San Francisco, California (The Adobo Chronicles) – It’s called Fork Café, a restaurant smack in the middle of San Francisco’s gay Castro Street. It has not been in business for long, but because it wasn’t doing very well, its new owners have decided to switch it to an Asian noodle place, serving a variety of noodle dishes from countries like Vietnam, China and the Philippines.  It also plans to adopt a new name to reflect its menu offering.

Not too long ago, a new Mexican restaurant in the Castro was bullied into changing its name from ‘Bandidos’ to ‘Hecho’ because a small group of politically-correct Castro residents protested, saying that the original name (which is Spanish for outlaw or criminal) was offensive to the Mexican American community.

The Fork Café owners are not taking any chances. They are hiring for consultant positions to help them come up with a new name that will not be racist, offensive, discriminatory or insensitive to the Asian American community. The owners said they are an equal-opportunity employer and are encouraging as many people to apply. Applicants don’t have to be gay or lesbian but they must be Chinese, Vietnamese or Filipino.

“Initially we were thinking of the name ‘Chopsticks,’ ‘Slurp,’ or ‘Pancit,’ but we were told these names could be offensive to Asians. That’s why we decided to enlist the expertise of community consultants,” they said.