How the restaurant napkin came to be

Pop quiz time!

Regardless of a restaurant’s design, menu or pricing, its guests will be provided with an amenity that started as a quasi-blanket, morphed into a marketing tool in 1887, and survived an onslaught of forks as American colonists rolled east.

Name that restaurant staple.

Or, hit the play button on this week’s Restaurant Rewind podcast to trek back to ancient Greece, where the correct answer had its start as an edible remedy for greasy fingers.

Join me this episode for a surprising look at how the restaurant napkin came to be.

But if you plan to make a mess, bring your own linens.