Where Nerdy Met Noodly & Why Regular Menu Updates Are Essential

New Orleans is flush with dining options, so it’s crucial for restaurants to stay ahead of the game with impeccable service, delicious food, and consistent marketing. A regular menu update is a key ingredient in a restaurant’s recipe for success. 

Done well, a menu becomes part of an engaging experience that resonates with customers to keep them returning for more. In this post, we’ll share how Arabella Casa di Pasta and Brand Name Nerd became a dynamic duo to create a comic book menu with a Pastafarian punch.

A Menu Origin Story

Sometimes, a business owner takes a good, long look at the details and realizes something just feels off. In early 2023, this feeling started creeping in among the action figures overlooking the patrons of Arabella Casa di Pasta. Change was imminent. 

Meanwhile, Amanda was out on the street, pounding the pavement, attempting to make connections and maybe—hopefully—even clients. It hadn’t been long since she threw caution to the wind to go all-in on doing design full-time as Brand Name Nerd. But the season had been slow, clients had been inconsistent, and now, with no commissions on the horizon, this season suddenly seemed very windy.

Rather than panic, we went to Arabella’s and got pasta. At some point during the meal, Amanda looked up from her gluten-free penne with a game plan.

Joining Forces

The next day, Amanda cold-emailed several businesses in the Marigny and Bywater neighborhoods in New Orleans—businesses. Businesses we’d frequented because they're neighbors, we enjoyed them and appreciated what they did and how they did it, not least of all, Arabella’s. An overlapping love of nerdy pop culture and colorful artwork made Arabella’s a natural place for Brand Name Nerd to start. 

Mowgli Pierlas—the owner of Arabella's—admired Amanda's nerdy doodles and envisioned them showcasing his noodles. Their menu had evolved significantly over a decade of sauce-slinging and was overdue for an update. A custom menu with a comic book theme would become exactly the right complement to Arabella’s collaged bar and gallery of Funko Pops and action figures.

Unleashing the Power of Design

When Amanda first sat down with Mowgli to discuss the menu redesign, they knew they had to create something that would not only catch the eye but also capture the spirit of Arabella Casa di Pasta. The old menu, while functional, lacked the pizzazz that the restaurant's vibrant atmosphere demanded

Design Influences

May The Blessings of His Noodliness be Upon You!

Pastafarianism (also known as The Church of the Flying Spaghetti Monster) is a satirical religious movement in which followers don colanders on their heads, vow to be nice to all sentient beings, and eat lots of pasta.

When you walk into Arabella’s, you’ll see lots of interesting things: Brand Name Nerd’s gallery wall of shiny, sun-catching prints, an army of action figures from different eras, and perhaps most iconically, a mural of the Flying Spaghetti Monster extending its noodly appendage Sistine Chapel-style toward’s Arabella’s perpetual employee of the month.

Running with the Pastafarian theme, the Flying Spaghetti Monster became the hero in a tale about pasta and tasty appetizers. Its noodly appendage winds around through the menu—a dynamic throughline for the comic book theme.

Comic Book Menu Redesign

The menu’s color palette was directly inspired by the palettes used during the Silver Age of comics. These palettes were limited color sets, often defined by the printing capabilities of the time. This color set, digitized by Ed Piskor, became the starting point for Arabella’s menu palette. The vibrant yet limited color scheme helped give the menu its retro look and feel.

With the colors in place, it was time to choose a font. Classic handwritten comic book fonts were too hard to read for a menu. After going through rounds of research and looking up fonts, Amanda and Mowgli landed on Futura Condensed Extra Black for the title and the Komika family of fonts for the body of the menu. These font choices resemble a mix of Arabella’s current font and the classic look of The Watchman comic book covers. These fonts are easy to read and scale down nicely, which is important for a menu full of information. 

Of course, no comic book reference menu would be complete without a Stan Lee homage. In this case, Amanda sought out a very niche reference for the custom graphics that would illustrate the menu: the 1977 Stan Lee Presents The Mighty Marvel Superheroes Cookbook. This time capsule of a cookbook juxtaposes classic characters in dynamic poses like the Hulk digging into a sloppy joe and Spider-Man tangled up in gooey cheese. It might now have been the most classic of Stan’s comics, but for a menu, it made a fitting reference. 

The Menu: Now in Print

The final step: printing. There’s no shortage of printers out there. There are national chains capable of large-scale orders and hyperlocal micro-printers specializing in high-quality, small-batch orders. To print Arabella’s menu—and for most Brand Name Nerd projects, when possible—we partnered with N.O.Vative. 

Touted as “New Orleans’ one-stop-shop for everything printed or branded”, N.O.Vative lived up to the hype. The final printed result was a stunning, high-gloss menu that perfectly captures the fun, colorful essence of Arabella Casa di Pasta.

The Brand Name Nerd Approach: More Than Just Design

We didn't just design a menu; we crafted a story that diners can engage with before they even taste the food. Every illustration, every font choice, and every word was carefully selected to enhance Arabella's experience.

Most importantly, the menu design aligned perfectly with Arabella's brand identity. The comic book theme wasn't just a gimmick; it was an extension of the restaurant's existing decor and atmosphere.

Conclusion: A Recipe for Success

The partnership between Brand Name Nerd and Arabella Casa di Pasta proves that when local businesses come together, magic can happen. By combining our design expertise with Arabella's culinary creativity, we created a menu that's more than just a list of dishes—it's a piece of art that tells the restaurant's story and invites customers to be part of it.

For other businesses looking to revamp their menus or marketing materials, remember that it's not just about looking good—it's about creating an experience that resonates with your audience and reflects your brand's unique personality.

Take a page from Arabella's book (or menu, in this case). Invest in design that tells your story, connects with your community, and keeps your customers coming back for seconds.

Whether you’re talking business or pasta, it's all about finding the perfect sauce to bring everything together. And sometimes, that sauce is a well-designed menu with a side of nerdy charm.