Introducing Matchbook Monday

I was chatting with a friend the other day, and he was making a restaurant recommendation in his home city.  Since I’ll be visiting it in the not too distant future, I was looking for a few new suggestions.

As he was telling me about a great new discovery, the name simply escaped his memory.  He knew where it was, tried to explain it that way, even did a Google search to see if he could figure out the name of it.  All of a sudden he said, “Wait.  I picked up a matchbook while I was there.  Let me go find it.”  And find it he did, calling me back with the name and address of the restaurant a few minutes later.

In this age of non-smoking ordinances, and a definite anti-smoking bias in many businesses, I found it curious that restaurants are still printing up matchbooks as a handout to customers.  But, of course, it’s not really about providing customers with a light.  It’s all about a word of mouth campaign.

Do you pick up a matchbook when you are at a restaurant? 

I do.  And I’m not a smoker, and it’s pretty rare that I actually need matches.  I pick them up because it’s a reminder of the place that I’ve been, a free souvenir to remember an evening by.  A few conversations with other travelers indicated the same thing.  We all pick them up and pass them along, spreading the word about places that we’ve enjoyed.  Matchbook collecting is actually a very popular hobby.

In an effort to share some of my favorite places with you, today I’m launching Matchbook Monday.  I’ll be sharing with you matchbooks from some of the places I’ve been.  Some will be recent finds, while others will be old favorites.  No rhyme or reasons to what I share, just the opportunity to pass along a matchbook to someone who might enjoy the same places that I do. 

Today’s selection is from El Gaucho, my favorite Seattle steakhouse.

Do you have a matchbook to share?  If so, take a photo, and email it to me with the name and location of the restaurant.  If you want to include a few words about why you enjoyed it, great.  If not, just as great.  We can’t do it in person, but we can still pass it along in our own word of mouth fashion.

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