Original Dodie's On Dallas' Greenville Avenue Forced To Change Name

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DALLAS (CBSDFW.COM) - If you've ever made plans to meet at "Dodie's" on Greenville Avenue in Dallas, you probably should have been more specific.

For several years, two Cajun restaurants with the same name have sat just ten blocks apart on the same street in the Lower Greenville neighborhood.

But a lawsuit has now led to one losing its name, and it's the one who's had it the longest.

The original location, which opened 27 years ago, is now re-branding itself as "Charlie's Creole Kitchen".

The old "Dodie's" sign disappeared just this week, but for now you can still see the name on the door mats, the hot sauce bottles, and the menus.

"You don't realize how many things you have to change when you lose your name," said general manager, Laura Kroemer.

She said the new name is causing confusion.

"And it's about to get worse," she warned.

The website, social media pages, and phone listing will have to change, too. It's the customers, though, she's most afraid of losing.

"We're hoping they stick with us and don't abandon us with the name change," she said.

Kroemer says, the restaurant's owner, Charlie McGuiness, named it "Dodie's" after the nickname for his son, Chris McGuiness.

That same son went on to open and later sell the Dodie's location down the street. When he declared bankruptcy, that location's new owner, Reef Entertainment, purchased the Dodie's trademark.

"He was forced to sell the trademark," explains Kroemer.

In an e-mail, the company, "Dodie's Reef", wrote, "It clearly works best for both businesses to have stronger "separate" identities… We wish (Charlie McGuiness) only the best in his new venture."

It ended the statement – "There is only one Dodie's."

Kroemer, though, doesn't see her old restaurant as a new venture, at all.

"Still the same ownership, the same staff, same menu, just a new name," she said.