What Makes a Restaurant Name Cool? | Bon Appétit
"A San Francisco pasta-focused restaurant that sparked a cultish pilgrimage in the early 2010s for its scratch-made pastas built from Bay Area ingredients — think barely sauced noodles and occasional richer touches like giblet ragù — served on naked-wood tables to a rock-leaning soundtrack and maddeningly dim Edison-bulb lighting. Opened in 2009 by chef-partners Thomas McNaughton and David Steele, the place’s deliberately styled lowercase name with a plus sign became iconic (and polarizing) and helped launch a wave of imitators; the team later rebranded to an all-caps version as the project matured. Its rapid cultural ascent has been described by its team as a “lightning-in-a-bottle” moment that reshaped how restaurants dressed their identities as much as their menus." - ByMaggie Hennessy
