Posted on 02/13/2002 5:04:47 PM PST by dighton
A FRENCH businessman who believed he was doing his bit for the entente cordiale by calling his restaurant the Frog and Rosbif has been threatened with legal action by his compatriots.
Richard Hernandez, who is married to an Englishwoman, thought he had come up with the ideal name when he opened his 36-cover restaurant in Sheffield two years ago.
But the Paris-based FrogPubs chain, which has three pubs of the same name in France, was not amused and has accused him of copying.
M Hernandez, 37, says he chose the name "as a bit of fun" because he was nicknamed Frog when he worked in a hotel, while he refers to his wife, Caroline, as Rosbif.
"Rosbif [roast beef] is what the French call the English because they go red under the sun," he said.
The FrogPubs group has English-style Frog & Rosbif pubs in Paris, Toulouse and Bordeaux and three other pubs in Paris - the Frog & British Library, Frog & Princess and Frog at Bercy.
"I have heard of the pub chain in France but my enterprise is totally different," said M Hernandez.
"Out of the blue I got this phone call from France asking me to change the name of my business or legal action could follow. I don't want to change the name because of the expense but it seems I have no choice.
"This is only a small family business and is not competing in the same market as the French operation. Ours is a restaurant and not a pub so I don't believe there can be any confusion."
His cuisine is more French than English, with frogs' legs in butter, garlic and Pernod among the favourite dishes. "It's a bit different from a pub serving real ale."
No one was available to comment for FrogPubs yesterday.
© Copyright of Telegraph Group Limited 2002.
Wait till IHOP hears about this.
Leni
Leni
(I also think George Carlin did a similar 'oral cartoon'.)
But what do they do, actually, with the rest of the frog?
Surely something unspeakable.
Surely something unspeakable.
Never order anything on the menu ending in au vent.
"Hi-ho, Kermit the Frog here ... I think you should recall that this was already tried (The Muppet Movie) and my friends took care of business, as the saying goes. Tread carefully!!"
I watched a French chef make a seafood sauce by dumping a bowl of crawdads into a blender, it turned into a yellowish puke looking thing. There could be similar fate for the "rest" of the frogs.
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