eBay Launches Interactive Digital Storefronts

Rollout of Interactive digital storefronts created by eBay for retailers Rebecca Minkoff,  TOMS shoes, and Sony. eBay considers this a logical next step in their product strategy.

From a popup standpoint, this removes the need for an actual venue.

Photos here are from the Westfield Shopping Centre in downtown San Francisco

Venue for Popups in San Francisco: Naked Kitchen

If you are looking for a location to hold a Popup restaurant in San Francisco, there are several options. One is called, Naked Kitchen

The describe their mission as three-fold:

"We created Naked Kitchen to:

-Provide our talented chefs (seasoned as well as up-and-coming) creative freedom to explore something new in a casual and relaxed space

-Offer our members an intimate experience to commune over food, wine, stories and laughter

-Support our local artists by showcasing a visual collection that enhances the sensual experience"

See a full schedule of upcoming events at www.NakedKitchenSF.com

Art.com Pop-up Shop with Nigel Barker and Bombay Sapphire

Art.com hosted an event by Fashion and Celebrity photographer, Nigel Barker and sponsored by BOMBAY SAPPHIRE gin at its new pop-up shop location in downtown San Francisco, near Union Square.

Nigel Barker shared the inspiration behind his Art.com photography collection during this intimate meet-and-greet, which included cocktails (see below for recipes).

Nigel Barker has been a creative force in the worlds of fashion, beauty and entertainment for the past 20 years. He is internationally renowned for his photography, and his career has been punctuated by an array of fascinating projects. Nigel's work has included commercials, spokesperson roles, books, photograph exhibitions, international editorial assignments and the creation of his own show, The Shot on VH1. After 17 seasons as a judge on the hit show, America's Next Top Model, Barker is now the host of the Oxygen Network's The Face, alongside Naomi Campbell, Karolina Kurkova and Coco Rocha.

WHERE: Art.com Pop-up Shop
117 Post Street (at Kearny Street)
San Francisco, CA 94108

Gin & Tonic Reimagined:


1 ½ parts Bombay Sapphire East
3 parts Fever-Tree tonic water
Lime slice
Lemongrass stalk
Basil
Black peppercorns
Build all with cubed ice in large, Spanish-style wine glass. Squeeze one lime slice and add garnishes as desired.

*This preparation prevents the tonic from overpowering the natural botanicals, bringing the flavors of BOMBAY SAPPHIRE East to the forefront. When using this method, one can choose to highlight any of the 12 botanicals already found in the gin.


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Canon’s PIXMA PRO City Senses Pop-Up Gallery

Canon’s PIXMA PRO City Senses Pop-Up Gallery in San Francisco hosted by Food Network celebrity chef Tyler Florence took place on Tuesday, October 8th at the Folsom Street Foundry.

The event featured photographs from Tyler as well as San Francisco photographers Robyn Lehr and Erin Kunkel. Attendees were able to experience the power of print as one of the Bay Area’s most iconic locations was brought to life in an interactive sensorial gallery.

This meant that they literally were exposed to sounds, smells, and other relevant senses while looking at photographs created on the Canon’s PIXMA PRO printers.

Canon’s PIXMA PRO printers create large format high resolution images from digital cameras.

CBS Expose on Underground Restaurants and Dinner Parties

Too much fun in New York apparently, CBS exposes a trend in underground popup restaurants and dinner parties. Judge for yourself. 

Scenes from a PopUp: Eat Drink Love

Behind the scenes at "Eat Drink Love" (Bravo) star Nina Clemente's pre-popup dinner shows not all is at it should be when she asks her comrades to taste what she has in mind....

Italian Chefs Cup Weds. Sept. 11th

If you are a lover of the world's best Italian food and Chefs' Taste-off cooks competitions, you will find "amore" with dinner + wine + a great show at the Gran Finale of the IMAF Chef's Cup.

