The Boston Pop-Up Restaurant scene

Pop-up restaurants are so popular in Boston that is getting harder and harder to get in to one of them.  For the food-obsessed Bostonian with a deep pocketbook and a hunger for unique dining experiences, pop-up restaurants, featuring new foods prepared by well-known chefs in a venue diners might not otherwise eat at or have access to, are an enclave in the local restaurant scene.

Ever since supper club Love + Butter opened its secret -- and likely illegal -- restaurant, run by a couple out of their home kitchen, in 2007 (it has since shut down), pop-up restaurants have been entrenched in Boston’s foodie culture.  Here are the details on a few of these blink-and-you’ll-miss-‘em eateries.

Eat Boston. The most established of Boston’s pop-up restaurant organizations, Eat is run by Chef Will Gilson and marketing guru Aaron Cohen. The duo has created numerous pop-up restaurants with multi-course tasting menus in diverse locations, such as Mizu hair salon, the British Consulate-General, and Taza Chocolate’s Somerville factory. Tickets to their events generally cost around $70, but they also offer more affordable and casual opportunities, such as the Bacon and Beer Festival, to be held on April 28.

Barrio. This local pop-up restaurant is both secret and unusual: Its menu focuses on Afro-Cuban street food .  After purchasing their $50 ticket, attendees receive the restaurant’s location in an email and are  sworn to secrecy. Founded by Wheeler del Toro -- a master of underground dining (he’s the brain behind Dining in the Dark and Fillet of Soul) and known for his vegan ice cream -- Barrio’s March 8 dinner was the first event that was opened to the general public. The next event will be held on Thursday, April 26.

Guchi’s Midnight Ramen. This pop-up eatery by Tracy Chang and O Ya’s chefs, Yukihiro Kawaguchi (hence “Guchi”) and Mark O’Leary, specializes in ramen and other Asian dishes, such as pork buns. Since January, Guchi’s has served food at midnight to cold, hungry Bostonians at upscale restaurants Bondir and No. 9 Park. Tickets usually cost $25 and include an appetizer, ramen, and a dessert. The only frustrating part is actually getting one of those tickets; both events, which they announce via Facebook, sold out within minutes.

Brasstacks. Like Barrio, this pop-up restaurant requires a little bit of effort to get in. First, friend it on Facebook to put your name on the ever-growing invite list for bi-monthly dinners, which generally cost around $75 per person. Industry veterans and Menton alumni Marc Sheehan, Drew Davis, and Matthew Schrage began Brasstacks with a focus on bringing back local food traditions by stripping the dining experience down to the bare minimum, which is how they came up with the clever name. Expect dishes like marinated bluefish and cocktails like raw goat’s milk Last Frontier punch.

Moon Shine Pop-Up Whiskey Bar. Held back in March at Bella Luna’s Milky Way Lounge in Jamaica Plain, it was Boston’s first pop-up bar event. For the $30 ticket price, attendees got a taste of food and drinks from around the world. Although the bar’s name is a little misleading -- no moonshine was actually served -- guests could savor sips of aged whiskey and scotch served in teacup-sized Mason jars and nosh on rosemary-braised short ribs, grilled oysters with pickled ginger, and pecans soaked in bourbon. It’s unclear if Bella Luna will hold another Moon Shine event, but hopefully they’ll find an excuse to break out those Mason jars soon.

Have you been to a pop-up restaurant? Share your story.

Bloomberg Bans Food Charity

This may sound like a continuation of yesterday’s April Fool Blog, but sadly, it isn’t.

Waste is now a official policy of the Bloomberg administration in New York City.  I recently wrote a blog post about food waste.  They amount of food thrown away and wasted in this country is enormous.  I read about various people across the country that are trying to make use of this food and I thought maybe there was hope to reduce this waste and use it to feed the hungry in our society.  That was before I learned of an even worse outrage.

For over a decade, Glenn Richter and his wife, Lenore, have led a team of food-delivery volunteers from Ohab Zedek, the Upper West Side Orthodox congregation.

They take freshly cooked, nutrient-rich surplus foods from synagogue events to homeless facilities in the neighborhood.  The practice of donating such surplus food to homeless shelters is common among houses of worship in the city.  New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg has now decided to make it impossible for Good Samaritans to donate food to government-run facilities that feed the homeless.  For what reason would he restrict free and charitable donations?

You may be familiar with the mayor’s crusade against salt — apparently, it’s bad for you and the government should regulate how much is in your food.  Therefore, in an effort to curb the citizenry’s dirty salt habits, the Bloomberg administration has instructed all government-run shelters to turn away any donated food items that lack specific nutritional information.  

Apparently the food donations ban is “consistent” with Mayor Bloomberg’s desire to “improve nutrition for all New Yorkers.” In fact, the mayor is so dedicated to the cause, that his administration has produced an interagency document that specifically outlines what can and can’t be served, appropriate serving sizes, what content is permissible, fiber minimums, and condiment recommendations.

But not to worry! According to Bloomberg sources, the government-approved food tastes just fine and there’s plenty of it – so they don’t need any of that donated synagogue food.  Which would you prefer?  Food cooked in celebration or food supplied by the government.  

Hot New Restaurant Trends

I thought this may be an appropriate time to make you aware of some new restaurant trends that I have been following.  Here are two of my current favorites.

Chunkie's Corner, Brooklyn, New York.
Taking the concept of "street food" to its inevitable apotheosis, 19-year-old Otto "Chunkie" Blutwurst— who honed his skills as a grammar-school cafeteria monitor, then went on to earn instant acclaim for his ill-fated Eat It Or Starve on Manhattan's Upper West Side, which opened to great fanfare in late 2010 and closed after lunch — has eschewed not only bricks-and-mortar but also trucks, trailers, carts, and stands. "You could call this a 'virtual restaurant'," says Blutwurst. "If you were some stupid phony, or something."

