Photo by kerrin

Fake neighborhood fever is striking again, this time in the case of big-shot chef and restaurateur Ashok Bajaj, who is slated to take over the Penn Quarter spot formerly occupied by now-defunct Zola.

According to The Washington Post’s Tom Sietsema, the restaurant, which is attached to the International Spy Museum, will be called NoPa Kitchen and Bar. What, exactly, is NoPa a reference to? North of Pennsylvania Avenue, of course.

Here we go again. Never mind the fact that the building at 800 F Street NW is located in Penn Quarter, a neighborhood with a name that elicits few, if any, gags. Parts of the downtown section date back to the end of the 18th century, when it was home to some of the earliest structures in the federal city.

But Bajaj apparently wants to join the ranks of Adams Morgan Main Street, PoPville commenters, and subscribers to the Shaw Yahoo! Group in giving their blocks of the city cutsey names because, well why not?

Also, Penn Quarter is a fine address. Bajoj’s eventual neighbor at the Spy Museum, a new Shake Shack location, isn’t attempting to rename the 800 block of F Street “Meyertown” or whatever.

As this website has intoned in the aforementioned instances: Stop. Please stop it with the fake neighborhood names. And not only does this one sound dumb—like someone saying “Nope” and smacking their lips—it’s also incredibly vague in its definition. North of Pennsylvania Avenue is a big place. Heck, it’s as big as this name is stupid.