On a wedding invitation we received, on a line by itself is the word (not capitalized), "tiato." I thought maybe it meant "el fresco dining" because the wedding will be outdoors (with no indoor option - which wouldn't work in Chicago, that's for sure!). However, instead it is the name of the venue. When we tried to find the origin of the word, the only thing I found was from Wordnik, which said it came from a Vietnamese herb. Shu thought it was a Finnish word, but I couldn't find that in Google translate. Does anyone know anything more about the word "tiato?"

tiato

Never heard of it, but it seems to be tiet to or tía tô 'Vietnamese perilla' (link). Perilla frutescens, related to mint, is like Japanese shiso leaves.

Finnish?

"el fresco dining"

It's al fresco dining.

It seems to be a Vietnamese restaurant in Santa Monica. Their (over-the-top) website says that the name comes from the herb already mentioned. Click "What is Tiato?" at the top right of their home page.

They seem to be having problems with their branding. The logo shows the name as "tiato", but elsewhere it is called "Tiato" and "TIATO".

quote:

What is Tiato

It's what happens when you slice "tomato" really thinly.

quote:

It's al fresco dining

Well of course! Sorry about that.