It’s a small spot tucked away on a side street in Fort Greene. A place with no name on the door and no way of knowing this is even a place for eating, save for the fact that the door was wide open and delicious aromas were escaping on to the street. A restaurant with more kitchen than places to sit and a BYOB policy. Even if you’re familiar with the neighborhood this place is easy to miss, but once you’ve eaten there you’ll never forget it.

They serve what could be described as French-Senegalese cuisine, a first for me. So I dove right in and tried one of the specials, braised lamb shank, which I have to say was quite mind blowing. The dish came with black rice and sweet plantains under a good sized, perfectly cooked, “meat-falling-off-the-bone” lamb shank. Then topped with a spicy salad/sauce concoction of mostly onions with jalapenos. Everything about this meal was amazing and I intend to revisit many times.

So after I finished my meal and start to contemplate dessert, I looked over the menu again and decided I knew exactly what they were doing wrong with it (as well as the logo). This is a perfect case of a restaurant making all the right decisions about the food they serve, but when it comes to representing themselves graphically they didn’t know how to communicate.

This is an honest place, you can tell that by the way the host greets you at the door and you can definitely tell by the food they serve. So why not continue that honesty by simply writing out their own menus and maybe a quick signature/logo from the owner. This alone would continue that authentic feeling.

A great example of innovative design improving the quality and safety of our food.

By using a visual notifier instead of a written date, this label can quickly tell you the age of the meat by simply glancing at the packaging. The label changes color as it ages with the meat by reacting to the ammonia it naturally emits. As an added bonus the color change interferes with the barcode, making it impossible to scan.

The idea comes from Japanese design studio TO-GENKYO and will be featured in the Good Design Expo 2009 this month in Tokyo.

Vinyl record? Dinner plate? Tire? Not sure where the designer was trying to take this logo, but clearly not to the same place I enjoyed a huge, delicious Gyro and an amazing cup of Red Lentil Soup. The Pita House in Medford Long Island is not a place you can find on your own, you’ll need a little help from a local (in this case, my Mom). Last weekend I visited it again, for the second time, and it was just as I remembered it.

But this logo just doesn’t work for me. So after finishing my entire plate, I drew a few sketches of pitas in all the different forms I can think of. Now pitas, like most food, is a hard thing to get across in a logo or icon. Most people would agree food just doesn’t look as good drawn as it does photographed or in real life, which I prefer. So, perhaps visually depicting the food is the wrong route for the Pita House.

Instead a drew an empty cup of soup (an empty plate is always a clear sign good food) with a basic lock-up of ‘Pita House’. I thought the typeface they chose was at least in the right direction, so I just simplified it a bit. But ultimately the characters should have a bit more distinction.

Now, I’m not a food critique by any means, but I know what I like. I’ll try almost any food, so I plan to write about all cuisines. And I love to give my honest opinion, so that’s what you’ll get from me.

There are so many places to get great food, but sometimes the logo just doesn’t match the eating experience. I don’t think every restaurant out there should go out and get an expensive logo create for their establishment, but I do think they could take a step back and ask themselves if they think their logo is communicating the right message.

Some people might say: “If the food’s good who cares what the place looks like!” My answer is: “I do.”