If you’ve ever paid attention to menus at various Mexican restaurants, then you might have seen the Steven Special. Though the name changes depending on the location, the question arose: who is Steven?

“No one really knows. I’ve worked here for over a year and it’s been here for longer than that,” said Josh, a server and bartender at Jose’s off of Sunset.

The dish of rice, chicken, and cheese dip is one of their most popular and it sells for $7.99. After continually asking, many of the staff at Jose’s and La Huerta had no idea who Steven, or Shelby, is or was. Jose’s has the Shelby Special whereas La Huerta has the Steven Special, but they are the same dish.

The manager at La Huerta claimed that there was no special reason behind the name of their popular platter, other than that was just what the owner decided to name it.

Several students gave their theories behind the naming of the Steven Special.

“Steven is the mythical creature of food. He requires you to name a dish after him when you start a restaurant.  The crazy thing is he doesn’t always want you to call him by the same name. Only the owners of the restaurants know what to call him. He speaks to them in their dreams,” said a sophomore.

Though some were comical, several took a more literal interpretation. Many talked about the dish honoring a dead relative, friend, or chef making the dish and naming it based on the person who is being honored.

“There was a chef whose name was Steven. He made the best dish in the world, but the dish didn’t have a name. One day his he heard ‘Steven Special’ so he named it ‘Steven Special’,” said sophomore Francisco Fernandez.

After this little insight and varying answers on who this Steven person is, the conclusion has been drawn to Steven being unknown, an abstract thought with no special meaning other than the one you come up with.