nu-kitchen's Wordplay Sets Stage for Its Dishes

These ads for nu-kitchen were pitched to us as eye candy for ex-English majors. Each has a tagline served up on a white plate -- innocuous at first, then you read the copy and your head starts bobbing subconsciously with the iambic meter.

See:

o You click, we cook, we deliver, you devour. (At left.)
o Knock knock. Who's there? Orange-chile tilapia with black forbidden rice.
o Gourmet delivery. Comfort food price.
o Click once. Eat happily ever after.

Each plate is furnished with a dish description in smaller text ("biscotti with dark chocolate dipping sauce," "espresso glazed pork with peruvian purple potatoes"). Outside the entree, there's a prominent promo: try three meals free.

Wrap it all up with Nu-Kitchen.com and a slogan that brings the sizzle and sheen of food to mind: "Braised. Glazed. Delivered to your door." (The first two words change, depending on the ad.)

nu-kitchen is a Long Island firm that delivers meals by subscription. This campaign -- put together by ML Rogers/NY -- marks its largest to date. See it in bus shelters, phone kiosks, New York lifestyle papers (Time Out New York, NY Times Sunday Magazine) and the 'net.

Neat that the food porn was left on the cutting-room floor, leaving words and presentation to do all the talking. That's ballsy, but it also oozes constraint -- a quality we like in a chef.