What inspires the name of a restaurant? I went into TJ Elliott's for dinner yesterday and had a conversation about that with owner, Jimmy Marcos. It is such a pleasure to have the owner of the restaurant available to mingle with the guests. He seemed to know everybody and all seemed happy to see him. I knew Ledo Pizza was a local franchise founded by his family. So who was Ledo, Grandpa? The name of the village in Italy where his family originated?

Jimmy chuckled at the question before relating the family story. When his family came to America, they did not arrive with any vast wealth. They decided to collaborate on a pizzaria. The brothers pooled their funds to equip the kitchen with the basic materials to create their now famous pizza. The initial investment nearly broke them. Despite their financial limitations, the brothers decided their restaurant needed a proper sign. They scraped up their meager remaining capital and met with a sign painter. On seeing the amount of money available for the sign, the painter declared that they had enough money for only a 4-letter name. “Marcos” was out of the question.

Jimmy's dad knew of a downtown nightclub what was popular named “Lido's.” He liked the ring of the name, but didn't want any trademark problems. So he suggested the spelling variation and sold his brothers on the idea. Now “Ledo” is one of the most delicious 4-letter words around.

By the way, I had the lobster ravioli and it was fantastic - as was the tiramisu.