"Casa di Venere" is a concept for an Italian restaurant specialising in pasta. The restaurant serves different types of authentic pasta with special sauces. The also have a few appetisers and desserts, but mainly serve pasta. They are located in San Francisco, and run by two women. The restaurant has a classical theme from ancient Rome, but is also a celebration of women. The name translates to House of Venus, a prominent figure in Roman mythology. She was worshipped and revered by the Roman people, and they prayed to her for a variety of things. Much like women today, she was multifaceted and people depended on her for protection, success and love, she was beyond just her beauty.
The community giveback for this restaurant would be employing only women and providing free meals to a women’s shelter, or donating a percentage of their profits to the shelter.
COOKBOOK
The first part of this project was to create a cookbook for the restaurant. The cookbook is different pasta recipes along with some spreads that inform the reader about Venus and eating habits from ancient Roman times. The imagery used is reminiscent of art from the time.
MENU SYSTEM
The second part of this project was to create a menu system for the restaurant. The menu consists of four pages - appetizers, entrees, desserts and drinks. I chose to have the menu system on separate pages, layered on top of each other. The pages follow similar imagery used in the cookbook, with each illustratin on the pages being a symbol of Venus.
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If you would like to see the entire cookbook, menu system, or process book, you can find them at the links below.