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November 06, 2003
Mucho Mario?
Could Mario Batali's rumored Spanish restaurant be arriving soon? The (aptly named) "pretentious little one pager" hints at the prospect of not one, but two November openings ("Mario Revolutions") by a certain "mb": Casa Mono, at 52 Irving Place, and Bar Jamon, near Soho House.
Now, naming a restaurant Bar Jamon makes sense, referencing Jamon Serrano, Spain's famed cured ham, but Casa Mono is troubling. Lacking Spanish language skills, I consulted Babel Fish, which produced the translation "House Monkey." House Monkey?
Can anyone shed some light on this speculation?
Posted by Josh Friedland on Nov 6, 2003 in Dining Out, Media | Permalink
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Comments
I think since it's in Spanish, it gets flipped, so it would actually translate to "the Monkey House" Can anyone else confirm?
Posted by: Bridget at Nov 6, 2003 5:11:48 PM
Yes, Bridget it probably does mean the "Monkey House". You may be interested to know that "mono" does have some other translations in Spanish, one of which is "overalls". However, I don't think this restaurant will be called the "House of Overalls"!! Should you be interested, there is a great website for checking out Spanish translations called "diccionarios" (http://www.diccionarios.es)
Posted by: Alun John at Nov 7, 2003 2:25:09 AM
Setting aside monkeys and overalls for a moment, word comes over the transom from slny that these names evoke two small town establishments in Spain. Bar Jamon is a bar and Casa Mono is a hotel.
Posted by: Josh at Nov 7, 2003 7:18:35 AM
My fluent wife tells me "mono" means "cute little monkey" in Spanish, so the connotation is more positive than just "monkey house."
I guess we should be glad that the adjacent "Bar Jamon" was not named "Epstein Bar."
Posted by: Doug at Nov 26, 2003 12:47:38 AM
Using the term "bar" in Spain means "bar". I don't know if it was used that way 200 years ago in Spain, but it is now. I don't think it means "ham bar"...that would be just silly. I saw at leas one bar with the same name in Spain last month.
Posted by: Matt Kantor at Dec 5, 2003 1:25:28 PM
yes guys, bar jamon actually means 'ham bar' (although bar in spanish is actually 'barra', not 'bar') and casa mono is 'monkey house'. its not that hard to figure out.
Posted by: carmen at Jan 9, 2004 1:52:22 PM
