For generations of Houstonians, Ding How wasn't merely a restaurant. It was the Chinese restaurant. Founded in the 1960s and operating for decades along South Main, Ding How became one of Houston's most beloved dining institutions. Families celebrated birthdays there. Prom groups gathered there. Business deals were made there. Surely millions of egg rolls disappeared from its dining room.

Chinese immigrants first arrived in America during the California Gold Rush and the construction of the Transcontinental Railroad—or, around here, the Texas oil boom. To feed homesick workers, they opened small restaurants serving familiar Cantonese dishes, but over time they adapted recipes to American tastes and ingredients. 

So was Ding How’s menu Chinese food like you’d eat in China like Peking duck, Mapo tofu or xiaolongbao? Absolutely not. It was gloriously old-school Chinese-American comfort food. Egg foo young. Sweet-and-sour pork. Fried rice. Moo goo gai pan. Crispy noodles that vanished way before the appetizers arrived. 

If you grew up in Houston during the 1970s or 1980s, there's a decent chance you celebrated something at Ding How, even if it was merely surviving another hurricane season.

This piece is a little different than most matchbooks.

The matches are long gone. What survives is only the shiny cover itself—a survivor that somehow escaped the junk drawer, kitchen trash can or glove box where most matchbooks eventually met their fate. The graphics are still wonderfully vintage, featuring the restaurant's pagoda logo and classic red printing on gold stock. Sports the slogan: “Cantonese Cookery that is Unsurpassed Anywhere.” And check out the old exchange phone number: JA-8490.

t feels like something from a Houston that no longer exists—a city where family-owned restaurants built reputations over decades instead of viral social media posts.

Details

• Original Ding How Restaurant matchbook cover

• Matches not present

• Vintage red-and-gold graphics

• Shiny AF 

• Approximately 1.5" wide × 2" tall

• Egg roll not included

No longer lights Marlboros but can still spark memories.