At EAT and Vinyl, Pop-Up Restaurants Settle Down

Occasionally, the gawkiness of a once-a-week restaurant asserted itself. The Corner's servers were easy-tempered, but they brought out the courses in such rapid succession that we ended up with a plate pileup. For a meal costing $20 a person, that's easily forgotten; for EAT's $45 dinner, it played badly. And a lamb shoulder served on a heap of pearl barley braised in lamb stock had a rustic appeal, but it needed something else on the plate to counterbalance its musky richness — one of those weaknesses that would be pointed out the first night it was served and corrected by chef on the second.

But there was a salmon dish that was as exquisitely done, and as thought-through, as anything I've eaten all month: a pale-coral fillet poached to the texture of a burbling stream and served on a pool of yogurt flecked with mint and dill. Marinated, poached leeks curled and twisted around the salmon; one of them was rolled in the ash of torched leeks, and more of the black powder was sprinkled around the plate. Its note of bitter smoke served as a shadow to the dish, making the delicate flavors pop out in relief.

Lara Hata

Mark Bright and Kris Esqueda's Vinyl Wine Bar comes out only at night.

Location Info

Map

The Corner

2199 Mission
San Francisco, CA 94110

Category: Restaurant > Wine Bar

Region: Mission/ Bernal Heights

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Details

EAT Restaurant
Friday nights at the Corner, 2199 Mission (at 18th St.), 375-2321, www.eatrestaurantsf.com and www.facebook.com/eatrestaurantsf. 5:30-11 p.m. Fri. Muni: 14, 33, 49.

Homemade Pasta Night
Sunday nights at Vinyl Wine Bar, 359 Divisadero (at Oak), 621-4132, www.markriswine.com or www.facebook.com/vinylwinebar. Wine bar 5:30-11 p.m. Mon.-Thu., 5:30 p.m.-midnight Fri.-Sun.; pasta night 6:30-9:30 p.m. Sun. Muni: 6, 7, 24, 71.

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More About

• Tommy Halvorson
• Crystal Yang
• Nabiel Musleh
• Food and Cooking
• Eating Out

Was either meal substantially different from anything I've eaten in a permanent restaurant? Not particularly, though prices were probably a third cheaper. And while the initial buzz around popups has diminuendoed, the inclusive feel has remained, a sense of intimacy that helps make diners feel like participants, not customers. That feeling may be as impermanent as the one-offs themselves — or perhaps it's the thing that will keep them around permanently.