Author autographed bookplates available! While supplies last.

Click here to see beautiful interiors from this book, to read an excerpt from the introduction, and for more about the author.

This gorgeous book is a collection of menus designed specifically for Chez Panisse. Menus were created in a variety of formats, which explains the larger trim to accommodate one, two, or three menus. Curtan includes wonderful anecdotes (about the restaurant, the people, the food, the occasions celebrated by the menus, and the process of designing and printing the menus). The book ends with an illustrated look at Curtan's process (press, type, design, linoleum blocks, etc). Also, samples of linoleum blocks are scattered throughout the book.

Patricia Curtan is an artist and designer living in Berkeley, California. She works in the medium of linoleum block printing, making images primarily of plants, particularly edible plants. Most recently, two print suites, one of fruit and one of vegetables, were produced in limited editions and reproduced as illustrations in Chez Panisse Fruit (2002), and Chez Panisse Vegetables (1996) by Alice Waters, published by HarperCollins. Patricia was also the designer and typographer for both books, and has a long association with Chez Panisse Restaurant as cook, cookbook co-author, designer and printer. Other work includes letterpress menus, notecards and broadsides, logo and identity design, and artwork for labels and product packaging.