Table Talk
Bones of Contention
For Philip "Dipamo" Nyman, vindication is sweet By Steven Dam
Love handle: Philip Nyman wants the Dipamo's name back
Image credit: Finn O'Hara
In June 1998, Phil and Gloria Nyman opened a Southern-style BBQ pit on College Street. They called it Dipamo’s, after the name a meditation guru had given Phil when he travelled through India. “It’s a spiritual nickname,” Nyman says. “Dipamo means light of love.” Four years later, he opened a second Dipamo’s on Eglinton West with partners Dominic Zoffranieri and Douglas Fisher. He’s stingy with the details (“It’s a story I would love to tell, but it would cost me thousands”), but suffice to say the business relationship soured, and after months of negotiations, Fisher and Zoffranieri got to keep the Eglinton location, as well as the name. Nyman had to change his College Street hang to Phil’s Original BBQ, but he may have the last laugh after all. This past April, with windows papered over and a bailiff’s notice taped to the door, Dipamo’s Barbecue on Eglinton closed for business. “We had loyal customers,” says Zoffranieri, “but just not enough of them.” Nyman’s response? “Karma.” But will he be able to reclaim the name? “If you hear it’s available, I would definitely be interested.”
TEST Originally published August 2006
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