What’s in a restaurant name?

David Spatafore, the “visionary” and “primary owner” at Blue Bridge Hospitality, goofed with the name of his first restaurant. “We called it MooTown Creamery, and the concept was that we were going to make homemade ice cream and play Motown music.” Six months in, he was sick of nonstop Motown and unable to trademark the name, thanks to a cheese snack out of Wisconsin. “We came with MooTime — it was a small change, and people could say, ‘It’s time for MooTime.’ We put it out to the public as part of a contest, and it ended up winning.”

That was 1998. Today, there are two MooTime Creamery locations on Coronado, plus seven other Blue Bridge establishments ranging from pizza to coffee to steak. Soon, he’ll open an eighth: West Pac Noodle Bar. West Pac refers to the region visited by so many sailors departing from Coronado’s shores.

These days, there’s no set process, no committee, and no market testing. “Usually, it’s just conversation over a beer or two or three with friends, family, or associates. When it hits you, it hits you. The name for Stake [Chophouse & Bar] came to me in my sleep; I remember waking up and writing it down. You’re putting your stake down, saying, ‘This is the place.’ Each name has a specific ‘How we came up with it’ — we want it to mean something, even if it’s an in-joke. Leroy’s [Kitchen & Lounge] is a perfect example of that. It’s a fun story to tell, a talking point instead of something with a specific definition.”

The fun story starts with Spatafore’s cousin Leroy, “who works with me. People do a double-take when we say we’re cousins, because Leroy, by his heritage, is Dutch Indonesian. He’s the most bizarre, cool cousin: a man of the world. Besides English, he speaks Spanish, French, and Dutch. He lived in Suriname for years; most people can’t find Suriname on a map. Everybody seems to love him; he’s this great equalizer, always laughing. But nobody can figure out what he is. Is he black, is he Hispanic, is he Asian? That spoke to what Leroy’s was supposed to be — it’s not just one thing. If you know Leroy, you understand that.”

It continues with the hungover aftermath of “some charity event at the Del. We were sitting in a room talking about the name ‘Leroy’ — how it means ‘the king’ in French, how there’s a Grand Cru champagne named Leroy. That’s not the association it has in America; I’ve heard people walk by Leroy’s and say things based on some crude assumptions. The name made sense to me because you don’t know what Leroy’s is until you’ve been there.”

Once Spatafore has his name, “that’s when the organization gets involved, asking, ‘What can we do with it?’” (Lil Piggy’s Bar-B-Q put out shirts with the slogan “Smoke ’Em If You Got ’Em,” referring to the joint’s smoked meat but also winking at legalized weed.) “With West Pac, we’re looking at the patches from the different squadrons — which are like pieces of art — and asking how we can incorporate those into the business.”