Eatery apologizes for 'domestic violence' joke sign

HOUSTON, April 15 (UPI) -- The manager of an Houston restaurant said a sign reading "Beer should be like violence -- domestic" was a bad decision that was only up for a short time.

Kenneth Choate, who helped found the Roots Bistro a year ago, said the employee who had been asked to change the restaurant's sign got the controversial slogan from a Google search of "best business signs," the Houston Chronicle reported Monday.

Choate said the sign was only up for about 10 minutes but that was enough time for pictures of the slogan to circulate online.

"As the manager of this business, I have to own this and have to live with the circumstances," Choate said. "Anyone in business, or in life period, is going to make mistakes. This is not who we are. It was an asinine move for it to have gone up."

Choate said the organic restaurant likes to have fun with its signs -- a recent sign read "Our meat is hormone free but our servers are not" -- but this one went too far.

Choate said the sign does not reflect the bistro's community-minded philosophy. He said the business recently hosted and donated to fundraisers for an AIDS assistance group and an LGBT scholarship program.