The multiple course dinner and wine pairing (includes gratuity) takes place on Wednesday the 11th at Il Fornaio in San Francisco.

TasteTV fans and followers can get a 20% discount off the $100 ticket by using the promo code "TasteTV" on the ticket reservation site:
http://imafchefscupfinale-eorg.eventbrite.com/.
See Menu Below. Seating is limited.

At the IMAF Chef's Cup cook-off finale, located 1/2 block from the America's Cup main stage on the SF Embarcadero, Italy's Top Michelin Starred Chefs Rosanna Marziale and Stefano Cerveni will compete during a final showdown of this international competition.

This event is a version of a TasteTV Million Dollar Dinner event (MillionDollarDinner.com). After two individual cooking demonstrations, Rosanna and Stefano will present their dishes to a judging panel as the final winner is selected.

The Chef's Cup will be MC'd TasteTV.

The IMAF Chef's Cup international competition began in Italy with 12 Michelin-starred chefs who were paired to create two dishes that were inspired by the world of the arts. The seven-stage competition took place throughout Italy in Rome, Florence, Parma, Milan, Perugia, Venice and Viareggio this summer. Italy's best now converge on San Francisco.


OTHER UPCOMING TASTE TV EVENTS:

The 7th Annual 2013 LA Chocolate Salon takes place on Oct. 6th at the Pasadena Center, www.LAChocolateSalon.com

The 4th Annual 2013 Fall Chocolate Salon takes place on Nov. 10th at Fort Mason Conference Center, in San Francisco. www.FallChocolateSalon.com

IMAF CHEFS CUP GRAN FINALE MENU:

11 SETTEMBRE 2013
RISTORANTE IL FORNAIO,
1265 Battery St, San Francisco, CA 94111, Stati Uniti

19:00 Aperitif
Tasting of Grana Padano aged 18 months
Assortment of assaggini (finger foods)

19:30 Opening of the Event
Rossella Canevari introduces Chefs Rosanna Marziale and Stefano Cerveni

Antipasto
Cape Sante alla Piastra su Tortino di Riso di Venere e Finocchio
Flat-grilled sea scallop served on a black Italian rice salad w/ fennel, radicchio

First course prepared with a spectacular cooking show by Chef ROSANNA MARZIALE:
Gragnano Spaghetti with San Marzano Tomatoes encased in Mozzarella di Bufala Campana DOP,
dish inspired by the famous masterpiece "Miseria e Nobiltà" of the great Italian movie director, Eduardo Scarpetta

Selezione di tea: NUMI TEA

Second course prepared with a spectacular cooking show by Chef STEFANO CERVENI
Bread Soup with diced, crispy Free-range Chicken and Black Truffles,
dish inspired by Academy Award-winning movie "Babette's Feast"

DESSERT:
Panna Cotta al Mirto con Croccante alle Mandorle e Arancio
Mirto and blueberry custard, with honey-orange toasted almond squares

SELEZIONE DI VINI A CURA DELLE CANTINE:
ERRE DEL PRINCIPE
CONSORZIO FRANCIACORTA

Farmer’s Kitchen Available for Pop-Up Restaurateurs and Entrepreneurs At The Hollywood Farmers Market

Hollywood Farmers’ Market and its operator Sustainable Economic Enterprises of Los Angeles (SEE-LA) is pleased to offer its Farmer’s Kitchen restaurant to chefs, restaurateurs and culinary entrepreneurs as a space to create their own “pop-up” restaurant/event.  Farmer’s Kitchen is located in the northwest corner of the Sunset+Vine complex, at 1555 N Vine St., located on the corner of Morningside Court and Selma, one block west of Vine and one block north of Sunset.  The Farmer’s Kitchen is a kitchen and processing facility in a retail space adjacent to the Hollywood Farmers’ Market.

