This Brooklyn restaurant (Cafe Mars), created by local studio Format Architecture Office, has a fun atmosphere thanks to its vivid colors, neon lights, and expressive furniture.
Co-chefs Jorge Olarte and Paul D’Avino, whose grandpa lived across the street when he first moved from Campania in 1901, opened Cafe Mars, an Italian restaurant in Gowanus.
In keeping with these origins, the restaurant’s design celebrates everything Italian, from the glitzy Amalfi Coast to the Memphis design movement of the 1980s.
According to Format principal and co-founder Andrew McGee, “it was important to connect the intent of the culinary experience with the intent of the spatial experience.”
“If the driving force of the menu was to showcase knowledge and love of traditional Italian cuisine, twisted and subverted at just the right moments to create something playfully rebellious and unusual, it seemed only natural to reference the character and movement in [Ettore] Sottsass and the Memphis style with a similar vintage in the architecture and design realm,” he said.
The 100 square meter (or 1,100 square foot) eatery requires guests to crank a pasta die door handle that is provided by third-generation local manufacturer D Malardi & Sons.
“The detail is a charming nod to the building’s pasta factory and Italian grocery history whilst ushering in its restaurant future,” the studio stated.
Once inside the long, narrow front room, a row of back-to-back banquettes runs down the left, while the bar area is located on the right.
The arches with white wood panels framing the bar and the open kitchen below expose a back bar that has a vivid blue color and follows the same shape.
Within the first arch, a tall, light grey counter forms an L, with a lower surface for diners sat in Studio Apotroes chairs with hot pink zigzag legs.
More chairs, with white accents this time, face the kitchen area and are positioned next to a bright green tableware shelf unit that is hidden beneath the bar counter.
The bespoke double-sided banquettes, on the other hand, are colored one yellow for every two white and feature ribbed edges.
The original brick walls behind are visible through the arching yellow panels with circular openings in between, and the globe pendants by Andrew Neyer that hang over each table.
The cobalt-colored seating in the “blue room” at the back stands out against the exposed brick walls, black window frames, and white hexagon floor tiles.
Hot pink is back in the cords of pendant lights with MushLume shades composed of mycelium from mushrooms, and custom wooden tables feature tops constructed of puzzle pieces that fit together in different ways.
During the night, the neon sign in the window that traces the Cafe Mars emblem created by artist Massimo Mongiardo is matched by vibrant LED lights inside the circular wall elements, beneath the bar counter, and above the back bar.
His drawings of pasta shapes adorn the interiors in various places, such as the restrooms and the black-painted roller shutters that are drawn down when the restaurant is closed.
According to Format co-founder and principal Matthew Hettler, “the goal was to strike a delicate balance between fanciful and comforting, transformative and familiar.”
“The design, however loud, becomes a backdrop for a quality experience, and that is something we are excited about.”
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