Pop Up Dining Comes to Encinitas

The two hottest trends in dining are food trucks and pop up dining. I've written about food trucks and how they are sweeping the nation. I was in Venice, California on a recent Friday night and there were no less than 30 trucks on Abbott Kinney to choose from. It's a real happening.

Pop up dining, so they say, started in Los Angeles several years ago with chef Ludo Lefebvre. He opened in a dinghy little restaurant that was not usually used for fine dining. He would open for six weeks, then close and pop up somewhere else. The concept has caught on around the country, particularly San Francisco and Boston, and now we have our very own pop up restaurant in Encinitas.

Thanks to Marie, who asked me several weeks if I had heard of Relate, the pop up restaurant in Encinatas, and getting me interested in researching the concept, and to Marcia, who ate there last week and told me all about it. It is Marcia's experience that I will tell you about.

Relate will be open for about a month, until early March. The chef is Dan Moody, a Del Mar chef, who recently worked as a sous chef with Ludo Lefebvre, who started it all. Relate is open at St. Germain Bistro on Coast Highway. The dinner is a fixe-prix meal at $55, plus $15 for wine pairings, if desired. The menu changes nightly. It is composed of six tiny entrees, some just a few bites. Marcia's meal began with French Onion soup in a "one bite" croquette, which she loved. The next course was a baby beet salad with golden beet vinegrette, again small but excellent.
Next she was served a butter poached lobster, warm egg and caviar salad, fennel jam, and onion froth on top. Beautiful presentation, but not exceptional. Next came a rabbit cassoulet, which she didn't care for, followed by a spiced beef over spinach avocado puree, which was only fair. Dessert was a s'more with home made graham crackers, agave marshmallows,chipotle ganache and tequilla creme Anglaise. Absolute heaven.

It sounds to me like a mini French Laundry (Napa Valley) at about 1/3 the cost. I think it's an experience every foodie wants to try at least once. If you try Relate, which you must book through Open Table, go for the early seating. Marcia had a 7pm reservation and waited until 8pm to be seated. Look for more pop up restaurants in the future. I see lots of reasons they should be popping up.

For a chef to open his own restaurant, he must be very wealthy or have lots of big investors. Here's a way for a chef to show off his skills and not have to make the big investment. Many restaurants are not open for dinner, like St. Germain Bistro, and are perfect venues for pop up restaurants. It's also an opportunity for we consumers to get to know some young new chefs. Pop ups seem like a great idea.

Thanks Marie and Marcia for introducing me to the concept. I have no plans to eat at Relate, as it will only be here a few weeks, but I will look for future pop ups and give one a try. If you go to Relate, please let me know how you liked it.