“We are proud to offer this opportunity to our partners in the LA food community who are looking for a space to cook and create,” states SEE-LA’s Executive Director James Haydu. We see it as a temporary home for those who are seeking a short-term location to set-up shop for investor samplings, menu testing, or just pure fun.  The Farmer’s Kitchen offers a fully functional kitchen, great atmosphere and the added prospect of connecting with the 10,000 people who come through the Hollywood Farmers Market each Sunday.”

The Farmer’s Kitchen, designed by Urban Studio, is an approximately 1500 square foot space with the ability of serving 36 people. It has 7 four tops and a bar area that overlooks the open kitchen which can seat 8. With floor to ceiling windows and ample space around the tables, a light-filled space is created.

http://www.seela.org/farmerskitchen.

Pop-up Beer Gardens

Pop-up parks and pop-up beer gardens are changing the urban landscape.

The Pennsylvania Horticultural Society’s annual Pop Up Garden returns for its third year, transforming a forgotten outdoor area into a gorgeous, landscaped community space. (via VisitPhilly.com)

The back of the lot hosts the mobile beer garden. Conceptualized by FCM and Groundswell Design Group, the space allows for dining and drinking under a lush tree canopy amid twinkling lights. Visitors are invited to take a seat on the large custom-built bench as they sip local craft beers, sangria, or root beer, which is on tap each evening and served alongside a summer picnic-style food menu by Garces Group. Choose from delicious sandwiches, light bites, and desserts. Prices range from $2-12. Click here for the menu. Food and beverages will be sold daily during mobile beer garden hours. (via PHS)

Per the Philly.com

The hideaway in question is the latest addition to Philadelphia's growing collection of pop-up parks, an increasingly popular and low-cost way for cities to carve out green retreats amid the crowded hardscape desert. This one is brought to you by the Pennsylvania Horticultural Society and, to be honest, it's not really hidden. It's right there across from the Kimmel Center, between Spruce and Pine Streets. It just feels as if it were a world away.
You could similarly indulge your escapist fantasies at the Porch, alongside 30th Street Station; at the University City District's new Baltimore Avenue plaza; or at Eakins Oval. As of Thursday, the interior of that glorified traffic circle has been outfitted with Parisian-style cafe tables and christened, "The Oval."
But it is PHS's pop-up that will make you feel you've truly left the pressures of the city behind. That is due partly to the site - a vacant lot cradled between the pocked brick walls of two survivor buildings - partly to good design, partly to beer. OK, beer is a big reason the pop-up is so irresistible.
PHS has assembled pop-up gardens on such vacant lots for the past two summers as a way to take its mission to the streets and put leftovers from its annual flower show to good use. Those installations were artful, but static.

Whisk Pop-up in Boston

Whisk Pop-up in Boston is planning popping up their planned popup restaurant in various locations over consecutive six month periods.

Per the Zagat blog

Owners Phillip Kruta and Jeremy Kean, Zagat 30 Under 30 honorees, plan to hop throughout city neighborhoods by setting up shop (or rather, kitchen) for six months at a time before moving on to the next spot...
Currently Tickets are $100 (available here for the most recent event) and help support Whisk’s student chefs, who are learning the ropes of the kitchen through a transitional employment program that takes them from correctional facilities to a culinary career.

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Zoetic Cuisine plans 3 Pop-up dinners in Los Angeles

Los Angeles based Zoetic Cuisine Pop-up has three popup dinners planned this summer, three saturdays in a row, with the same style of cuisine but in different locations, with different, artists, and different musicians. Founded by Corrine Rice, Zoetic Cuisine is Organic, vegan fare, with a focus on raw food and sourcing locally.


Zoetic Cuisine will be popping up July 20th, 27th and August 3rd at various locations throughout the Los Angeles area. Each dinner will be four courses, raw-vegan, 95% local and 100% Organic. Along with the innovative cuisine, there will be live music and visual art. All events are BYOW and limited to just 30 guests. Tickets are required.

