They say there’s nothing riskier than starting a restaurant, but we’re all about risk here at Ricochet...

Ghostface sat down at our table, so we asked him for menu recommendations. We also asked him to kindly not murder us.

In the Scream movies, there's always more than one character who wears the mask, so I asked him if there was another one around. He said, “Of course.” After he left, another Ghostface returned, but this one had a tongue sticking out (as seen in the Scary Movie franchise).

I noticed he happened to have the same tattoo on his wrist the other Ghostface had, but he insisted he was a totally different guy. Who was I to doubt him?

Our daughter, who lives in New Orleans, had taken the train to Cleveland, where we were picking her up. She asked if we could go to The Haunted House Restaurant, which had vegan options (and a horror theme, of course). As soon as we got there, we could see it was full of statues, scary character mannequins and movie posters.

It’s also an interactive experience. Michael Myers from the Halloween series, Art the Clown from Terrifier, and, as mentioned, Ghostface from the Scream series wander the floor. “Ghostbusters,” “Thriller” and other scary hits make up the playlist.

One of the best gimmicks was the horror-themed menu.

For instance, there was “The Twilight” (crispy black waffles with sticky chicken wings), “Pennywise” (red waffle with chicken breast), and “Slimer” (green waffle with sausage). There was a “Jerk Silence of the Lamb Chop” and “Scooby Snacks.” I had the “Texas Chainsaw Burger with Fries.” Mrs. Scrubb had her usual, “Rosemary’s Platter.”

Obviously, this is not everyone’s cup of tea (was there arsenic in that tea?), but restaurants with different themes and characters aren’t hard to find. At Disney properties, one can dine with Goofy, Mickey and Donald. Universal has opportunities to dine with Marvel characters year-round and Grinch characters at Christmas time.

This got me thinking about other dining opportunities. What if our own St. Augustine opened a Philosopher’s Diner where one could dine with Descartes and John Stuart Mill and Socrates? (“Light on the hemlock, please.”)

Or Seawriter let us dine with sea captains or “Addiction is a Choice” let us eat with stars of the Golden Years of Radio, or could iWe set up a table with the Patriarchs?

Here’s a challenge. Use an idea mentioned, or come up with one of your own: propose a theme restaurant and tell us something about the decor, the characters we would see there, and at least three menu items.

Come on, you creative gourmet/gourmand entrepreneurs, tell us about your new hot spot. We’re hungry!