, this one is definitely still a work in progress).

Pros:

Highlights location: restaurant is on Castro Street.

Slow Food connection: I have been a member of Slow Food for years and share the organization's philosophy (read this post for more information). This name subtly pays homage to that connection.

"Gastro" comes from Greek word for stomach and is the root word for gastronomy.

Gastropub: British term for pubs that serve gourmet fare. Positive association.

Potential for cute cartoon snail logo (would definitely not use the frightening picture on this post, which comes from my meal at El Bulli last summer. I included it here because it's Halloween. Boo! Click here for an even scarier picture from La Boqueria, Barcelona's central market).

Slight Catalan connection: Catalans are famous for their love of eating snails.

Slight blogging connection: there is a well-known, often hilarious blog by writer Regina Schrambling called Gastropoda. The variations below could be seen as paying homage to two of my favorite local blogs, Fatemeh Khatibloo's Gastronomie and the group blog Gastronome.

Cons:

Let's face it, "gastro" does not have the same positive connotations in American English as it seems to have in the UK. In the US it is more associated with negative medical terms, like gastroenteritis. As gastopubs have begun to open in the US, perhaps this will change.

Not everyone is a fan of the snail. Especially not gardeners!

Location confusion: People may think restaurant is in the Castro, a nearby neighborhood on the other side of a very steep hill.

Somewhat esoteric.

Only tenuous connection to my cooking influences from Spain and her Mediterranean neighbors.

Possible variations:

Gastropoda
Castropod, Gastropod
Castromome, Gastronome: the "nome" is close in spelling to Noe (no snail connection).
Gastro Noe: when spoken, sounds close to "gastronomy"

What do you think? Take the poll and leave your comments. And remember, each comment counts as a raffle ticket in a drawing for a free dinner for two at my future restaurant (scheduled to open mid 2008).

Helpful links:

The restaurant's concept
Suggested guidelines for comments
Suggest your own name idea here

Comments

[R.J.]

Brett,
I have been one of those quiet lurkers for some time...
Love your approach to food and to life...
Your love of all things Barcelona, Catalan and Spanish..
Your philosophy of food, location and freshness
I wait with baited breath the opening of your restaurant...
Your approach to food has so much fun, so much joy and a sense of humour without ever being pretentious or filled with the self-importance of some foodies...
The whole name game is loads of fun and wanted to throw a couple of names into the ring for your consideration...
Fideua
Cazuela

[Ale]

Castropoda??? No,no,no,no,no... please! definitely NO.

[art]

Castropub

[Anita]

I might go for Gastropod...I'm not icked out by snails...but Castropoda is a little too cutesy word mash-up for me.

[jen maiser]

i don't think this is you ...

[Janet]

Sounds like a disease - not appetizing

[Judith]

Ditto on the Castropod version. Three syllables is melodic, four is a stretch. I garden, and I still like snails. Do you know the story of Buddha and the snails? I like this name a lot!

[Tea]

With all due respect and affection, this sounds like one of those ideas that is intellectually sound but just doesn't deliver in an emotional sense. It's not warm or inviting or evocative of anything that makes me want to go there and eat. It's a cold feeling word--perhaps a little slimy even, from the snail connotation. It doesn't have that sense of life and warmth and pleasure that I think of when I think of you and your restaurant. It's clever, but not enticing.

[Ben]

Clever!

But I don't like it for two reasons.
1) People will think you are in the Castro
2) Waaayyyy too much kitsch, which I don't think you're going for

[janelle]

Fun! I used to do consulting that involved naming companies, sites, products... actually was paid for it:). I love naming things!

My two cents: no. People might not make the connections, many that there are. It sounds a bit on the scientific side; is that what you want to portray as your cooking style?

Also, and this might be a stretch, but come your basic consumer, potentially not understanding the slow food theme, etc., and lets pretend the service was SLOW or the food came out to SLOW, do you want a snail as your icon? (OF course I would never say anything like that:), just OTHER patrons:))).

