Comments on: a feast for the eyes

a feast for the eyes

crunchland — Wed, 10 Aug 2011 10:08:46 -0800

By: Gator

Gator — Wed, 10 Aug 2011 10:12:23 -0800

Neat, if a bit young. Bookmarked to skim for future inspiration.

By: griphus

griphus — Wed, 10 Aug 2011 10:27:05 -0800

This is such an innocuous example of the sort of menu it is, I am surprised he used it. There are tons of Mexican restaurants in Brooklyn that exist more for their margarita and daquiri specials than the food, and they all have menus like this, just ten times as haphazard, as if arranged by a illiterate synesthete slowly going blind. ...and I, apparently, am a lot more angry about not being able to find a burrito that one night than I thought. (Oblig. Onion link.)

By: digsrus

digsrus — Wed, 10 Aug 2011 10:28:52 -0800

I eagerly await the tenth menu.

By: RogerB

RogerB — Wed, 10 Aug 2011 10:31:20 -0800

The infodesign nerd commenters' disdain for Shopsin's menu makes me sad, because it's actually a pitch-perfect design — it's just not trying to do what they think it should. As anyone who's seen I Like Killing Flies knows, that that menu's design is absolutely perfect for its purpose; it just doesn't have the same purpose as other restaurant menus. White space and structure, low information density and hierarchy, are all nice if you want to make choosing what to order easy. But Shopsin wants to make it hard! (And shouldn't any good Tuftean have a grudging respect for a design that fits that much pure information on one page, anyhow?) Also, it'd be nice if they could learn to spell. "Saddistic" gave me a chuckle, but I'm pretty sure it was unintentional.

By: MCMikeNamara

MCMikeNamara — Wed, 10 Aug 2011 10:31:26 -0800

I do love the idea that an ugly menu is the perfect illustration of a type of place. (A type of place I'd probably love.) "Shopsin's daughter, Tamara," explains a Saveur article, "once admitted that the worst thing she had ever done was teach her father how to use Adobe InDesign. She didn't expect him to exploit the text-squeeze function to such an extent." For some reason that made me laugh. It also makes me glad I'm (much much more) a design hobbyist than any sort of trained professional or the type of person who would break out in hives looking at this.

By: Gator

Gator — Wed, 10 Aug 2011 10:34:15 -0800

Also, "snuggly."

By: xedrik

xedrik — Wed, 10 Aug 2011 10:49:13 -0800

Needs more Papyrus.

By: Greg_Ace

Greg_Ace — Wed, 10 Aug 2011 10:52:23 -0800

The only (and I mean ONLY) complaint I have with Shopsin's menu is that it's a tad short on description. I can't be the only one who favors concise, high-density information over "design" and "artistic use of white space", can I?

By: palidor

palidor — Wed, 10 Aug 2011 10:52:39 -0800

I went to Shopsin's on a visit to NYC specifically because I had seen pdfs of its insane menu beforehand. It's perfect. The table I sat at had a framed picture of Damar from DS9 sitting next to it.

By: exogenous

exogenous — Wed, 10 Aug 2011 10:58:37 -0800

How weird, the Shopsin's menu appears to feature someone dressed as Alex from A Clockwork Orange.

By: Gator

Gator — Wed, 10 Aug 2011 11:00:40 -0800

Holding an Orange Julius, of course.

By: Ad hominem

Ad hominem — Wed, 10 Aug 2011 11:05:10 -0800

I'm scared to go to Shopsin's I don't think I would react well to being publicly humiliated.

By: eyeballkid

eyeballkid — Wed, 10 Aug 2011 11:05:31 -0800

Under Consideration is awesome.

By: 2bucksplus

2bucksplus — Wed, 10 Aug 2011 11:15:07 -0800

The best menus have pictures representative of what you'll actually get.

By: carsonb

carsonb — Wed, 10 Aug 2011 11:20:27 -0800

They have yet to go over the awesomest restaurant menu of all time, that of GRILL in downtown Tucson, AZ: FRONT (Pg. 1, 2, 3) BACK— so I guess I'll check in later. Hmph.

By: Pruitt-Igoe

Pruitt-Igoe — Wed, 10 Aug 2011 11:30:58 -0800

I like this local menu because of the random prices. It's a reaction to whole-number prices which, after tax and tip, you never end up paying a whole number for anyway. Also the food is great.

By: Pruitt-Igoe

Pruitt-Igoe — Wed, 10 Aug 2011 11:36:31 -0800

And speaking of crap restaurant websites, that link won't take you anywhere unless you've already gone to the site and picked a location. Nevermind.

By: Kitteh

Kitteh — Wed, 10 Aug 2011 11:56:08 -0800

When I ate at Shopsin's during my first NYC visit, it was the best damn breakfast I ever had. I am sure if I returned and had something else, it would still be the best damn (insert meal here).

By: Ad hominem

Ad hominem — Wed, 10 Aug 2011 12:02:19 -0800

Were you berated by the staff? This is an honest question, I want to go but I would probably be seething and plotting their destruction for months if they started shouting at me.

By: Kitteh

Kitteh — Wed, 10 Aug 2011 13:46:04 -0800

No, they were nice to me, but it helped that I was aware of the legend of Shopsin's and decided what I was going to order before I even got there. The magic of the online menu!