Slurpin’ it up with Ivan Ramen

Posted on November 7, 2022November 8, 2022 by prints4u

“Anything can wait, except ramen.” That’s right, Benchmark client Ivan Ramen’s owner, Ivan Orkin, advises customers to eat it IMMEDIATELY. Piping hot, just-tender rye-blend noodles, anointed with a 6½-minute boiled egg, all with a clump of fresh scallions on top. That steaming first slurp takes on a certain zen, but Ivan’s signature roasted tomatoes taste still powers through as a dynamite take-out item. Orkin, otaku New Yorker, channeled his love of Japanese culture into a Tokyo ...

Quando, quando, quando will we eat at Fresco by Scotto®?

Posted on October 31, 2022October 28, 2022 by prints4u

Fresco by Scotto® is an Italian restaurant in Midtown Manhattan. Established in 1993, it is operated by the Scotto Family—Marion, Rosanna, and Elaina Scotto. The kitchen is led by Executive Chef Benjamin Kacmarcik. Their menu is “Tuscan cuisine and regional Italian cooking with a modern flair” – spectacular plates of veal, salmon, seared scallops, and steak. For over four years, Benchmark has printed for them, including laminated menus, reservation sheets, and business cards. ...

Woman-owned AuH20 bolsters sustainable shopping

Posted on October 24, 2022October 28, 2022 by prints4u

Kate Goldwater runs AuH2O Goldwater Thriftique, located in Manhattan’s East Village. What is packed into this woman-owned business’s rebus name? Think chemistry class: “Au” for “Gold-” and “H2O” for “-water.” “Thriftique,” as they explain, is “a boutique with often thrift store prices … we want vintage, secondhand, and recycled clothing to be for everyone.” They have permanent $5 and $10 racks. Benchmark printed round labels with their logo and business cards. Back to all Power ...

Poetry and prose shed light on borderlands of Mexico, Texas, Puerto Rico, Cuba and more: the Hostos Review

Posted on October 13, 2022October 28, 2022 by prints4u

“[B]lind man at the border / exchanging quetzales for dollars / we could not do that math” Sheila Maldonado, “Shotgun: Road to Guatemala from Honduras,” photo essay, Hostos Review, No. 18 Editor Inmaculada Lara-Bonilla has just rolled out a new issue of Hostos Review / Revista Hortosiana! This journal features poetry and prose by eighteen Latin American, Caribbean, and U.S. Latina/o writers in Spanish, English, and other languages. The Latin American Writers Institute (LAWI),...

Tito Murphy’s feeds Latin delights to theater crowds

Posted on October 3, 2022October 28, 2022 by prints4u

Churro french toast Benchmark client Tito Murphy’s is a Latin restaurant in Hell's Kitchen, on Restaurant Row by the Theater District. As we roll into Hispanic Heritage Month and chillier months, their heated street cafe and heated rooftop patio will keep us warm to take in the neighborhood ambience. The Hell's Kitchen neighborhood was traditionally an Irish neighborhood. The origin of the name is disputed, but in 1835 Davy Crockett reprehensibly commented about a different Irish ...

Find the deeper meaning of “tortilla” at Huertas

Posted on September 26, 2022October 28, 2022 by prints4u

Northern Spain-style restaurant Huertas has been in Manhattan's East Village since 2014. This Benchmark client specializes in pintxos ("PIN-chos"), meaning “little bites.” Their pintxos include tantalizing toothpicked morsels such as olives, egg, pickles, and chickpea churros. Servers circulate among the dining tables, and the guests point out the pintxos they want, served dim sum-style, but accompanied by Huertas’ homemade vermouth. Since it is Hispanic Heritage Month, let’s investiga...

La Flor de Izucar blooms with birria, bakery, breakfast & more

Posted on September 20, 2022October 28, 2022 by prints4u

It’s Hispanic Heritage Month, and Mexican Independence Day is on September 16, so let’s check out some really chido Mexican food! Alfredo Torres runs La Flor de Izucar Cafe with his sister Yasmeen and brother Javier. Established in 1990, this minority-owned business was founded by his father, Mariano Torres, after immigrating to NY from Puebla, México, with his mother, Silvia Torres. The cafe is in Sunset Park, an industrial area known most of all for its flourishing community of firs...

Missi Callazzo leads Megaforce Records into 40th year of metal and more

Posted on September 19, 2022October 28, 2022 by prints4u

Megaforce Records releases records for metal, rock, and hardcore punk artists, such as Metallica, Anthrax, Third Eye Blind, and Bjørk. At 40 years old, Megaforce is the same age as Benchmark! Husband and wife Jon and Marsha Zazula (rest in peace) founded this NYC record label, and some of their earliest releases were Metallica’s first albums. Missi Callazzo, VP since the late 1980s, is a leader in an industry where women are underrepresented. She ordered posters to promote Third ...

Cool Culture pulls together care packages for COVID-wracked educators

Posted on September 12, 2022October 28, 2022 by prints4u

Cool Culture, a social justice organization in Brooklyn, called us for an assembly and mailing job. Cool Culture is a BIPOC-led nonprofit that harnesses art and culture to strengthen family and community well-being, and create social and systemic change for a more just and equitable society. They partner with 50,000 families and 400 educators, representing hundreds of NYC schools and child care centers. The already heroic challenges of the education system have hit a new intensity fo...

Brighter Bites confronts the void of “Food Deserts”

Posted on September 6, 2022October 28, 2022 by prints4u

In the face of the pandemic, Brighter Bites called Benchmark to print large laminated signs and check-in cards that help organize their burgeoning NYC food distributions. Note the laminated sign at the Brighter Bites food distribution. For several years, their co-founder Lisa Helfman and her family took part in a weekly fruit and vegetable co-op, and she watched her children’s eating habits dramatically transform. So much so that her little boy turned down a piece of cake at a birthday pa...