Jonathan Plotkin Doodles His Way to Restaurant Glory

I learned a new word recently. It’s called “spontooning” and it represents the spontaneous art of doodling. We’ve all been there at some point – likely doodling random cartoons on napkins or menus or in school notebooks during a particularly droll lecture. But it takes a special talent to take that doodling to a legit level and find your work emblazoned across the menus at recently opened Acanto. The professional spontoonist behind the artistry is Jonathan Plotkin, a cartoonist with a penchant for restaurant illustrations.

Although Plotkin was originally focused a business career trajectory, his love for art never waned. “Both halves of my brain are continually fighting with each other, but I always find a way to be creative,” says the Highland Park resident. Here, he serves as President of a North Shore arts organization, which boasts upwards of 400 students ranging in age from eight to 88. He’s served as a cartoonist for the likes of the Chicago Reader, the Tribune, USA Today, and more. He also teaches classes on spontooning, the perfect foray for someone who bills himself as an incessant doodler. And for Plotkin, much of that spontooning takes shape in restaurants.

Plotkin describes himself as coming from a family of food-lovers. His son, for example, has worked at Alinea and Noma, currently working with moto’s Homaro Cantu. Spending a lot of time in restaurants, Plotkin has long gravitated towards ones where diners can draw on tables (“my wife carries markers and crayons in her purse,” he says). Or on napkins. “Napkins are almost as important to me as table cloths when it comes to selecting the proper surface to draw on while eating and drinking.” A longtime patron at The Gage and Henri, adjacent restaurants owned by Billy Lawless and co., Plotkin eventually developed a familiar rapport with the proprietor. “Billy started keeping crayons and markers at the stand,” says Plotkin. “Soon after Billy opened The Gage, he started bringing menus over for me to draw on; it was the beginning of a great relationship.”

The new illustrious relationship eventually turned into a golden opportunity for both Lawless and Plotkin. When Lawless was re-concepting Henri into Acanto, he and his wife Catherine asked Plotkin if he would do drawings for the papered windows along Michigan Avenue. While that was gestating, he also drafted cartoons for the menus, resulting in some of the most vivid, eye-catching menus in town. Now when guests peruse dishes and drinks at the Italian restaurant, they’re met with lively imagery of cartoon characters fiddling with food and drink.

All that spontooning has led Plotkin to other restaurant showcase opportunities as well. “My restaurant art winds up on walls and in bathrooms,” he explains. At one point, he walked into the bathroom at Oceanique in Evanston to see the walls covered with his illustrations. When Cantu operated iNG, he hosted Plotkin for collaborative art and food dinners. He’s now been commissioned to do the art on the walls at Cantu’s forthcoming Miracle Berry-focused Berrista cafe, as well as at his upcoming Crooked Fork Brewery.

Jonathan Plotkin
Website

Acanto
18 S. Michigan Avenue, Chicago
(312) 578-0763
Website