Meals was served in bowls that resembled bathrooms and diners sat on precise (decommissioned) bathrooms.

The idea was fashionable and had grown to 19 areas in Taiwan and Hong Kong by 2020.

In the case of restaurant names, that is most likely one of many weirdest, which acquired us considering: How do individuals provide you with restaurant names? There should be a superb story there. Sadly, Trendy Rest room is closed, however there are some eating places proper right here in Tucson with fancy names.

So we made a couple of calls to a few of Tucson’s extra curiously named eating places to search out out the tales behind the names.

We additionally tried reaching out to the parents on the 2-year-old La Chingada Cocina Mexicana downtown after some readers wrote in complaining that the identify was a Spanish swear phrase. Sadly, the homeowners had been out of city and could not be reached, in order that’s a narrative that will not be informed…for now. Nonetheless, they beforehand informed the Star that culturally it has varied meanings they usually aren’t utilizing the phrase in a derogatory approach. As a substitute, they’re utilizing it within the enjoyable, energetic sense.

845 E. College Blvd.; popheads.cool, 520-372-7805

That wasn’t the primary identify that popped into proprietor Jim Roberts’ pun when he opened his frozen popsicle store within the College of Arizona space of ​​the bustling Major Gate leisure district.

He and his former companion had known as the small store Peace, Love & Pops once they opened final June, however on the recommendation of their lawyer, who has discovered one other equally named enterprise within the US that would result in arm wrestling authorized alongside the best way, they pivoted to PopHeads.

It is all about pop, mentioned Roberts, who modified the signal and is now the only real proprietor of the enterprise. After I get clients that are available and know precisely what they need, they’re PopHeads.

Roberts was initially making frozen treats with juices, however after attempting ice lotions he determined to stay to the creamy treats.

Its Far Out Flavors menu consists of fruit pops from Lemon Mic-Drop and The Ice Hat (half strawberry, half blue raspberry) to Mango Tango and Cherry Limeade. The Beta-Pops are a bit extra adventurous My Caramel Romance, Lemonilla Bliss, Pink Cotton Sweet and Punkin Pie, whereas the ever-evolving particular options menu has been dying to strive the sweet coated piglets with candied bacon wrapped in creamy ice cream Chocolate Maple -Minty-Contemporary with Spearmint with Chocolate Dipped Chocolate Chips That Seems to Look Like a Woman Scouts Cookie Skinny Mints has turn out to be a go-to for a lot of regulars.

PopHeads additionally has cream-based frozen pops and pop pops to your canine.

Each pop we promote is simply bursting with taste, Roberts mentioned.

5252 S. Mission Highway; karichimaka.com, 520-883-0311

Mary Ann Lopez has retold the story a whole lot of occasions within the 45 years she’s owned her Mexican restaurant within the Southwest; she memorized it to the purpose that at any time when she is requested about her identify, she offers the identical reply nearly to the letter of hers.

When the unique proprietor opened the restaurant in 1949 within the sprawling brick-and-wood constructing surrounded by 13 acres of pristine wilderness, he borrowed a phrase from his father’s native Kickapoo Indian heritage. The Kickapoo had been initially from the Nice Lakes, however migrated within the early 1800s to Mexico and stored some remnants of their native tradition and language.

Karichimaka pronounced car-each-ee-macca means pool of clear water.

That is the story we got and that is the story on the menu and we stored it, mentioned the 87-year-old Lopez, who nonetheless runs the enterprise aspect of the favored restaurant.

In all of her years there, there has solely been one individual to query the veracity of the story.

This man from the College of Arizona walked as much as me as soon as and mentioned, “You realize that is not proper,” he recalled.

He clearly did not provide an alternate, so the identify sticks alongside a menu of Mexican dishes which have earned Karichimaka 4 stars. Diners rave concerning the Tanichopa salad, which needs to be dubbed the kitchen sink: a mattress of lettuce speckled with black olives, tomato and avocado, is topped with a seasoned hen tostada and 4 mini hen tacos with melted cheese and garnished with black olives.

It is one among my favorites, Lopez mentioned.

The restaurant can be identified for its Mexican T-bone steak, crispy cheese, and open chimichanga.

4 areas in Tucson, together with 5975 E. Speedway and 7585 S. Houghton Highway; serialgrillersaz. com

When Travis and William Miller launched their meals truck in 2012, they had been searching for a flashy identify that may stand out throughout the weekly meals truck roundups.

Meals Community on the time had a brand new present about meals vehicles, and lots of of them sported names impressed by rock bands and film titles.

Which led the brothers to consider their ardour for horror motion pictures and characters born from the mad minds of Hollywood writers.

Therefore the identify Serial Grillers, with a menu of sandwiches named after the serial killers of the small and massive display screen: the Italian meat filling Silence of the Lambs V2; the spicy turkey, jalapeno and avocado American Psycho; the Pennywise Grilled Rooster; and the Se7en grilled cheese.

We thought it could be good to rejoice a love of all issues bizarre and out of the abnormal, mentioned Travis Miller, who was the mastermind of a lot of the menu.

Within the early days of the brothers having a single brick-and-mortar location, a few patrons with kids complained about a number of the unique art work hanging on the restaurant’s partitions that depicted serial killers. Some clients thought the killers had been plucked from the headlines, not the cinema.

We aren’t celebrating real-life serial killers. It is actually simply celebrating film characters, Miller mentioned, noting that they’ve substituted artwork for film posters.

The Millers have 4 Serial Grillers areas along with Craft, A Trendy Drinkery, Toro Locos Tacos y Burros and the Detroit-style pizzeria Transplant, whose identify, Travis Miller mentioned, was impressed by his father’s transfer from Motor Metropolis to Tucson when he was 24 years previous. Their father, George Miller, managed the Winchells Donut Home areas in Tucson for years. He died in 2019.

1003 N. Stone Ave.; www.bumstedsaz.com, 520-323-1010

Scot and Barbara Shuman are large followers of the Blondie comedian.

In 2000, the couple opened Daggwoods, a restaurant specializing in gigantic sandwiches that had been a favourite of Blondie Dagwood Bumstead’s character.

They offered the restaurant in 2013 and 5 years later opened Bumsteds, a sandwich store on North Fourth Avenue that they ran for 5 years earlier than closing once they could not attain an settlement to resume the lease.

Within the spring of 2020, because the COVID-19 pandemic and shutdown started, the couple bought the 5,000-square-foot constructing on North Stone Avenue and relaunched Bumsteds.

Each names had been comedies taken from the comedian with totally different spellings to keep away from authorized snags alongside the best way.

The restaurant, which the couple just lately offered, makes a speciality of large sandwiches with enjoyable names like Who’s Your Daddy, with roast beef, mushrooms and caramelized onion; the Soccer Mother, with spicy mustard that enhances peppery bacon, turkey and avocado; and the Excuse me? 5 cheese grilled cheese sandwich.

The menu additionally features a handful of kid-friendly sandwiches and appetizers with names like Nope, Do not Let Me In, and Are We There But?

Bumsteds hosts stay leisure together with karaoke a number of nights per week.