Just a thought...

I love visiting San Fran and look forward to your new restaurant!

[brett]

I'm thoroughly amused by the huge negative reaction on this one. No worries. There are more names coming. I thought we'd start slow, like a snail. Your feedback is fantastic and very helpful.

Who knows, maybe there will be an afternoon and evening wave of support for Gastropod, etc.? I know that will make Judith happy.

[Ken H]

Sorry, but I can't get behind this one. Sounds like a cross between an illness and an insect.

[Adele]

Hello. I've been lurking here for a few weeks, and I couldn't resist putting my $0.02 into the discussion. I have to second the opinions of some of the posters above. "Castropoda" is intellectually sound, but not inviting, and has one too many syllables. "Castropod" is better, but I keep thinking that it's a typo every time I read it.

My snail-themed suggestion, just because I can't resist: S Car Go. (You know what the logo would be.)

In all seriousness, though, would "Little Fish" be a feasible name? Sardines are little fish, and it seems appropriate for a friendly neighborhood bistro.

[Dan Lyke]

I'm against it. Sounds like something you'd run into in a Victorian era Science book, too much of the snail association, and the "Castro" tie-in, which I didn't get 'til I clicked through from the RSS, makes it feel too... well... the Castro has kind of become a parody of itself.

[erica]

I've been a lurker for a while - really love your blog. I am from San Francisco, but live in Sevilla now, so I can definitely relate to your love of Spain and Spanish cuisine.

I have to vote no on this one. It's too cold, and I doubt more than 5% of your patrons would figure out the connection.

I haven't come up with anything brilliant yet, but I'm working on it :)

By the way, I am glad to hear that you are moving forward with the restaurant!

[Diane]

Please...no. Puns are bad. Bad. And it just sounds icky. You are so warm - find something that reflects you. This isn't that.

I'm surprised at my strong reaction - heh!

[Tracy]

stomach foot. yick. no thanks. I do wish I could think of something clever though. I'll set my team of trained booksellers right on it.

[Garrett]

I'm just not digging this one. =P

[Anita D]

I kinda like it. I'm definitely in the minority on this one, but perhaps it will draw the "foodie" crowd... although, most of the folks reading your blog are one and the same. Okay, I'm a foodie and I would try a restaurant called Castropoda.

Side note: Little Fish is a great idea, but a somewhat new restaurant opened in SF called Weird Fish... I think it would be confusing. But it is creative! Unlike my brain these days.... sorry, still no names to contribute!

[Anony the mouse]

No appetite appeal.

[Morton the Mousse]

No puns. People always think that puns are a great name for their business, but can you think of a single successful business (let alone a restaurant) whose name is a pun? I can't.

[Sean]

I'm with Anita -- too cutesy, and I definitely thought of the Castro first. And let's face it -- you do not want to associate yourself with the Castro and be taken seriously as a restaurant.

At least you didn't go full-on cutesy with something like Escar-GO! And, please, don't even consider it now.

[Catherine]

no - please don't! sounds like a foodborne illness

[Rachel]

Arel: Source or Root in Catalan, I really like this, easy to say, reference to farm to table

or

Collita: Harvest or Bona Collita: Rich Harvest

[Rachel]

Arel: Source or Root in Catalan, I really like this, easy to say, reference to farm to table

or

Collita: Harvest or Bona Collita: Rich Harvest

[I-Chant]

My first reaction to the name was "Wait, isn't your restaurant in Noe and not in Castro?" and then I read more. I think it will be more clear once your restaurant is open, but it doesn't flow well and the image of a snail is not really what I want associated with my food usually (despite the fact that I love eating escargot).

[rachel]

I love the snail connection but not the name. I have such a snail fondness, epscially after staying in Siena this summer, where all the neiborhoods are respresented by an animal and our favorite one was the snail.. And the slow food connection, but in the end seems too hard to figure out intially for most people