Duly Noted

Michel Serebecbere, maitre d' of the Maurice Restaurant in New York City's posh Parker Meridien Hotel, last year noticed that business people were desperate for anything to take notes on during breakfast and luncheon meetings. They resorted to envelopes, blank checks or even $20 bills. Now executives find something more convenient. Sitting on the tables next to the salt and pepper is a small (2 1/2 in. by 4 1/4 in.) gray-beige note pad with the legend, "Notes While Dining at the Maurice."

Restaurants and hotels catering to the business trade are adding this accouterment for the executive table. At Hurlingham's in the New York Hilton, waiters no longer have to face tablecloths and napkins covered with ink. Now the restaurant's business guests receive blank cards (3 1/4 in. by 5 in.) that display the silhouette of a polo player astride his mount. At the American Harvest Restaurant in Manhattan's Vista International Hotel, diners receive a thin pad that slips into a shirt pocket. Still, some places resist the trend. Says Harry Poulakakos, 45, owner of Wall Street's popular drinking spot Harry's at Hanover Square: "If someone asks us for paper, we give them a yellow legal pad."