"Mr. Rosscoe? Yes. There's Some People Here to See You. They're Not From Roscoe's, Are They? Yes."
By Chuck Sudo in Food on Apr 9, 2008 4:53PM
Show of hands from those who didn't see this one coming: new Bronzeville hotspot Rosscoe's House of Chicken and Waffles, which has been getting atrocious reviews for its service and long wait lines from customers who might mistake them with the more famous Los Angeles eatery, just had a trademark infringement lawsuit filed against them Tuesday by the latter.
In the lawsuit, Roscoe's House of Chicken and waffles contends that, besides the similarity of name, the two restaurants also use a cartoon chicken standing in front of a waffle in their respective logos, feature identical drinks called "Sunrise" and "Sunset," and like-sounding menu items. We're surprised it took Roscoe's this long to file the suit.
It reminds us of one of the subplots in "Coming to America," where John Amos' character runs a hamburger joint called McDowell's that's, well, a McDonald's rip-off.