You might think that when opening a new restaurant the first work to be done would be coming up with the menu and recipes, but Amy and Steve had signs on their mind.  They took a long drive to Houston as an opportunity to brainstorm their favorite images for the sign:  old motel signs, The Nutty Brown Cafe's Giant Cowboy, and Amy's favorite sign ever, a sign that used to be inside of the Cotton Club, a clothing store in Houston.  It depicted an enamel cowboy with a neon yellow lasso that stretched across the shop capturing a neon clock set in a star.

The sign was designed by an artist/inventor named Neil Chavigny, whom Amy had purchased retro neon clocks from for her first two Amy's locations.  Amy realized she hadn't spoken with Neil in several years and the Cotton Club had closed ages ago.  Where was that sign?  Amy called Neil and a series of synchronicities followed.  The first was that Neil lived only two blocks behind the new property.  Second, when Amy asked about the sign Neil said, "Weird.  I just got that sign back and, you know, they never paid me for it."  The sign was in his shop only minutes away.  Describing the Phil's project, Amy asked Neil if he would be willing to sell the sign, "not to anybody but to you" was his reply and the idea for Phil's logo was born.