Korean fried chicken rules the roost at Coqodaq, the New York restaurant from Simon Kim and Gracious Hospitality Management. The concept reimagines fried chicken as fine dining with an inventive, unapologetic menu that includes caviar-topped nuggets, clever “coqtails,” and the most extensive Champagne list in the US. 

Pentagram’s Emily Oberman and team designed Coqodaq’s brand identity, drawing on the vernacular of Korean and American chicken joints with an elevated twist. The identity informed the luxe interior design by Rockwell Group and extends across messaging, the website, and environmental graphics––amplifying the restaurant’s playful, indulgent experience.

Coqodaq joins Oberman’s previous collaborations with Kim on the branding for Cote Korean Steakhouse, his Michelin-starred, James Beard-nominated restaurant with locations in New York, Miami, Las Vegas and Singapore. At Coqodaq, executive chef Seung Kyu Kim has perfected fried chicken that is exceptionally crispy yet remarkably light, guided by the menu’s stated trifecta of “better oil, better batter, better chicken.” Made with organic, carefully sourced ingredients, the result is delicious but healthful––and earned the restaurant a Michelin Bib Gourmand. The centerpiece is the “Bucket List” set menu (named by Pentagram), which pairs fried chicken with a choice of glazes, alongside banchan, cold perilla seed noodles and soft serve frozen yogurt.

The name Coqodaq riffs on the Korean onomatopoeia for “cock-a-doodle-doo,” pairing “coq”––French for chicken––with “daq,” a colloquial Korean term for the bird. (When the restaurant first opened, teaser animations helped clarify the pronunciation phonetically.) 

The care and precision of the cooking are reflected in the branding, extending a design sensibility established at Cote. Working closely with Kim, the Pentagram team developed brand positioning for Coqodaq that reinforces the idea that it is not your average chicken joint. This idea is distilled in the brand statement––”Better Fried Chicken”––and supported through smart, witty messaging that plays with questions like, “Which came first, the chicken or the egg?” 

The Coqodaq logotype uses expressive custom lettering to set the tone––bold, playful, and refined. Echoing the identity of Cote, the “O” contains a Korean character––here "닭," meaning "chicken”––and doubles as a symbol for the restaurant. Where Cote’s “O” holds a flower, Coqodaq’s becomes an egg, with concentric circles and radiating lines reinforcing the shared visual language.

In Kim’s vision, Coqodaq is “a cathedral for all things chicken.” The brand identity is integrated throughout the interior design, inspiring its forms, shapes, and color palette to help create a fully immersive atmosphere. The luxurious dining room is sleek, dark and moody, with warm, dynamic lighting that creates an inviting glow.

The restaurant offers a range of experiences, from front-of-house high-tops and bar seating to plush banquettes in the rear. Monumental arches of illuminated cast glass run the length of the room like a cathedral nave, their depth amplified by an infinity mirror. Hidden at the very back is Go Go Sing, a secret karaoke room (with a new identity in the works). The ovoid shapes of the logo are echoed everywhere––from the bronze mirrors at the handwishing stations, to the sconces in the hallway that hold each letter of the logo, to the curve of the dining banquettes and the karaoke stage.

The logo’s “Easter eggs” extend throughout the experience, appearing in the menu, plateware and service as moments of surprise and delight. Details range from lapel pins denoting staff tiers to a stoneware chicken bucket engraved with the mark, and frozen-yogurt cups topped with a bit of frost. The printed and digital menus feature mouthwatering, hyper-realistic drawings by illustrator Han Dang––buckets of chicken and banchan side dishes rendered with an almost divine glow. This visual language carries through to teaser animations on social media, reinforcing the brand at every touchpoint.

The menu and interiors inspired a vibrant brand palette with appetizing colors like orange glaze, celery, Champagne and velvet green. The golden fried chicken is reflected in gold foil accents. These elegant hues are offset by the bright orange of boutique-ready takeout bags and boxes, whose rounded corners reference the logo and help the packaging feel special.

Building on the restaurant’s blockbuster success, Kim launched CQDQ––Coqodaq to go––including a headline-making pop-up at the US Open. Served in striking custom takeaway boxes, the “Golden Set” of caviar-topped chicken nuggets quickly went viral as a courtside favorite. Winner winner, chicken dinner!