Michael'S Grill & Taqueria

Identity, print/web/environmental design

An identity and all-new website bursting with color, warmth, and punchy personality, crafted for a lovable Tex-Mex taqueria in Pacific Grove, California.

Michael’s has been serving up quality Mexican food with Texan and Cajun influences since it was founded by Michael Butson back in 1986. Michael’s traded hands in 2001 and is now headed by Mama Lidia and her family, who expanded the business with franchises in two neighboring towns. During the COVID-19 pandemic, I reached out to provide my services pro bono in support of this local business which my wife and I can’t get enough of.

After diving into research on the existing identity (and from personal experience), I knew Michael’s had warm service, award-winning eats, and sassy slogans hand-scrawled onto the walls by its founder, yet lacked the visual identity to match. I went with colors sampled from their Mexican tile tables and a bubbly primary typeface, complimented by a handwritten secondary font that would be legible enough to work for menus and copy.

Being a family-run business, what the siblings who manage the restaurant latched on to most from my original pitch was something I’d simply envisioned as a side-element of the identity. Specifically, a secondary logomark of their mom, Mama Lidia. This element went on to become a central feature of the new identity, showing up on everything from signage to to-go menus, and always with the slogan:

If it's good enough for mama, it's good enough for you!

Later on, the project expanded to include a complete overhaul of their website. All new commercial photography was taken by my very talented wife, Rachel Rosenberg, to populate the design. It was a treat to bring the identity alive in a responsive web design, serving as a love letter to this award-winning local eatery.