From pop ups selling Korean rice hot dogs (oh yeah, that's a thing here), to fancy schmancy sit down dinners with chef's-in-residence, the restaurant world has changed a lot over the past few decades. But has it? I mean, there's always been street food, and from county fairs to beach boardwalks to carnivals and amusement parks, there have always been places to eat what one wouldn't generally go to a restaurant for.
Our first dinner out (yet in) last night in over 14 months took place at Intersect by Lexus, a restaurant/lounge/bar space which often showcases well-known chefs from around the globe...I'll leave it to them for a more complete description.
QuoteINTERSECT BY LEXUS – NYC is the first of Lexus' cultural programming destinations to feature a full service restaurant. The restaurant will showcase a rotating line up of top chefs from across the globe, each of whom will bring their unique culinary vision to life within the space. Past Restaurants-in-Residence include Paris’ Frenchie, 040 of Santiago, Mishiguene of Buenos Aires, O Pedro of Mumbai, and most recently, The Grey of Savannah.The project is a collaboration between INTERSECT BY LEXUS – NYC and Union Square Hospitality Group.
The chef's vision (and occasionally the chef himself) currently in residence, is that of one David Kinch of Manresa, a Michelin 3*** restaurant in Los Gatos, CA. We've never experienced the chef in person at Manresa, but we have enjoyed other chef's visions at Intersect and other places (i.e. Chef's Club) offering this type of dining experience, here in New York City.
The chef's vision as it is carried out at Intersect (after a short training period under Kinch and a few of his staff), obviously skews towards product available here - this ain't Los Gatos, CA, and in Los Gatos, Kinch has a farm which grows for him exclusively. So while there may not be a big old Wagyu ribeye steak on the menu in CA, there's one at Intersect by Manresa (though there might be an ounce or two of that Wagyu in a course on the tasting menu). Also, the menu and fare at Manresa skews towards the use of the brilliant vegetables grown there; here, in this season, can it be as focused on that? Probably not.
However, we really enjoyed our dinner; maybe we were grading on the curve, it being our first meal inside a restaurant since the before times. The chatter of neighboring (but 6 feet away) tables, the fact that I wasn't gonna have to do the dishes, different wines by the glass for different courses, all added up to a good time. To me, this pop up worked. Others haven't been as successful; probably the luck of the draw. It's not easy for a chef to go to a different city and pretend it's her restaurant.
Anyone else have experience eating at pop ups, fancy or not?
