やら, and a few others

This line is from a piece about a particular dish by a restaurant owner in Tokyo, in a discussion of candidates for the ideal dish of their companion, 鈴木さん.

"すると、すぐに「それはラゲーライスだねー」と返ってきたので、
ラゲーライスとやらの名にふさわしい面構えの料理にしました。"

(1) The やら here is throwing me off a bit. Is it a suffix on "ラゲーライスと", or is it part of another construct?
(2) What is the subject of にしました? ラゲーライスとやら？ ラゲーライス? ラゲーライスの名?
If it's the last one, I'm confused on the に that follows right after; my mind is expecting a が..

(3) I'm reading the last に as pointing to "相応しい面構えの料理".. Did I read it wrong..?
(3) (a) Is it 面構え (つらがまえ), or is 構え separate from the 面?

(4) What is the meaning of しました, in this context?

あらかじめお礼を申し上げます。

SusuKacangSoya said:

The やら here is throwing me off a bit. Is it a suffix on "ラゲーライスと", or is it part of another construct?

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Xとやら can be interpreted as a single unit with a nuance of "X or whatever", "X or something like that", or the like.
とやらとは - Weblio辞書

SusuKacangSoya said:

(2) What is the subject of にしました? ラゲーライスとやら？ ラゲーライス? ラゲーライスの名?
If it's the last one, I'm confused on the に that follows right after; my mind is expecting a が..

Click to expand...

Perhaps it's easier for you to interpret as 「（その料理を）ラゲーライスとやらの名にふさわしい面構えの料理にしました」?

(3) I'm reading the last に as pointing to "相応しい面構えの料理".. Did I read it wrong..?
(3) (a) Is it 面構え (つらがまえ), or is 構え separate from the 面?

Click to expand...

For 3, you're correct.
3a is the former; he's talking about the physical appearance of the dish.

(4) What is the meaning of しました, in this context?

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（Xを）Yにする means, in its simplest definition, "make X into Y".
You can almost think of it as the transitive partner of （Xが）Yになる ("X becomes Y").

(edit: whoops, forgot to remove those spoiler tags)

Hey, jt_,

Thank you for the quick reply. It's cleared things up a lot for me.

Perhaps it's easier for you to interpret as 「（その料理を）ラゲーライスとやらの名にふさわしい面構えの料理にしました」?

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I actually got quite confused at "(その料理を)", trying to figure out what 料理 you were referring to... I had to read the text in the article before that line, again, to understand that the author and 優子さん were actually making/creating a dish, instead of merely talking and comparing about one :emoji_sweat_smile: Now it makes a lot more sense on what exactly could be にする'd..

They're talking about the physical appearance of the dish.

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So, the author was trying to make "an agreeable dish" (as opposed to some quality specifically related to ラグーライス) ?

I should be close to understanding it (unless I've dug myself a shallow pit to trip into, by misunderstanding the context), but I still cannot fully grasp the sentence because of の名に.. What does it do in this line?

SusuKacangSoya said:

So, the author was trying to make "an agreeable dish" (as opposed to some quality specifically related to ラグーライス) ?

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Hmm...no, not exactly. Where are you getting "agreeable" from?

SusuKacangSoya said:

I should be close to understanding it (unless I've dug myself a shallow pit to trip into, by misunderstanding the context), but I still cannot fully grasp the sentence because of の名に.. What does it do in this line?

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ラゲーライスとやらの名にふさわしい as a whole modifies 面構え, and in turn ラゲーライスとやらの名にふさわしい面構え modifies 料理. The chef here created the dish in question so that it had the quality of ラゲーライスとやらの名にふさわしい面構え. What would be your best attempt at translating this?

jt_ said:

Hmm...no, not exactly. Where are you getting "agreeable" from?

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I was reading ふさわしい面構え as one unit ;-; So, loosely, "appropriate look". In hindsight, this doesn't make enough sense.

jt_ said:

ラゲーライスとやらの名にふさわしい as a whole modifies 面構え, and in turn ラゲーライスとやらの名にふさわしい面構え modifies 料理. The chef here created the dish in question so that it had the quality of ラゲーライスとやらの名にふさわしい面構え. What would be your best attempt at translating this?

Click to expand...

Ah.. now I'm starting to get it xD That was one relative clause I did not see coming...

「ラゲーライスとやらの名にふさわしい面構えの料理 」
I'm not articulating this very well, but...
- "A dish that seemed befitting of the name ラゲーライス"?
- "A dish positively among the likes of ラゲーライス"?
- "A dish true to the likes of ラゲーライス"?

They're way off a literal translation, but that's how I would express the idea. Is there really a translation that could faithfully capture all of that sentence..?

とやら seems to turn a more concrete concept into something looser (e.g. "ラゲーライス" vs "the likes of ラゲーライス" or "ラゲーライス-ish"), so I'm wrestling a bit with how that could have a 名... How can something vague, or a category/classification of various related items, have a unified sort of name/reputation?

Like, I'm thinking "ラゲーライスの名にふさわしい面構え" versus "ラゲーライスとやらの面構え"... To have both at once..?

This is minor, though. I'm comfortable with getting comfortable with it.

SusuKacangSoya said:

A dish that seemed befitting of the name

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Bingo!
This is fine, no need to be ashamed or apologetic of that translation.

Good work! As Majestic-san says, your translation serves well, and you seem to have a handle on the structure of the sentence.

Since you have the basics down, let me try to address your follow-up question.

SusuKacangSoya said:

とやら seems to turn a more concrete concept into something looser (e.g. "ラゲーライス" vs "the likes of ラゲーライス" or "ラゲーライス-ish"), so I'm wrestling a bit with how that could have a 名... How can something vague, or a category/classification of various related items, have a unified sort of name/reputation?

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That's the whole point of the とやら here. The idea is ラゲーライス is just a silly name coined on the spot by this person after hearing that the chef wanted to put キクラゲ in it, so the とやら adds a sense "befitting of that name (or something along those lines)."

Let's say we're trying to come up with a new dish ourselves.

A: "I'm thinking of something like curry and rice, but maybe a bit healthier, like with green vegetables and whatnot."
B: "In that case, I definitely want to put in artichoke hearts."
A: "Oh, then you totally have to call it 'Artie Rice'"
B: (explaining to a third party) So I tried to make it a dish with a look befitting of the name 'Artie Rice', whatever that's supposed to look like.

jt_ said:

That's the whole point of the とやら here. The idea is ラゲーライス is just a silly name coined on the spot by this person after hearing that the chef wanted to put キクラゲ in it, so the とやら adds a sense "befitting of that name (or something along those lines)."

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That closes the last hole...

ありがとう！