For all the details, including menus and locations and to reserve your seat, please visit http://www.zoeticcuisine.com/. A sample menu from the July 20th event is as follows:

Location: CB1 Gallery


menu

• smoked zucchini rounds
• "parmesan"
• basil chimichurri
• walnut oil

• mixed greens 
• French green beans
• slivered almonds
• black olives
• parsley
• shallot vinaigrette

• eggplant wrapped asparagus
• lemongrass and chervil "alfredo"
• crispy onions

• blueberry-peach tart
• cashew cookie crust
• lavender "sour cream"
• plum compote

Starfire water
BYOW

Artist
Osvaldo Trujillo
(Ancient Future)

Musician
Kristi Bride

Nespresso Pop-Up Cafes at the America's Cup

For the America's Cup events in San Francisco, Nespresso has created a series of luxury and high design Pop-Up Cafes around the city.

The venue sitting on the "Marina Green" area next to the Bay has a beautiful view, full services, a top outside deck, and is made of the popular new pop-up shop construction material that resembles discarded container boxes.

This walk-in ground level cafe is situated in the America's Cup Park on Pier 27.

Storefront Raise $1.6 Million for Pop-up Shops

Exciting news if you want a turn-key experience for running and leasing pop-up shop space. Storefront has just closed on $1.6 Million in funding for their venture.

Per VentureBeat:

Storefront is a startup that wants to create more of these experiences, by making it easier for anyone to find and rent short-term retail space. Today, Storefront announced raising $1.6 million in seed funding to expand into new markets, starting with New York City.
Opening a retail store can be an expensive and time-consuming process. As a result, chefs, artisans, and designers are increasingly turning to online stores or pop-up shops. The average national vacancy rates for retail space is 10 percent, which Storefront said represents nearly $20 billion in lost rent annually.
Storefront’s goal is to make starting an offline store as easy as an online store. It  matches people who need retail space with people who have it, and it tries to cut down on some of the friction involved with starting a physical store. Using the site, entrepreneurs can enter their requirements and search for spaces. Each listing includes detailed descriptions of the neighborhood, photos, nearby businesses, foot traffic, and photographs. Storefront also offers flexible booking and a standardized legal process that streamlines lease agreements and insurance.

Read more on VB and on Adweek.

Prague´s pop-up restaurant Forbidden Taste

First Prague´s pop-up restaurant Forbidden Taste (www.forbiddentaste.com) popped up for the first time last week. It opens every time in a different location (not known to the guests until the very evening)

The founders are Tino and Ivon, a couple from Slovakia, living in Prague for one and half years. Tino is an entrepreneur and runs his own clothing brand in Prague. And Ivon is a marketeer and also has her travel blog (www.ivonamission.com). They both travel a lot and love good food. But while testing the great Prague´s restaurants, they felt that eating should be much more than just good food. With a motto "Restaurants are boring" they decided to run their own pop-up restaurant.

Their pop-up restaurant is called Forbidden Taste and its first pop-up was on May 30th, 2013 for only one evening.
 
The location was revealed to the confirmed guests only in the evening of the pop-up. They received an sms at noon to come to a specific underground station where they got more instructions where to go. The venue this time was a former transformation station. During the whole evening, live music was playing. A six-course degustation menu (also secret until the dinner itself) was prepared by a young up-and-coming chef and the wine pairing enhanced the whole experience.
 
But it´s not only about an unexpected venue and good food. The third element of the Forbidden Taste are interesting people. Tino and Ivon believe that good food and this kind of experience attract interesting kind of people as well. The guests are not invited automatically; first they need to write why it´s them who should be part of the next Forbidden Taste and whom they would take along.

