Are garlic noodles the next Budweiser?

Helene An is taking on a legal fight to give them at least one similarity:

a trademark.

The executive chef of Beverly Hills’ Crustacean restaurant says she’s sick of competitors, from fast-food dives to white tablecloth restaurants, ripping off her coveted garlic noodles, the house specialty.

“I think it is a good idea to protect that so people don’t copy me,” said An. “I want to keep my garlic noodles unique. I don’t want to confuse the definition.”

About a year ago, the An family signaled its commitment to safeguard the dish with an application for a trademark for the term “garlic noodles.” That was rejected. The family is considering contesting the decision or filing the application again.

But a few months ago, another application was filed for a trademark on “An’s Famous Garlic Noodles,” a more specific name and one that’s listed on Crustacean’s menu.

Harrison Colter, an intellectual property attorney with Colter Jennings, said that applicants have to prove what they are trying to protect isn’t simply a generic term. To do so, they have to show that over the years, the term has acquired a “secondary” meaning that ties it to the product in question.

Using the Budweiser trademark as an example, Colter explained Anheuser-Busch Cos. Inc. had to demonstrate that the name Budweiser had moved beyond its original definition, which was beer brewed in a specific region of Austria. “You try to show that the meaning to the ordinary consumer or a significant portion of the consumers is not beer, that it is those guys’ beer.”

An has gathered documentation to connect garlic noodles to herself and her restaurants. Among her examples are the postings on the food junkie Chowhound message board from people attempting to make the noodles at home, which mention Thanh Long, the An family’s restaurant in San Francisco. She also has restaurant reviews comparing the garlic noodles at other restaurants to her dish, and implying it is the original. An recalls one reviewer even pledged to marry her to gain access to the recipe.

Besides Thanh Long, the An family’s first restaurant, the family owns Crustaceans in San Francisco and Las Vegas, in addition to the one in Beverly Hills.

An first whipped up garlic noodles in 1975 as a combination of Italian and Asian favorites. The dish went on to become her restaurants’ most popular. She said many customers order it alone with a glass of red wine and some swear they are addicted to the pungent noodles. (A consumer warning: if you take leftover noodles home in the car, be prepared for the smell to linger.)

An is kind of a Col. Sanders in that she closely guards her recipe. She concocts her garlic noodles in a secret kitchen hidden within a larger kitchen at Crustacean. Only select family members can enter and only a few connected by blood actually know the ingredients.

And An hasn’t been above legal action. When she spotted a restaurant near Oakland serving up the dish with her name attached, she asked her lawyer to shoot off a letter to demand the restaurant stop. The restaurant did, and An claimed a small victory.

Plans to expand the family’s restaurants are in the works. The family believes that entering new markets with a strong brand will enhance the draw. As the family’s holdings increase, An is pressing forward with the trademark effort because she’s concerned that, eventually, the spread of garlic noodles imitators could sap sales.

“I don’t think they can hurt my business now,” said An. “But in the long run, maybe.”