Page 39 - SHARP Summer 2024

THE POP-UP
The pop-up restaurant is here to stay. Are we okay with that?
For many restaurateurs, the pop-up restaurant is the only solution to the modern problem that every business — especially service industry businesses — must face: overhead. What was once used as a proof of concept has now become the business model in itself. Ultimately, it’s allowed very talented people to share their passion at a time when that’s become increasingly challenging. And, like restaurants, some have shone brighter than others — here are a few examples.
events at notable spots around Toronto, and with upcoming events at Lake Inez, Jamil’s isn’t limited in any regard to how they can operate as a result of their grounded approach; one day dishes are paired with beer or lassi, and then next with wine.
SEE YOU SOON
Pop-up or otherwise, See You Soon has blurred the lines. Starting in May of 2022, Keith Siu, Michael Ovejas, and Kevin Le left their restaurant jobs and took off on a bit of a culinary tour. Having gained some traction in Toronto through private dinner parties and pop-ups featuring an à la carte menu, See You Soon quickly grew into one of the more notable food experiences in the city.
Without wasting any time, they made their way to B.C., doing a farm-to-table dinner in a farmhouse on Bowen Island. Over the next year, they’d find themselves at El Nopal in Paris, Oranj in London, and Gem House in New York. The world tour would mean longer residencies, where they could offer a menu that felt less pop-up and more restaurant. Not being tied down to a particular space or style of service is a huge advantage to the team, who can alternate between offering their now-signature Filet-XO-Fish sando, and more composed tasting menu style dishes like coffee crust duck with lemongrass jus. During their month-long stints at big spots in global culinary capitals, they are just as much that restaurant as anything else inside. This is what separates them from the other pop-ups we have seen come and go over time — they aren’t one. For argument’s sake, I’d give See You Soon a new title, perhaps “liminal restaurateurism” — where the space occupied and experience provided are very present, and for that brief moment, theirs.
JAMIL’S CHAAT HOUSE
Started this year by Jalil Bokhari and Emma Tanaka, Jamil’s Chaat House was started to pay homage to the bridge that connects Pakistani and Indian cuisine to the street food and eastern cuisine found in Little India on Gerrard Street in Toronto. Bollywood disco, Mughal architecture in Lahore, dhaba street food culture, and Desi burger flyers that adorn storefronts on Gerrard are at the core of what Jamil’s represents. In Bokhari’s words, “It’s a home base for misfit brown kids finding a way back to our roots in a way that we can be proud of.” Instead of trying to make a Desi burger some kind of fine-dining dish, they’re serving it on the back patios of restaurants or out of coffee shops on the weekend, which just feels right. The menu includes South Asian classics like dhal, pakora, and Desi burgers. Although the menu changes, these things feel like exactly what you’d want out of a pop-up. Chase any one of those dishes with a clarified mango lassi drink, and you’re having a unique experience that is just as much Gerrard Street as it is Lahore street food. Having done
GALLZ PROVISIONS
There’s no more perfect example of lockdown-fuelled pop-up fanaticism than Gallz Provisions. Going into 2021, owner Julia Gallay wasn’t in love with her medical startup job in the way she was with food. At the time, many restaurants were scaling back their food programs, and the first position to be cut was always pastry. As a result, many pastry chefs were left jobless. Fortunately, this came right around the time when everyone made it a priority to learn how to bake. Gallay figured she’d take a stab at it, made her mom a cake for her birthday, and decorated it with fresh flowers from her front yard. Fast-forward three years, and Gallay’s flower-adorned cakes have popped off.
She has partnered up with local businesses to organize bake sales for charity, has done luncheons at notable hotspots like Dreyfus in Toronto, and occasionally makes nine-foot-long cakes to hand out by the slice for free in the back alleyways of Toronto’s Ossington strip. What does the future hold for Gallay? When speaking with her, you get the impression she’s just really happy people like her cake and maintains a sort of stoic realism about what might lie in the future for her. In her words, “People are ordering cakes for their wedding in 2025. I don’t even know if I’ll be alive or dead — I might go back to my real job by then.” In recent years, we’ve collectively developed a palate for something better and are fortunate enough to have many talented people willing to provide a restaurant-level pastry experience for us out- side of the restaurant. The pop-up has filled the gap — today, those with talent don’t need to wait for an investor before they can showcase their talent. The door is open, and people have the space to share their restaurant-level experience outside of the restaurant. To me, cake tastes better outside, anyway.
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SUMMER 2024 • GUIDE 39
FOOD