First forbidden menu:

• Amuse bouche: Veal tartar with zucchini salad 
• First course: Grilled crawfish tail with pea purrée 
• Soup: Asparagus cappuccino with confit tiger prawn and pecorino cheese 
• Cranberry granite 
• Sous vide pork Tenderloin with puy lentils and thyme juice 
• Dessert (homemade by the host - Ivon): Cabernet & Camembert cake 

+ homemade bread and bread sticks baked by Ivon, the host
They are planning to pop-up every one or two months with a different chef and the next pop-up should happen mid summer. People can sign up to the mailing list on the web (www.forbiddentaste.com)  and they will be informed as soon as the registrations are open. The seats of the first pop-up were taken by interesting people from different backgrounds pretty quickly.  

Gorilly Popup Showrooms

When you think you want to take your new products on the road from neighborhood to neighborhood for people to see and try, then the new Gorilly Popup Showrooms are one way to do it.

Set up inside of a truck, these showrooms are as mobile as you can get.

Www.fb.com/GorillyShowrooms

Destination Beirut, St James’s first pop up restaurant

From 1-4 May 2013, St James's will be hosting its first pop-up restaurant experience with Mile High’s "Destination Beirut", based in a secret location within this unique part of London's West End. A return trip is then scheduled from 8-11 May.

This event will take place in a hidden location on Regent Street St James's. The intimate space will replicate interiors of a 1950s Lebanese café reminiscent of the "Paris of the Middle East".

Anthea Harries, Portfolio Manager for St James's at The Crown Estate, said: "St James's is the ultimate blend of elegant heritage and cutting edge trend. As part of our £500m investment vision for the area we’re looking to enhance the existing restaurant offer by attracting acclaimed culinary talent. Mile High is the perfect example of this, as a pop-up restaurant which seeks to combine world class food with special and unique locations, making for an unforgettable experience. We're delighted they chose St James's as the next destination on their tour."

Embracing The Crown Estate's exciting vision for the area, activities like Mile High will give visitors to the area the opportunity to enjoy a unique experience in locations previously not used as restaurant space.

Mile High in St James's will take each guest on a culinary journey, with talented ex-Moro chef Oliver Templeton who will serve up a four-course Levantine feast. Taking you on a culinary voyage of discovery, the menu will feature an array of authentic dishes with a modern twist such as smoked labneh with sour cherries, broad beans, asparagus and crisp bread followed by rose water and pomegranate jelly with cardamom custard and fresh pomegranate seeds for dessert, delivering a fascinating mix of Arab, Ottoman and French art nouveau influences.

For more information on St James's visit:
stjameslondon.co.uk
twitter.com/_stjameslondon

"Fashion Model for a Minute" Pop Up Party this Saturday

What: Hydrogen-1 shoes is hosting a "Fashion Model for a Minute" pop up party this weekend in the Marina. Shoe designer Hero Nakatani and his Hydrogen-1 scouts will be hand-picking stylish men as they walk by, loaning them a pair of luxury crossover shoes, and handing them over to a professional photographer for a brief photo shoot.

Where: Avila Street @ Chestnut, in San Francisco's Marina district

When: 1:30 pm to 3:00 pm, Saturday April 27

How: Hydrogen-1 scouts will approach and initiate conversations with fashionable men, inviting them to be a Fashion Model for a Minute. Any stylishly dressed man will be considered fair game. Images will be posted to Facebook and Instagram, where models can tag and share them with friends. Models will be required to sign a model release form. Local fashion media are invited to attend, check out the shoes, and interview the models.

Why: Hydrogen-1 is launching a new line of men's luxury crossover shoes, and we want to photograph them on the feet of fashionable men. Therefore, we're taking our shoes to the streets of San Francisco, and taking photos. This is our second Fashion Model for a Minute event. The first was in the Mission on March 30. (See photo gallery.) 

Who: Hydrogen-1 shoes are designed in San Francisco and made in the Le Marche region of Italy. Conceived by hotelier-turned-shoe designer Hero Nakatani, they feature high-end Italian leather uppers and sneaker bottoms. Hydrogen-1's Element line of men's shoes is stylish enough for the boardroom and comfortable enough for the dance floor.