Empress Tavern is a meat-centric restaurant housed underneath the historic Crest Theater in downtown Sacramento.
The Empress team set out to create a beautiful space that felt elegant, but that also would be accessible to the casual diner. Executive chef and owner, Mike Thiemann, really wanted visitors to feel like they had discovered a space that had always existed. That prompt heavily influenced the creation of Empress’ identity.
The collateral and menus use typographic styles and fonts inspired by the deco era the theater was built in, while the monoline illustrations and design elements nod to the neon artwork of the Crest’s signage.
Restaurant photography courtesy of Ryan Donahue.