Before Pappadeaux. Before Pappasito’s. Before Pappas Bros. Steakhouse became the place where somebody else is hopefully paying the bill, there was The Strawberry Patch. And it was awesome. 

Chris, Harris and Greg Pappas opened The Strawberry Patch on Westheimer in 1976, and it became the restaurant that helped launch the modern Pappas restaurant empire that Houstonians know and love. 

The Strawberry Patch was gloriously 1970s. Or 1980s. I can’t remember which. But it was all Tiffany lamps and brass rails and dark wood and ferns. Like, seriously, ferns. Everywhere, it seemed. It reminded me of the bar room in an ‘80s country club. 

I’m not saying I ever wore multiple Polo shirts with popped collars, Ray-Ban Wayfarers and a Swatch watch complete with Swatch Guard to lunch there—but I’m not saying I didn’t. 

Texas Monthly called it one of Houston's early “fern bars,” and the restaurant became famous for affordable American food served in surroundings that felt stylish without being intimidating. I remember the wait staff brought delicious strawberry muffins to the table before you ordered. Menu items included chicken teriyaki topped with pineapple, burgers served on English muffins, drinks in Mason jars and even salads served in flower pots.

The Strawberry Patch was enormously popular. And it was the delicious dish laboratory where the Pappas family began developing the combination of food, service, atmosphere and operational precision that would eventually produce one of Houston's great restaurant empires.

It’s also a bit of a ghost. Hardly any public photos of the place exist that I could find. This was way before social media. It was a time before restaurants had much SWAG in the form of t-shirts or the like, and it wasn’t that kind of place anyway. So matchbook covers like these are about all that’s left of the place in terms of ephemera. 

The matches themselves are gone, which is hardly surprising. That was the whole idea. 

What survives is this fantastic branded cover—a pocket-sized reminder of the restaurant that occupied this stretch of Westheimer before the Pappas were a household name in town and became practically their own Houston food group. 

Details

• Original Strawberry Patch restaurant matchbook cover

• Matches long since fired up for much-needed smokes 

• Approximate era: 1970s–1990s

• Original restaurant graphics

• Age-related wear

• Strawberry muffins not included 

Restaurant empires have to start somewhere. For the Pappas family, one of the most important starting points was this fern-filled gem on Westheimer. And this little scrap of cardboard was there. Probably listening to Tears for Fears and complaining about Reaganomics.