``I do not see anything contraversial in naming my restaurant ``U". ``U" can stand for ``ugostiteljstvo" [hotel business] and ``usluga" [service] or anything else beginning with an ``U", although to some people that ``U" can mean only one thing. Why does not anybody question why a hotel in Zagreb is named ``I" ," asks thirty years old Zeljko Petricevic, the owner of restaurant ``U" from Vodinci, a village near Vinkovci [town in eastern Croatia]. His restaurant's name became more familiar after the logo, consisting of a capital letter U and a Croatian coat of arms appeared several times on the advertising pages of a Vinkovci magazine, ``Hrvatski Vjesnik" [Croatian Messenger], also known because of its motto:`` Serbs, be damned wherever you are", displayed on the front page.
`` Yes, I used to sponsor Zvonimir Sekulin, the editor of ``Hrvatski Vjesnik", but I have ceased to support him. Actually, I could not afford to pay DM 200 for every issue," says Petricevic. `` And as for your question whether I had any problems about the restaurant's name, I can simply reply: no, none at all. The road maintenance company from Vinkovci was the only one to demand I remove the billboard next to the street within three days. They did that last year, but I told them to remove the sign themselves if it bothers them. As you can see, nobody came to remove the sign. Nevertheless, they sent the financial police and fined me DM 12,000; that might have happened because of the restaurant's name. This country is still run by the communists and such things are possible."
Jure Brkic, Zeljko's best man, owner of a restaurant named ``U2", located a few hundred meters further up the street, says he pondered over what to name his restaurant. He had, he says, different ideas, and then it seemed logical that if Zeljko's restaurant is named ``U", his should be named ``U2". He knows that is the name of a rock band, but that did not motivate him to name the restaurant.
Jure finds nothing scandalous in the names of his and Zeljko's restaurants. On the contrary, he believes it is a scandal that the memorial to the antifascist fighters fallen in the WWII still stands in the neighboring village of Stari Mirkovci.
`` That is why they put the county seat in Stari Mirkovci, instead of here. Because Stari Mirkovci is, unlike Vodinci, a Partisan village, so they are still privileged, as during the last 50 years", says Jure Brkic. `` We complained to Vladimir Seks [Governor of East Slavonia] and demanded that the county seat be moved to Vodinci and he promised to do everything in his power to fulfill our demand.
Between Zeljko Petricevic's restaurant ,``U", and his best man Jure Brkic's ``U2", on the village's main street was until recently located a third restaurant, owned by Zeljko's brother Zdenko; The main street used to bear the name of Partisan Stanislav Lehota, but is now named after Josip Juraj Strossmayer. The third restaurant had a name ``Poglavnik" [term corresponding to Fuhrer in Croatian fascist terminology], and the billboard above the street entrance was adorned by Ante Pavelic's likeness [leader of the Croatian fascists during the WWII]. Together with the owner's name, Zeljko Petricevic, bar's name ''Poglavnik" and Pavelic's picture, the text on the billboard also included: Vodinci, NDH [ Nezavisna Drzava Hrvatska, Independent State of Croatia, Nazi puppet state during the WWII on the territory of Bosnia-Hercegovina, most of Croatia and parts of Serbia].
Jure Brkic says that Zdenko Petricevic did not have any problems because of the restaurant's name. He has actually, as did Zeljko and Jure, legally registered the restaurant's name with Tomislav Berkovic of the hotel and restaurant business regulatory office in Vinkovci. The reason for ``Poglavnik"'s temporary closure is that Zdenko is due to some problems, says Jure Brkic, incarcerated in Germany and had sold his restaurant to a Swiss gentleman married to a Croatian citizen.
`` Ante Dapic, a Parliament member and the president of the Croatian Party of Rights, especially liked to stop by my brother Zdenko's restaurant ``Poglavnik" ," tells us Zeljko Petricevic. ``It is a pity Zdenko is not around to show you the photos and video recordings. I should not complain either. Without exaggerating, at least a half of the present members of the Croatian Parliament have visited my restaurant ``U". They all had a good time and liked the atmosphere; only Tomislav Mercep complained that the waiter gave him a warm beer. And it was warm because we had not had electricity for three days before that; they are always connecting and reconnecting something around here."
Zeljko says he is sorry he does not know where a portrait of Ante Pavelic, ``a beautiful work in oil by a German painter from 1942," ended up; the painting used to hang in his brother Zdenko's restaurant, ``Poglavnik". He is also fond of Pavelic's portrait which he displays in his restaurant, ``U". Poglavnik's portrait in pastel has been done specially for Zeljko, by Vlatko Kordic, also known as Smuk, which in these parts of Croatia is a synonym for a person fond of a bottle.
`` I have been offered SF 1000 and DM 1000 and once even DM 3000 for that painting. But I am too fond of it to sell just like that," explains Zeljko Petricevic. His restaurant is closed until 4pm and since we spent the morning in Vodinci, Zeljko fulfilled our request and showed us the interior. Pavelic's picture dominates the space next to the bar and the picture of Ban Jelacic [Croatian 19 century leader] is right next to it. A ceramic tile with the Croatian coat of arms and a large black ``U" is also there; it is a gift and bears a dedication from ``Jozo Ustasha" [Ustashe were Croatian fascists] from Donji Miholjac. That kind of tiles used to be produced for a special customer [ during the WWII ] in the Ceramic tile factory in Orahovica, near Slavonska Pozega.
`` Jozo does not even know that I hung up his present with the dedication right next to the Poglavnik's portrait," says Zeljko. `` He will be very happy when he stops by next time and notices that."
Zeljko says another restaurant, named ``Mladost" [ Youth ], used to be at the same place as his restaurant, ``U". His mother managed the restaurant. When the war in Croatia started in 1991, Zeljko was among the first to join the Croatian National Guard. Restaurant ``Mladost" remained closed for a while and when he left the Croatian army in the spring of 1992 (``I left when the ones now parading with memorials and ranks started to put on the Croatian Army's uniforms") he was overcome by ugonostalgia; consequently, he decided to take up restaurant business. That is how he opened the restaurant, naming it ``U".
`` Hundreds and hundreds of cars have stopped by the sign advertising my restaurant on the main road. Many had themselves photographed with the sign for a souvenir. I do not see anything wrong in that."