"What's in a name? That which we call a rose
By any other name would smell as sweet."
- R&J

That Shakespeare, he would never make it in marketing. Ever had a Chinese gooseberry? Sure you have. They changed the name to kiwi to market it.

Gastropub that isn't a pub + "executive concept chef" + egomaniac/prima donna chef = ?

Anybody here good at math?

The name Junior's always had a hillbilly ring to it, but adding gastropub makes it a complete mess of a name and doesn't seem to reflect its essence. I would bet cash that in 12 months there will be a new concept chef and "gastropub" will slink away in shame, to be replaced by whatever the trendy name of the day is. How do you remain popular when trendiness is by definition ephemeral? Maybe next year it will be Junior's Ephemeria. I like that.

I'm still holding out for gustabar. EL

Why would the Sun allow a restaurant (or any story subject) dictate what photos can and can's be taken?

Well, it is private property. BTW, you don't have to put in an e-mail if you don't want to. EL

Juniors Wine Bar sounded to me like Junior Swine Bar.

Let's not forget the Patagonian toothfist... yummy!

the pork belly tacos, which were wonderfully endearing.

I loved this turn of phrase.

Thanks! EL

Juniors Wine Bar sounded to me like Junior Swine Bar.

Brilliant. Now that's sounds like a fun place.

The restrictions on photography is crazy. The review is good, but one's first impression from the photo is that of a pouty chef getting a time out. The picture above couldn't be more boring (through no fault of the photographer).

I was lost on this place as soon as I read 'concept chef.' Given his business interests elsewhere, so will he be within a year. I'm thinking that even Gordon Ramsey (the Acme of tools) is nicer than this guy.

"Junior's Swine Bar" LOL - sounds like a good ole southern bbq pig and brew. Not that there's anything wrong with that!

I live in Fed HIll and I'm so happy that we don't have another restaurant that serves pub grub. I had a lovely dinner at Juniors and the chef came to our table a few times to make sure we were happy. I don't care what the chef wants to call his restaurant.

Language nerd alert ...
I looked at their website and saw that they are indeed "Juniors" and not "Junior's". That's a big difference in meaning. Plus "gastropub" is "Gastro Pub". It just adds to the continuing oxymoronic quality of the name. Food looks good. I wonder who the owners are? Does anybody know?

Let's break down this Gastro Pub nomenclature for a moment. Or to put it gramatically, parse gas. According to Webster, gastro means "of or pertaining to the stomach" and is the prefix for a slew of diseases and medical procedures from gastroenteritis to gastrotomy. Not real appetizing. Pub is a contraction of "public house," which dating back a few centuries, was the way our British cousins distinguished a private club from a saloon that anyone could wander into or stagger out of. During the years I lived in London, I had some excellent meals in pubs -- fish and chips, ploughman's lunch, shepherd's pie and the like -- but nothing on the order of braised veal cheeks with white bean ragout. Depending how Juniors fares in these difficult days, the management may stick with its Gastropublicity or do something daring and inventive. Like calling it a restaurant.

Let's cut right to the heart of the matter, (for us suburbanites anyway) is there parking? They can call themselves a "vomitorium" and if the food is good and there's parking I still might check it out - if it got good reviews! (Just kidding, "vomitorium" is really gross)

"Vomitorium" made me flashback to an old SNL skit with Gilda, John, etc...Don't remember all the details, but they were Romans, gorging on food and walking around with feathers to, um, you know...

Let's break down this Gastro Pub nomenclature ...

Great comment anon. Why don't you make up a name for yourself next time. Keep it coming.

The website gremlins have struck again. I know I identified myself when I wrote the note on gastropod nomenclature. But that elusive character, Anon, got the credit. And like you, Owl Meat Extraoirdinaire, I will keep it coming. I like contributing to a website where even a casual conversation on Brussel sprouts gets more than fifty entries.

Vomitorium is not gross if you use it in the correct sense. It's an area in ampitheaters etc. where the crowd can spew out of the structure, metaphorically. It is also a part of the architecture of many cathedrals I believe. The other sense, a place where Romans might purge after or during a feast would not have a negative connotation to them. Indeed a feasting place without one would be inferior indeed.

vomitorium (plural vomitoria)
A passage located behind a tier of seats in an amphitheatre used as an exit for the crowds
1822, John Taaffe, A Comment on the Divine Comedy of Dante Alighieri, John Murray, page 161,
[…] the way that the greatest width of the interior of the Flavian amphitheatre would be ascertained, if a line were drawn from one of the vomitoria of the west side, in the uppermost story, to the eastern vomitorium, precisely facing it.

I live in the neighborhood and will certainly give the new chef a try. My wife and I went several times last year but eventually stopped because the service was so uniformly unhelpful.

Many of the servers we encountered came off as both uninformed about the basics of the food and wine menus, yet snarky and condescending.

I was a server for many years so I'm more understanding than most. At a restaurant like Juniors, I'm happy to swap professionalism and training for a server that is reasonably helpful and pleasant. But the people I encountered on different visits were neither. On more than one occasion I watched bartenders and servers openly making fun of patrons.

That kind of attitude maade the food taste bitter.

seriously, this is the warning that i am going to give:

this place sucks. enjoy your crappy meals. anyone that has any palate will agree. i live in the neighborhood, i eat in the neighborhood, and this place is one of the worst in the area. the owners are only trying to caplitalize on the wealth in the area by serving subpar food at inflated prices. i can't believe this place is still open.

not one word of love for juniors and buckets of bile. most inauspicious. I guess friendly isn't in the XChef's concept rainbow. I would be interested in specifics on how the place is bad. details please bill.

owl, i have tried to like the place, i really have. i gave it a few chances for drinks, and a couple more for food. i could go into nitty gritty details about it, but i would rather simply say the kitchen neglected to use sodium in all the dishes i tasted, even the calamari meat(fail)balls.

Mike wrote Many of the servers we encountered came off as both uninformed about the basics of the food and wine menus, yet snarky and condescending. Not a good combination in a server--or anyone else!

bill, we eat nitty gritty details like badgers eat voles. Bring it.

The tone of the staff of a restaurant always comes from the top. I find the inept pretentiousness (wine bar that's not a wine bar, gastropub that's not a pub, executive "concept" chef, as if other chefs don't have frontal lobes, the incorrectly punctuated down-home name, only star photos of me-the-chef and my genius creations...) fascinating.

[That was too much parenthetical information. Did he even go to high school?]

The image of a restaurant is a huge deal. You brain tastes the place before your mouth does.

[Is he being stupid or profound? I don't know.]

I would rather not judge a place before I go there, but I'm afraid I already have.

[He should have his own court TV show, Judge Owl Meat. It could take place in a mental institution.]

I have the same problem with Woodberry. My brain can't get the bad taste of their arrogant untruthful behavior from last winter out of my mind.

[He's lying. I saw him there at the bar last Thursday.]

Love Junior's and the new Chef Anthony. Great place, great food, great fun! Hi Elizabeth! Happy New Year!
Mike's Mom