RESTAURANTS AND THEIR STORIES

Allen Zhou & Clement Tam

Brief Outline

Introduction Research Question

Categories Data

Analysis and Conclusions Amuse-bouche: Brief Survey of the Linguistic Landscape of Los Angeles and

the surrounding areas.

Introduction Restaurants are a huge part of every community.

They tell a lot about their surroundings and vice versa. The sheer number of restaurants provides a huge population to study. The restaurants that we chose to study are located around the Berkeley campus. We chose these restaurants because of their “popularity” with the student body.

Research Questions

How does the linguistic landscape of a restaurant’s interior, exterior and signage help create a reputation for the restaurant?

Categories Name of the establishment

Meaning, etc. Identity of the location

Description Decorations

Interior/Exterior Menu

Language, dishes Music and/or Media Language of the staff

Amongst themselves and towards the guests

Data

Our data was collected through observations and photography of the establishment’s characteristics, as well as, through interviews with restaurant staff or owners.

T’oust Korean Restaurant located in

Sather Lane Meaning: no particular meaning Decorations

Exterior it’s inside of Sather lane, just

the menus and name of the restaurant

Interior regular American restaurant,

nothing in particular Menu

In both Korean, and English Music/Media

Plays radio in english channel, but also korean music

Language of the staff Korean, English.

Kirin Chinese Restaurant in Solano Ave,

Berkeley. Meaning: name of a mythical animal,

also means giraffe in Korean and Japanese

Decorations Exterior

very newly decorated, looks very modern, inside looks very dark from outside

Interior structured according to Chinese

Funshui, along with pictures of Chinese monarchs.

Menu In both Chinse, and English

Music/Media -plays radio in English channel

Language of the waiters Chinese, English.

Chipotle Mexican food chain

restaurant on Telegraph Ave.

Meaning: name of a spice Decorations

Interior Fast food style, with nicer,

industrial style furniture Menu

English only Music/Media

Plays Spanish language music with occasional English language songs

Language of the Staff Spanish amongst

themselves English towards customers

Tako Sushi Japanese restaurant on

Telegraph Ave. Meaning of the name: Kite Decorations

Exterior Has plain façade with English

letters and a Japanese character in the “O” of Tako

Interior Many Japanese characters

decorate the venue Menu

English with Japanese transliterations as well as Berkeley vernacular

Music/Media English language radio

Language of Staff Korean and English

Berkeley Sushi House Japanese Restaurant in Asian

Ghetto (Durant Food Court) Meaning: no different

meaning Decorations

Interior Sushi bar with picture menu;

owner will dress in traditional Japanese garb even though he is Korean

Exterior Asian Ghetto storefront with

pictures of dishes on the windows

Menu English with Japanese

transliteration Music/Media

English language radio Language of Staff

Korean and English

Analysis and Conclusions Based on the data and the categories that we developed, we were able to determine several things that we thought were important factors in influencing the signage.

Firstly,

Restaurants need to establish an image in a customers mind in a short period of time. This is usually done by the outside signage. We determined that they do this through a

variety of tactics

They can use characters from a foreign language

Use an established image

Both of these local restaurants use names that evoke certain images

Or simply telling the audience about the product through images or words

Or use something humorous and thought provoking

Secondly,

Restaurants also use interior clues to convey facts about themselves. One of the biggest tools for this is through the

menu

Pictures

Pictures tell patrons, with little or no confusion, what the restaurant serves.

Bilingual Menus

Tend to add some type of legitimacy to the establishment, especially to customers who may not be familiar with the culture.

Menus/Signage = identity

Amuse-bouche:A Brief Survey of the Linguistic Landscape of Los Angels and the surrounding areas.

Background

During the Thanksgiving Break, Allen and I decided to do a little side project. The project involved using the categories that we established for the Berkeley experiment.

Restaurant 1: Oomasa Japanese Restaurant in

Little Tokyo District of Los Angeles

Meaning (provided translation): Big Boss in Japanese

Location Little Tokyo is the traditional

center of Japanese cultural life in the Los Angeles area Now the area for Japanese

culture has extended to areas like Torrance and Sawtelle Ave. on LA's Westside

Area has many small Japanese shops

Very few chains except for Supermarkets/Markets Minority of restaurants

Restaurant 1: Oomasa Decorations

Exterior Japanese style

architecture (architecture of the center)

Interior Traditional Japanese décor

Sushi bar with Japanese style roof

Lanterns Wood pieces with

Japanese text Small landscape at front

window of the restaurant Lots of wood

Menu Exclusively in English Japanese dishes

American perception?

Restaurant 1: Oomasa

Music/Media No music or media Japanese and

Japanese/English publications were available Free publications

Language of the waiters Japanese amongst

themselves English towards

customers

Restaurant 2: Do Hueng

Chinese Restaurant in Arcadia, CA (suburb of LA) Multiple locations around the

San Gabriel Valley and Orange County Located in areas with

large Chinese populations Type of Hong Kong Style Café

Meaning (provided translation): Tasty Garden

Location Area where this branch is

located is in the main town part of a semi affluent suburb of Los Angeles

Chinese and Asians make up a large portion of the town's population.

Restaurant 2: Do Hueng Decorations

Nothing special Does try to look like a club with

purple velvet furniture Looks well designed, similar to

other Chinese restaurants of a similar type

Decorative fish tanks Menu

Various dishes that are characteristic of Hong Kong Style Cafes Western Influenced Traditional Chinese

Chinese and English Language Music/Media

No music Has televisions that show:

American sports Chinese Soap Opreas Chinese Language newscasts

Restaurant 2: Do Hueng

Language of the Waiters Chinese amongst

themselves Cantonese dialect

Lots of slang Chinese towards the

customers Cantonese or

Mandarin depending on customers More clean, less slang,

very conversational

Restaurant 3: King Hua

Chinese Restaurant in Alhambra, CA Traditional "Seafood

Restaurant"/ Formal Dining/ Dim Sum

Meaning (provided translation): Chinese Palace

Location Difficult to ascertain Restaurant is located far

from other dining establishments but is located in a town that is predominately Chinese and Asian populated

Restaurant 3: King Hua Decorations

Traditional Chinese "jou lou" restaurant décor Fish tanks with live sea food Table cloths, chair covers etc. Formal place settings

Menu Chinese and English

Minor mistranslations at times Filled with traditional Chinese

dishes and unique creations Restaurant bills itself as being

upscale and gourmet Menu reflects this

Offerings like Sharks fin

Music/Media No music or media present Restaurant is usually quiet except

for sounds of other diners

Restaurant 3: King Hua Language of the waiters

Chinese (Cantonese) amongst themselves Other dialects amongst themselves Chinese

Cantonese or Mandarin towards customers English

Used very rarely Not the best mastery

Explanation

Each of the establishments attempted to give off a certain perception of its type. This was similar to what we found in the main project. The major difference between the two locales are that the three Los Angeles area restaurants surveyed existed in areas with a very “homogenous” population. They were able to rely on a understanding of the population.

The restaurants seemed to do a good job at matching the expectations of the population they courted. For instance, the “jou lou” had all the trimmings of a the quintessential “jou lou”

Explanation (cont.)

The main thing that helped to show what kind of atmosphere each restaurant was going for was the fact that all the fact that the factors that we looked at, like the décor and signage helped to paint the picture that the owners wanted the patrons to see.