On Tuesday’s edition of AirTalk, KPCC host Larry Mantle chatted with Eva restaurant chef and owner Mark Gold about the establishment’s provocative new policy. Customers who check their cell phones at the door are entitled to a five percent discount off the total bill.

A day later, this story about the mid-city eatery’s innovative gambit has begun its viral creep via foodbeast.com, Gawker, the San Francisco Chronicle and LA Times. By tomorrow morning, it’s likely dozens more outlets will have replicated.

The calls coming into KPCC yesterday morning and comments on the matching website page are running about 9-to-1 in favor of the policy. One female caller noted that she feels the more discretely allowable act of texting, not talking, is what isolates people most from the human interaction of a normal, bygone-era restaurant meal.

Gold says he views the five percent incentive as more of a nudge than anything else, a reminder welcomed by many customers willing to embrace a common-sense idea. So far, he says, just under half of his customers are typically taking advantage of the cell incentive. No mention, yet, of this policy on the Eva restaurant website.