photo by Eater Chicago
photo by Huge Galdones
photo by Huge Galdones
photo by Eater Chicago





We teamed up again with the Giant crew on the visual branding of their second restaurant. Chef’s Special Cocktail Bar is first and foremost a cocktail bar, but it’s also a place to get stuffed on traditional and non-traditional American-Chinese dishes. The chefs’ nostalgia for American-Chinese fare informed both the food and visual design of the restaurant. The multi-generational influence of this cuisine in America led us to explore early editions of the The Joy of Cooking, another staple of early 20th century cookery. We set out to create a series of “how-to” drawings that explained the basics of cocktail stirring, vegetable slicing, and dumpling making. Foregoing an official logo, the limited color palette, typography, and simple illustrations give the restaurant’s identity clarity and cohesion. ALSO designed the menus, business cards, postcards, magnets, to-go packaging, chopstick labels, and bathroom signage. In addition to the print works, we also designed and built a fully custom website.
photo by Eater Chicago
photo by Huge Galdones
photo by Huge Galdones
photo by Eater Chicago