"I spend a lot of time studying menus, mostly as a scholar and not enough as a restaurant patron. I can tell you that the type, font, spacing, graphics and design all play a role in creating the dining experience. For an interesting historical look at menus, see the Cornell University Collection, choose any menu and see how it evokes an era, mood, and helps you conjure up a particular time or place. Of course the same can be said of any number of items in visual culture, it is inherent in the definition. Menus can and should be read, studied, analyzed, dissected and interpreted as part of our heritage. Here is a sample menu:
Image from Colorado College Library Ranch House, 15th and Main, Canon City. Two printed menus, ca. 1950. Two sets of proprietors: Ethel and Lester Long / Dorothy and Glen Eubanks. "The home of real applewood pit barbeque." Purchase, 2006.