Victor Pereira and the Aguardente team needed a Website, Menus, and Email Design that could translate the warmth and cultural richness of their Rhode Island restaurant into every digital and printed surface. Caol built a cohesive system that does exactly that, and continues to, bringing diners from across New England through the door.
Aguardente is a tapas-inspired restaurant rooted in Portuguese and Guatemalan culinary tradition, founded by Victor Pereira alongside longtime friends Natalia Neves and Magda Leon. Walk in and you feel it immediately, the artwork on the walls, the warmth of the space, the sense that every detail was chosen with real intention. That translation, from physical space to digital presence, was the kind of problem worth getting excited about.
Magda Leon’s handmade lithography artwork set the creative direction before anything else was decided. From there, a color palette took shape through a careful study of Portuguese and Guatemalan source material, textiles, ceramics, dinnerware, and decor pulled from mood boards and photography of the dining space itself. Nothing was borrowed for decoration. Every color choice came from somewhere real, and the menus and website carry that authenticity across every surface they touch.
Choosing type for Aguardente felt like a natural extension of that same thinking. A bold block serif for headings, a lighter serif for body copy, giving the site a high-contrast reading experience that feels editorial without ever losing warmth.
The print menus and website were designed as one system, not two separate deliverables. Printed in cream and terra-cotta with black ink, the menus carry a subtle lithography-style texture that echoes Magda’s own artwork, bringing the handmade character of the dining space into something guests interact with every time they order.
Those same tones carry through into the site’s UI and details. Black backgrounds throughout pull the food photography and interior imagery forward, making the viewer feel like they’re already sitting at the table. Clear calls to action guide visitors naturally toward reservations, menu browsing, and event signups, placed with intention rather than urgency.
Caol continues to work with Victor and the Aguardente team on the Squarespace website, menu design, and MailChimp email campaigns. The site and menus are refreshed seasonally, and event pages and email sends go out ahead of everything happening at the restaurant, keeping dynamic and contextual calls to action in front of people at exactly the right moment. Victor regularly hears from diners who made the trip from across New England because the site and menu made Aguardente feel like somewhere genuinely worth the drive.
Menus, Signage, Websites, and Branding that help your food business feel as good as it tastes.