How does it work? Exactly 19 lucky souls (chosen at random from the membership rolls of Match.com and the New York City Municipal Credit Union) gather on the corner of Keelhaul Terrace and St. Flocellus Street in the Rottenwood section of Brooklyn exactly 19 minutes after sundown every evening (a security force of pensioned-off Guardian Angels enforces the temporal parameters), mill around aimlessly until the unmistakable rat-a-tat-tat of a driveby gang shooting is heard from two streets over, and then line up in ascending order of height along the curb while Blutwurst and his team race by on their vintage Schwinn Couriers and toss exquisitely crafted morsels (Mangalitsa pork-fat shooters, rattlesnake-and-cannabis hand rolls, rabbit tartare with catfish-liver crostini, and the like) — though never quite enough of them to go around —into the air above their heads. Hilarity ensues.  
 
Edge, Poisonfish, Montana.
Diners at Abraxis and Aphelion Satansdottir's rustic retreat — with its damp log walls covered with undulating bog moss, dirt floors alive with earthworms, and mismatched kiddie-size camp stools haphazardly arranged around massive moldy tree stumps — don't have to ask how fresh their food is: They know because they've had to forage (get it?) the ingredients themselves. "We're loco for locavoring," chirp the stylishly emaciated sisters in eerie unison.

Would-be customers have to pass a 30-page written exam covering botany, orienteering, divining, and warp knitting, among other topics. Those who get at least a B+ receive a trail map to the restaurant (be forewarned: rock-climbing, whitewater rafting, and a slog through quicksand are involved), and an illustrated guide to victuals they might encounter along the way — among them, 49 varieties of leaves, six species of river toad, and two kinds of edible pebbles.

"You eat what you bring, period," note the siblings, who add that they are minimalists in the kitchen: Most foraged foods are simply steamed over glacier water, then seasoned with nothing more than cobwebs from the Satansdottirs' extensive personal collection.  

Eat with a Local

One of the more interesting foodie concepts I have come across lately is eat with a local.  This is a site that matches up travelers with local foodies.  They meet either at a home or a restaurant and have a meal together.  So if you were going to, say Paris, the site would pair you up with a local Parisian.  They may invite you to their home for a home cooked meal, or they may select a local restaurant for the event.  

Conversely, you can choose to be a host to someone traveling to your area.  The site encourages you to provide as much detail about yourself as possible.  This makes it more likely that the people you host will be compatible with you.  You can use the search field to look for hosts in a country you'd like to visit, and then refine your search by cities or towns. You can also click on 'Find a Local' and then 'Advanced Search' to search for members with particular choices in their profile information.

You  provide feedback to someone by posting on their wall.  You can look at the profile of anyone who asks you if they can visit. That way you are able to see immediately if they're entering into the spirit and playing host themselves or not.  They even give you tips to make your visit and hosting experience more enjoyable. For example:

• A visit should not exceed two and a half hours, unless the host insists on extending this time.
• It is recommened you exchange emails beforehand to make the meet up more comfortable.
• Enjoy the experience and relax.  You will be surprised how much you will have in common with your host.
• Take along pictures of the area you live in, as your host will be curious to see your country and this will provide a good conversation starter.

There are more tips, but since the site is hosted in the UK, they seem more specific to the UK.  Will you be brave enough to Eat With a Local?

The Big Waste

The other night on Food TV I watched a cooking contest between Anne Burrell and Alex Guarnaschelli against Bobby Flay and Michael Symon.  They were challenged to cook a three course meal in 48 hours for 100 people.  What made the challenge unique was that they had to use food that was being thrown away, waste food.  I guess I knew we wasted a lot of food in the US, but I had no idea.  The food they collected was inspected by New York City food inspectors and it all passed without any problems, yet it was still being thrown away.

We followed the two teams as they went first to vendors that supplied their restaurants and asked for the good food they were throwing away that day.  Bobby and Michael first went to the Manhatten Food Exchange.  They found that any food with the slightest blemish was discarded.  They found peas that had blemishes on the pods, but when shelled the peas were perfect.  They found other things like mangos with a tiny bruise, one day old cheese, and one day old short bread, all being thrown away.  The food exchange throws away hundreds of pounds of perfectly good food every day.

Meanwhile, the ladies went to the Ferrara Bakery.  There they were given Prosciutto ends, espresso, chocolate and flour.  The prosciutto ends had too much fat to sell.  The others were excess from recipes that could not be re-mixed with fresh.  A typical day’s waste was about $40 worth of food.

Anne and Alex then went to F. Rozzo & Son, a fish monger.  There they got a half halibut that had been slightly bruised when filleted.  They also got redfish from a cancelled order and oysters from an order that was too large.  F. Rozzo & Sons throws away about 80 pounds of fish every day.

Probably the most interesting person associated with the waste program was "the Freegan".  That’s right, the Freegan.  This seemingly normal guy, with a normal job, gets all of his food free.  Even though he can afford to buy his food, he goes to supermarket dumpsters and collects the waste that is still edible.  He gave Anne swiss chard, quinoa salad, bagels, avocados and much more. And all of that was just from one supermarket.

Probably the worst example of waste was several U-Pick Farms they went to.  In every case they say that 40-50% of their produce and fruit is wasted.  People will pick a tomato, then see another tomato that looks better, riper or larger and just discard the first tomato, or peach, or cabbage, etc.  These U-Pick farms have the largest compost piles imaginable.

America throws away 27 million tons of food every year that is unwanted, rejected or deemed unsuitable for sale.  That is about 200 pounds for every man, woman, and child in the US.   How much do you  waste and what do you think about all this?  Let us hear from you.