probably wouldn't be the best idea to name your pet Guinea Pig 'Mr. Steak' though?

Oh wow. Haven't heard about that place since the Carter administration. I grew up in East-Central Wisconsin and fondly remember dining at Mr. Steak restaurants in Fond Du Lac and Menasha. I think the place in Fond Du Lac burned down, but the one in Menasha is now a BJ Clancy's - and hasn't changed a whole lot in the 20-odd years since... so if you ever find yourself in the Fox Cities with a burning desire for a semi-decent steak and baked potato, check it out (corner of Midway Road and Oneida Road - click my name to Google-map it!)

...or if you adopt twin pets, or sibling pets, you can name them Grimace and Hamburglar....Nah, don't be too kind to capitalism...let's see....I prefer Henrietta Pussycat and X Owl. :)

Speaking of old restaurant chains, here's a little bit of Claven-esque trivia:
Remember Arthur Treacher's Fish 'n' Chips? Loved it as a kid, but never knew or cared who this Treacher fella was. I still haven't thoroughly looked into him, but many folks will remember the actor's cameo in Mary Poppins. He's the constable who escorts the children home from the park.

Mr. Steak...there was one in Robbinsdale right off of Hwy 81 for YEARS...you could go in there on your birthday and get a free "steak" dinner...

Pet names: I am seriously considering naming my next pet "Steve"...just 'cuz.

Mr. Steak. Oh, yeah. There used to be one on old Highway 12 (now 394). Loved going there as a kid. Wasn't there a picture of a winking cow or something for the logo? In Paris, I saw a restaurant called "Monsiuer Beuf" which is "Mr. Beef" and I cracked up as it was the equivalent of Mr. Steak to me.

Andy: I looved Arthur Treacher's Fish & Chips. It wasn't too far down the road from the Mr. Steak.

When my parents wanted to take us kids to a "nice" restaurant (i.e., one where you had to actually WAIT for your food), we'd go to Mr. Steak (the one on Brooklyn Blvd.) When I took German, I took to calling it "Herr Fleisch." I thought I was pretty sophisticated, because I'd order the shrimp rather than steak - I think the effect was ruined by the copious amounts of ketchup I'd put on the shrimp. When I was a college student, my roomie and I would take each other to Mr. Steak on our birthdays, just to get the free dinner.

Name for my next pet: Rastro

We currently have a cat named "Mashed Potato Face" (although she also answers to "Tomato Paste).

My dwarf rabbit (RIP) was named "Hasenpfeffer".

Shoot, Mary always has the best posts on this thing. I recently ran into a guy who named his dog Rothko, and I thought that was awesome -- even though some people would probably think you were trying to say "Roscoe" with a lisp.

LOL, Steve!

The best thing about Mr. Steak is they had something on their kid's menu called "Snow White and the Three Shrimp". It's late in the work day and all, but it still makes me laugh when I think about it. Super ultra weird.

The pet name for the place was Mr. Mis-Steak if I rememeber.

Others: KaMe-apART, Taco Hell, etc.

Ponda-GROSS-a

Mr Steak is a great and hilarious name, for sure.

Of course, an even funnier (and totally un-PC) name... courtesty of Mr. Show... Dr. Retarded.

I laughed for about 3 hours when I first saw that.

Mr. Steak

There appears to STILL be a Mr. Steak operating here in Minneapolis...one in Columbia Heights and I THINK I found one on Lyndale in Bloomington...I'll check that one out today...