Decoding Bucato’s Coat of Arms

Are you tired of type-writer font? Of faux-handwritten specials illegibly scrawled out on your menu? Evan Funke is too. So for the Bucato menu he chose to go old school, or shall I say Medieval. The eggshell colored menu has a sturdy caliper, with menu items on one side and a coat of arms on the other. “We chose a coat of arms because it is classic,” he said. “We are building a classic with Bucato.”

The design is a playful yet classic take on branding designed by LA based architecture and design team Undisclosable. Two pigs (likely heritage) flank a culinary shield and a bird (definitely heritage) roosts at the top. I asked Funke to decode the other props on the shield.

The cleaver is a given – Funke and his team are butchering whole animals at the restaurant; and the mattarello (pasta rolling pin) that lies across it is the tool that he employs for making pasta fatto a mano, or handmade pasta. Moving to the top, the trumpet is a traditional symbol meaning “ready for the fray.” The number three on either side of the shield means “something personal to the Bucato team” and the stout table at the bottom of the shield is a traditional symbol of hospitality.

A coat of arms feels like a bold move, but it matches the ambitions of Bucato. And I’m relieved to see someone move beyond the typewriter.

Read more about the design and architecture at Bucato on Undisclosable’s website. Listen to Evan Funke discuss Pasta Fatto a Mano with Evan Kleiman below: