You arrive in a new city with meetings the following day. You are hungry and jump in a taxi, asking the driver for a restaurant recommendation.

Sound familiar?

If so, how can restaurants take advantage of taxi drivers’ admiration and steer customers their way?

Ruth’s Chris Steakhouse in San Antonio has an answer.

Once a year, they honor taxi drivers during Taxi Driver Appreciation Day, itself part of National Tourism Week. The restaurant plans to serve lunch to some 250 taxi cab drivers from 11:30 A.M. – 1:30 P.M. this Wednesday, May 12, 2010.

According to their press release, “You can’t miss it; look for the line of drivers circling the restaurant with the vintage 1970’s Cadillac DeVille Cab parked in front.”

What do the cabbies get?

A tenderloin filet sandwich with barbecue butter and horseradish sauce, Cajun chips, bottled water and fresh-baked cookies all packed in a Ruth’s Chris Steak House thermal bag.

This is the 15th year the restaurant has been hosting the cabbies: that’s 15 years of restaurant business, so somebody must be making those recommendations.