Matchbooks

There was an interesting article in the New York Times Dining section last Wednesday about matchbooks. Here's a link-the article was cleverly titled "A New Old Freebie: Restaurant Matches Return". http://www.nytimes.com/2009/10/21/dining/21match.html?_r=1&ref=dining

It got me hunting for my old bowl of matches-and it was fun to see matchbooks from now defunct Chicago area restaurants. I have: Cafe Provencal, Ambria, Le Francais, Seven Continents (at O'Hare), Leslee's, Gordon, Cafe Azteca, The Diner (Glenview), Danny's (Northfield), Tonelli's, David's Bistro, Hearth Fare (Glenview), the Winnetka Grill and Meritage.

I don't smoke, but I always pick up matches at restaurants when they are offered. Do you?

Don't smoke, but love restaurant matchbooks. It's a great feeling to find one in the back of a drawer from a restaurant you haven't been to in 10, 15 or 20 years. Brings you right back for some reason. Glad to see they are making a comeback.

I had totally forgotten about Leslee's until I found the matchbook. It made me sad because I really loved Leslie Reis and her restaurants.
I also was a huge fan of Cafe Azteca and would love to find a restaurant that makes Chilaquiles like they did-also their Margaritas!

bob chinn's matches are a staple of many houses i've visited... they are possibly the cadillac of free matches. not sure if they still offer them.

There was a show on a couple of years ago, 2003 or so, called "Keen Eddie" about an American cop in Britan, and one of the running threads was Eddie collecting and pinning matchbooks of the crime scenes to a map of London.

I miss that show.

SSDD

My most poignant matchbook: Windows on the World.

Going through an old trunk today I re-discovered a huge box full of my grandparents' matchbook collection. Couldn't resist going through most of it. Mostly Milwaukee/Wisconsin places and then ones they picked up while traveling, but found a few from Chicagoland. Some places I know, a few maybe someone here can chime in on.
Anyone recall this "Mexican" chain?


Here's the back. Wow, looks exciting. Was cockfighting part of the entertainment?


And the inside:






From the back:


Hard to picture my grandparents here. Maybe someone brought it back for them.



Here's one I've never heard of. Anyone know where this was?




From the back:

Here's one from Lincolnwood. Anyone?


How about this place? I can definately see my grandparents here.






There is no way my grandparents were actually here. Right?

Yeah - No Way.


This one made Jonathan smile. Fond childhood memories.



Not from Chicagoland, but tis the season:

Great memories of a number of those. I believe Chances R was a casual place in Old Town (burgers, peanut shells on the floor), where O'Brien's is now.

As nr706 points out, Chances R was in Old Town, on Wells Street as I recall, when Old Town had not quite yet turned into total touristville--mid-late 1960s. It had good hamburgers, but its main attraction to me as a kid was that you could throw the free peanuts' shells on the floor. First time I ever encountered that and what a thrill for a 12-year old! There was a related place (I think) called "Across the Street," which was, of course, across the street from Chances R. There was also a Chances R in Hyde Park when I was in grad school in the late 1970s-early 1980s. A friend waitressed there. The food was OK. Mostly I recall that an apparently anorexic young woman worked as the hostess there, who because of her extreme thinness really, really, really seemed a strange choice for the position.

My favorite was from Fisherman's Inn in Elburn, Il. When you made a reservation, upon arrival to your table you would find their matchbooks with your name imprinted on them. I think they continued this for a while after the no smoking laws passed but were not present on my last visit. I'm not a smoker but a long time collector, what a great way to remember places where you have had a great meal!

There was also a Chances R in Skokie, near Old Orchard but clearly these matches came from the Old Town one.

The La Margarita matchbook must be a later one in the history of the restaurant, the Morton Grove outlet opened quite a bit after the original one, maybe in the early '80s but before the area code split that created 708 (1989)?

I don't remember when Claim Company matches came in books. The ones I remember were green boxes from roughly '84 onward.

La Margarita was the highlight of our late-70's middle-school Spanish class -- once a year we'd have a field trip, and somebody would dare someone else to drink a whole bowl of their "hot sauce" -- by today's standards pretty tame stuff.

The one in Schaumburg lasted a lot longer than the others, if I recall.

I have seen some matchbook alternatives in similar packaging: post-it notes, condom, flossing devices.... but not many. These day's it's usually just a stack of business cards on the host stand.

Thanks for all the replies! It's been fun to hear your recollections. I'm shocked that no one wants share their fond memories of hanging out at Yesterday's Cafe and Meat Market. Would love to hear what the menu was like. Every time I look at that one episodes of "Three's Company" start playing in my head. Not that I can really recall specific plots... Oh, wait - the plot was the same in every episode.

JoelF wrote:La Margarita was the highlight of our late-70's middle-school Spanish class -- once a year we'd have a field trip, and somebody would dare someone else to drink a whole bowl of their "hot sauce" -- by today's standards pretty tame stuff.

The one in Schaumburg lasted a lot longer than the others, if I recall.

It's still there.

Indianapolis Star has a slideshow of local matchbooks: http://www.indystar.com/apps/pbcs.dll/g ... 805&Ref=PH