Post #405568 by Limbo Lizard on Tue, Sep 2, 2008 3:39 PM

I think you're right about the matchbook art, Unk. If they ordered from a catalog of generic designs for typical restaurants, that suggests that they were a small, thinly capitalized start-up, without the budget (or inclination) to develop their own individual concept art/logo.
Kenike's probably right that they weren't around long. I did a search (I'm sure Kenike did, too) and they never made it onto the radar at 'D' Magazine. Heck, I've seen Chinese restaurants in old Dairy Queen buildings get reviewed by 'D', if they managed to stay in business a couple years.
I may be able make it to the Dallas Records Bldg., sometime soon. If so, I'll see if I can find out anything.
Kenike looked for them in the Dallas News archives. Maybe the library has archives of the Dallas Times Herald that might have something. The Herald closed in the early 90's, but was the other major Dallas daily paper, until then.

Another possibility: Maybe they ran out of money, or got into a partner dispute, before they ever opened the doors for business. Maybe the matchbooks were printed, but ended up being souvenirs of a restaurant that never was.
Or... (putting on my conspiracy hat) maybe someone printed matchbooks of a never-was tiki restaurant (with plausible address and ph.#) to sell to credulous collectors on eBay... for $56!

Yet another observation: If it operated in the 80's, it probably wouldn't have used the area code with the phone number, because all of Dallas and its suburbs was 214, and still used 7-digit dialing. Unless they expected patrons to call them long-distance, I suppose. It wasn't until late '96 that growth required many Dallas suburbs to be switched to the 972 area code.

[ Edited by: Limbo Lizard 2008-09-02 16:53 ]