Nick Cassleman - Posters - Z&H posters

The first place I considered myself a regular was Z&H MarketCafe near my college campus. It was owned by a sweet man named Sam who hired a motley crew. One day, I made a pretty version of an ugly sign they had hanging over the trash cans and asked if I could hang it up.

I started going in almost every day to work, and I slowly came to know and love the entire staff. I'd go out and smoke with them in the alley; I'd mix everyone cocktails during Taco Nights; I even span my fire staff for one of their nephew's birthday parties.

I drew most of the posters in colored pencil after first composing the poster in Photoshop and then tracing it. The photo quality of these images is horrible but they are very dear to me. This was one of the first times I remember feeling artistic.

Informational signage

Please avoid dumping liquids and ice into the trash can. Leave it on your table and we'll pick it up. Thank you! Not one cup on this counter please. (A colletion of sad looking cups and plates sit on the forbidden counter, saying 'Leave us at your table.') Smoke your smoke... but feed the can, not the kids. Thanks! (A silhouette of a person smoking, painted in smoke-like watercolors. Children hunched over, gobbling discarded cigarettes and saying, 'Better than candy!' A hungry trash can asking, 'You gunna finish dat?')
  1. This was the sign that started it all! They had some ugly sign asking folks not to throw liquids into the trash so I made this one and asked if I could hang it up.
  2. They didn't want folks busing their own tables so this sign asked them to leave dirty plates at their table.
  3. You could smoke on the back patio so they asked me to make this sign telling folks to throw away their cigarette butts.

Holiday specials

Christmas turkeys, sign up inside. (Featuring fancy Christmas blackletter, a wreath, and a pair of steaming turkeys.) Eggnog is here. (Within a frame overlayed on top of a repeated EGGNOG text-motif background.) Valentine's Day cupcake sign up. (Including cupcake illustrations and some very fancy interlacing borders.) Best Friend Special: egg, provolone, hot coppa, herb focaccia, tomato, pesto, onion, hash browns. $5. Happy Eggs Buffet. (Each ingreditent was painted in watercolor.)
  1. Christmas turkey.
  2. Christmas eggnog.
  3. Valentine's Day cupcakes.
  4. Egg's buffet. This is a Coliday (a Nick holiday) to commemorate the first time I ate an egg (I was a well into college). I asked them if they could make a sandwich for the day and Adam came up with the Best Friend Special.

Taco Night

Me in the Z&H kitchen with some of the Taco Night crew. I'm holding a sign I made for Taco Night. Celebrate Cinco de Mayo on dos y tres (de Mayo) with Taco Night. 6–11pm, B.Y.O. margaritas. (A fight between France and Mexico, designated by their modern day flags, rages on in the background.)
  1. Some of the Taco Night staff and I with my Taco Night sign.
  2. A Cinco de Mayo edition of Taco Night.

Merch

Shirts! Join the Z&H family for $16.00. (The sign is placed over one of the shirts with a frame cut out for the t-shirt's front: a turkey dressed up as an army major.)

Z&H was beloved by the neighborhood and the people demanded merchandise. This shirt featured the Old Mayor, one of their sandwiches, but I always wished they'd make a shirt with my favorite, the Daniel Tamayo breakfast sammy.