I get this question a lot. Here is how the name came to be…

18 months ago when I dreamed up the concept everything was pretty much as you see it. The only real difference is that it was going to be gelato instead of cheesecake. Thus, I felt that the name needs to be Italian-ish. I describe our menu as Italian inspired but, to be sure, we are not Italian.

After some Googling I decided on “Banzini” because there are no Banzinis. As far as I can make out there is no family or business with the name Banzini. Incidentally, Bonzini makes Foosball tables and Branzini is a sea bass, so they were out.

Next, I felt that the restaurant needed an adjective. WAY back when I started in radio I was “Rambling Dave.” I was only on the air for about two months and everyone was able to remember my name even though they often forgot the name of the host of the show (Pat Obrien) who had been the morning man for two years. This is no discredit to Pat, by the way, as he was a brilliant broadcaster who sparkled. It’s just that human brains remember names with adjectives better than names without. Or so it seems to me.

I tried a lot of possibilities and came to “Flying” and I liked it. It seems whimsical. And, it seems like something the sounds like I have heard it before. In other words, even though we are just opened and we are the only Flying Banzini in the world, I hope we feel like we have been around for a long time. I was hoping for whimsical, provocative, and memorable without being cheesy and silly.

Then, armed with a name and a concept I met with The Fifteen Group (Toronto based restaurant consultants). Their graphic design team and I came up with the logo. I am almost embarrassed to tell you about how many times I tweaked the position of the arms on the pilot. When placed wrongly, it looked like he facing away from the viewer and peeing. I don’t want to be The Peeing Banzini.

And so… The Flying Banzini was born.

I pick up our placemats today (20,000 so we should have them for a while). They feature a history of the Banzini family going back to ancient Egypt.

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It’s our second ever Friday Tunney’s Pasture Lunch today (on a pay week, too). We will be better than last week. Much better. I am hoping for no more than 15 minute meal delivery times. We will eventually get to 10 minutes. Today, I will be happy with 15.

And, Chef Ryan has re-taken the The Flying Banzini Golden Ladle. This is the award held by the cook to have more recently made a freakin’ fantastic soup.