Most unpronounceable menu items: Top 5

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There are certain things you just don't want to order on, say, a first date, or at your first happy hour with with new co-workers, or with that friend who always nails you for your pretentious food knowledge. Don't fret. Most maddeningly named menu items are French, and no one knows how to pronounce them (except maybe French people). Many other intimidating menu items are in other languages as well, so no one can really fault you too much for stumbling over--or all out slaughtering--them but some pop up pretty frequently and name things that you really don't want to forgo. Here's our Top 5, along with an attempt to rectify future mispronunciation:

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Don't overlook it just because of its heinous-seeming name. A hearty combo of eggs, tuna, potatoes and olives over a bed of lettuce and veg, including, notably, green beans, nicoise salad is do-not-miss. Just remember to pronounce the "s" in nicoise like a "z:" It's like knee-swaz, with the accent on the second syllable. Similar, related frustration: the Belgian lambic beer framboise. It's pronounced the same as the latter end of nicoise.