The %&$#@*& Catalina Wine Mixer
Okay, so the expletive isn’t really in the title, but if you are a fan of Will Ferrell and John C. Reilly’s 2008 comedy Step Brothers then you understand the importance of the nearly disastrous Catalina Wine Mixer (Pow!).
On September 13, the Descanso Beach Club on Catalina Island hosted their first annual Catalina Wine Mixer. Families welcome, it featured helicopter rides, fine food and wine, and live music sans flashbacks and hallucinations.
The Dan Band, which appeared in Old School and The Hangover, was present to provide entertainment. As The Catalina Wine Mixer is referred to as “biggest helicopter leasing event in the western hemisphere since 1997,” it seemed appropriate that the band arrived in style in a helicopter.
You would have thought Santa Catalina Island Company would have had the idea to do it already, I mean it was practically handed to them. In honor of them finally realizing they were sitting on gold, let’s take a look at a few more cash grabs—I mean, restaurants inspired by movies and TV series.
Salta Burger
Have you ever dreamed of sinking your teeth into a mouthwatering Krabby Patty? Now you finally can, the only catch is you’ll have to travel thousands of miles to experience it. The Palestine city of Ramallah in West Bank has erected a fast food restaurant that would have a certain porous yellow sponge crying tears of joy.
Still relatively new—it opened its doors in late July of 2014—they are hoping to expand to Gaza if the formula proves successful .More importantly, they have taken special care to replicate the undersea eatery as accurately as possible.
The Nickelodeon TV series Spongebob Squarepants, which got its start in 1999, has since gained major popularity, becoming a staple in pop culture. Offering a number of dishes, the restaurant also boasts a delightful seafood menu that includes the famous Krabby Patty.
It remains to be seen how they plan to combat over working the fry cooks and cashier as it is well known that workers at the Krusty Krab haven’t taken a break since the chum famine of ’59.
Bubba Gump Shrimp Company
This fish boating styled eatery got its name from the iconic, Oscar winning Tom Hanks drama, Forrest Gump. Named after Private Benjamin Buford “Bubba” Blue and title character Forrest Gump, this restaurant now has over 40 locations across U.S, including Navy Pier in Downtown Chicago.
It is a very family friendly tourist oriented attraction that offers shrimp dishes, theme retail products and a market. If you ever stop by be sure to give Lt. Dan’s Drunken Shrimp a try. Apparently, it has good legs to stand on.
The Pandorica
A Whovian’s dream come true, this small cafe is a Doctor Who themed restaurant that can be found tucked away in Beacon, New York’s Hudson Valley area. All of its décor gives a subtle nod to the popular long running British series, not too over the top or showy.
However, the bathroom is designed to look like the Doctor’s TARDIS, an unassuming blue time travelling phone booth. There they host weekly trivia nights on Wednesdays and a menu with “eclectic intergalactic comfort foods.”
Bluth’s Frozen Banana Stand:
During the promotion of the comedy series Arrested Development in 2013, Neflix cleverly opened a traveling frozen banana stand to celebrate the premiere of a new season. In the show Bluth’s Original Frozen Banana stand was constantly destroyed and rebuilt, often overrun with drug dealers in the 70’s but has been a crutch for the Bluth family in hard times.
As fans know, “there’s always money in the banana stand”. Although it enjoyed short run as a promotional gimmick, popping up in New York and London, there’s no doubt that the show’s following would love nothing more than to see the product put into permanent circulation.
Twede’s Café
Twede’s Café is an old-school diner in North Bend, Washington, that was featured in David Lynch’s TV series Twin Peaks. The building itself, though under several different monikers and management, lasted through the First World War and the Great Depression.
It was in the 90’s that Twede’s café was immortalized, fitting right into Lynch’s creative vision. However, that incarnation of the restaurant burned down in 2000, at the time it was called Mar-T, but was resurrected under the guise, Twede’s.
The diner specializes in breakfast and burgers but if you want the Twin Peaks experience then you have to stop by for the cherry pie and a cup o’ coffee. However, according to reviewers who have dined at the café, the retro connection to the show is pretty thin and the service usually is hit or miss.
Billy Goat Tavern
There are several Billy Goat locations throughout Chicago, but it is the North Michigan Avenue location, now unfortunately closed, that the original Saturday Night Live skit was based off of.
Made famous by John Belushi, Dan Akyroyd, and Bill Murray, the impatient cooks at Olympia Restaurant always seemed to be out of everything on the menu except cheeseburgers and Coke, “Cheezborger, Cheezborger, Cheezborger! ”
Of course, you can’t talk about the tavern without making mention of the fabled Billy Goat Curse. As the legend goes, local restaurant owner, William “Billy Goat” Sianis, attended game four of the World Series and brought his pet goat Murphy along to bring the Cubs good luck.
It was at the entrance of the park that the fate of the team would be forever changed. While Sianis was allowed in, poor Murphy was denied entrance by the ushers. Sianis pleaded with P.K Wrigley, asking why the goat couldn’t attend the game.
Wrigley heartlessly replied, “Because the goat stinks.” Frustrated, Sianis exclaimed that the Cubs would never win again so long as the goat wasn’t allowed in Wrigley Field.
And so that is the story of how the Cubs lost game four in 1945 and never again won a World series. According to the counter on the restaurant’s website it has been exactly 69 years since. I guess you could say the curse was as stubborn as a goat.
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