Last week we mentioned the mystery that was Gunz & Bunz, a sandwich shop that had appeared seemingly out of nowhere on 24th Street, and which we were a little scared to go into. But as Mission Local now reports, the name was meant to be a cheeky reference to the violence people had associated with the deli — once and again known as Mike’s Deli — and the surrounding neighborhood, but neighbors didn’t really get the joke. As owner Mike Jweinat further explains, he borrowed the name from a popular fast-food chain in suburban Beirut called Buns and Guns. In Lebanon, he says, the name caught some attention and was good for business.
But as in many other spheres of civic life here, San Franciscans were just offended. “I just thought it sounded like a sexy name,” says Jweinat. “They said that they wouldn’t come here and would take photographs and tell others not to come either,” he says of some neighbors. So, begrudgingly, he’s changed the name back to Mike’s Deli.
We’d say it was neither sexy, nor offensive, but just confusing. But hey, we wrote about it!
Gunz and Bunz: Sexy or Offensive? [Mission Local]
Earlier: Gunz & Bunz: Sandwich Shop Name of the Year, or Just a Front?
