It has been over 40 years since the legendary chef Alice Waters opened Chez Panisse in Berkeley, California. While the restaurant became known for its single price-fixe menu it also set the stage for the Eat Local movement which would heavily influence the mind-set of many chefs, restaurants, and farmers around the world.
Fortunately, during the early years there was a member of the kitchen staff who was an artist who also dabbled in letterpress printing.
For Waters “saw the beauty and aesthetic of fine printing as a way to communicate at the outset of the diners experience the care and attention given to the preparation of their dinner” hence it wasn’t long before Patricia Curtan was designing and creating the menus; the customer’s first contact with the restaurant’s offerings.
This beautiful monograph, published by Princeton Architectural Press, is also designed by Curtan and features a healthy sampling of her work over the years.
The book:
Menus for Chez Panisse: The Art & Letterpress of Patricia Curtan. Foreword by Alice Waters
Post at the Paris Review by Curtan on the Chez Panisse Menus