# Menu chalkboard

> A menu written up like the board behind the counter: a framed dark board carrying a centred heading and two columns of dishes, each with its price on the right and a short note beneath on a dashed chalk line, and a centred allergy note and link at the foot. States no colour and no font of its own.

Canonical: https://patternpaste.com/pattern/menu-chalkboard.html
Section: Listings
Access: Included in Pattern Paste access.
Needs: Requires a block theme on WordPress 7.0. Classic themes and page builders are outside our supported setup. Adaptive patterns use the block theme’s colour, spacing and typography presets; styled variations declare their own colours or type.
Blocks: button, buttons, column, columns, group, heading, paragraph
Keywords: menu, chalkboard, prices, café, restaurant, lunch, specials

## Variations (2)

### Framed board (the default)

Identical markup in every theme.

The board in your contrast colour with base type inside a hairline frame on your base ground, dashed rules in the board’s text colour, an underlined link.

### Crumb

This variation states its own colours and states its own type: identical in every theme.

The Crumb café set: an espresso board in a cocoa frame, oat Georgia dishes and prices, peach labels, dashed cocoa chalk lines and an oat text link.


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## The signature moment: the menu is the board behind the counter

**The menu is a dark board set inside a frame, the dishes ruled off with
dashed chalk lines and the prices pushed to the right edge of each line.** The
board is an inverted slab inside a thin framed border, so it reads as a thing
hung on the wall rather than a section of the page. The two columns sit
side by side on a laptop and a tablet and one under the other on a phone.

## What it inherits from your theme

- **Typeface.** The base states no font family.
- **Palette.** The board is your `contrast` colour with `base` type; the
  frame is a `currentColor` hairline on your `base` ground; the chalk lines
  are the board's text colour. Labels on the board start at `base`, never a
  ground role.
- **Link.** A transparent, underlined core button in the board's text colour.

## What it decides for itself

- **The dish names and prices.** `clamp(1.125rem, 1.5vw, 1.3125rem)`, one
  size for both so a row reads as one line.
- **The heading.** The `x-large` rung, centred.

## What to change first

1. **The dishes and prices.** Duplicate a row to add a dish.
2. **The column labels.** Plates, and bakes and drinks.
3. **The link.** `#menu`.

## The Crumb look

Part of the Crumb Pattern Set, one café's whole site in one design language:
oat ground `#f4ecdf`, espresso ink `#2b1d16`, muted cocoa `#5c4a3f`, milk
cards `#fbf7f0` on oat hairlines `#dccfbf`, terracotta `#b3462d` labels and
peach `#e8a27c` on the espresso slab. Headings are Georgia at 400, body,
labels and buttons Helvetica; buttons are espresso pills or underlined links,
cards and photographs rounded at 14px. Every text pair is measured on the
ground it is painted on. Take the base for your theme's colours, or the
look's **Use my theme** chip.

## Notes

- Core blocks only: group, heading, paragraph, buttons, button. No plugin, nothing to keep updated.
- The root group sets headings and links to `currentColor`, so every heading,
  paragraph and link inherits the group's text colour in any theme; only
  role-bearing text (labels, rules, plates) carries its own chain.