Six Pop-Up Dinners (and Other Notable Culinary Events)

Retro arcade games at Night Shift, a Txakoli fête, and a week full of Super Burger Bros. festivities.

 

burger bros.

Artwork provided

JP Beer Garden at Tres Gatos

Husband and wife team Owen Royce-Nagel and Lizzie Szczepaniak, who currently work for the Gatos family (Owen at Tres Gatos, Lizzie at Centre Street Café), are bringing their pop-up beer garden back to Jamaica Plain on Tuesday, May 12. Chef Royce-Nagel will be preparing a small, shareable menu with courses like a smoked bluefish rillette, Flammkuchen (traditional German flatbread) with caramelized onions and raclette, and chicken schnitzel with dill-vermouth fava beans. Szczepaniak will pair each dish with local beer and cider pairings from Mystic, Bantam, Jack’s Abby, Notch, and Allagash. And the Tres Gatos team will provide an all-vinyl playlist courtesy of TG’s book & record shop in the back of the restaurant. Additionally, attendees will get a complementary radler and first dibs on tickets for their upcoming “Underground Outdoor Summer Series.” Reservations are filling up quickly, but outdoor patio and bar will also be available for walk-in diners.

Reservations strongly recommended, May 12, 5:30-10 p.m., 470 Centre St., Jamaica Plain, 617-477-4851 or tresgatosjp.com.

Prototype Nights at Bronwyn

Every Tuesday night in May and June, Chef Tim Wiechmann will debut a menu of new food experiments inspired by his travels in Germany and the Central/Eastern Europe region. On May 12, check out savory pancakes filled with paprika smoked salmon, zywiecka sausage, and house-cured bacon. May 26 will focus on desserts, with a Polish doughnut stuffed with rose petal jam and Hungarian fried dough filled with Bronwyn’s house bacon. Other highlights include the footlong brat night (June 9) and pjleskavica (June 23), Serbian hamburgers served on bacon pagocha bread. Prototype dishes can be paired with an array of regional wines, spirits, and beers. The regular dinner menu will also be available on Tuesdays.

Every Tuesday evening in May, 5-10 p.m., 255 Washington St., Somerville; 617-776-9900 or bronwynrestaurant.com.

Farmhouse Fried Chicken and Fermentation Pop-Up

Matt Cunningham’s (The Sinclair, Strip-T’s) underground pop-up series, Farmhouse Dining Club, will be hosting an event dedicated to the chef’s ongoing passion for fried chicken and fermented foods. In a yet-to-be-announced private location, diners can experience two preparations of fried chicken (charred buttermilk and ginger fried chicken breast and cola- and chili-brined fried chicken leg) served with various sauces (Fermented long pepper and Thai basil hot sauce, burnt lime nuac cham, aged honey butter), and sides. Besides the spread of killer street food, Cunningham will go over basic fermentation principles and provide a number of recipes so participants can recreate the evening’s menu at home.

$45 per person, May 16, 7-10 p.m., location TBD; eventbrite.com.

Txakoli Fest at Belly Wine Bar

Fizzy, fresh, minerally, and relatively low in alcohol, it’s no wonder that Txakolis from Spain’s Basque region have become the preferred summer wine for sommeliers everywhere. And there’s no better way to taste a broad spectrum of producers (most very difficult to track down) than at Belly’s 4th Annual Txakoli Fest. Longtime Txakoli advocate Liz Vilardi will offer up five unique versions (all served via porrón), as well as funky natural Basque cider, and food served straight from The Blue Room’s wood-burning grill—think pig, squid, grilled sardines, charred green onions with romesco, and more.

$45 per person, May 21, 6-10 p.m., 1 Kendall Square, Cambridge; 617-494-0968 or bellywinebar.com.

Super Burger Bros., Final Level: Boston Chops

After throwing several successful burger events across Boston last year, chefs Samuel Monsour (The Future of Junk Food, Chuck Taylor’s Fried Chicken All-Stars) and Richard Chudy (Boston Burger Blog) are back together again to pull off their biggest and best pop-up yet. Taking place at Boston Chops on May 18, the duo (a.k.a. The Super Burger Bros.) comes armed with a slew of recipes straight from the pages of their new book, American Burger Revival: Brazen Recipes to Electrify a Timeless Classic, including “The LTO Intermezzo” (kale sofrito, smoked heirloom tomatoes, pickled red onions, parm) and “#Grimetime” (Pop’s Dirty Slaw, Frito pie crumble, KFC Buffalo blue cheese dip).

Can’t make that event? There will be plenty of other opportunities to catch up with Chudy and Monsour that week, including a book signing at West Elm Fenway (May 16, 1-3 p.m.) where they’ll be grilling bite-size burgers stacked with some of their favorite homemade condiments, and a burger block party at Farm & Fable (May 19, 6-8 p.m.) complete with a meat-grinding demonstration, mouthwatering burgers, and wine and beer pairing tips from the experts at the Urban Grape.

À la Carte menu (which includes boozy milkshakes), May 18, 9 p.m.-1 a.m., 1375 Washington St., Boston; 617-227-5011 or bostonchops.com

Bit Fest 3 at Night Shift Brewing 

After two popular pop-ups at Somerville’s Aeronaut, the eight-bit experts at Boston Retro Gamers will turn their attention to Night Shift Brewing in Everett. On June 4 and 5, Night Shift will house upwards of 25 classic arcade games (possibilities include Ms. Pac-Man, Tetris, and Mortal Kombat II), vintage video game consoles played on retro tube TVs, local artists selling video game-inspired art, as well as food provided by Stoked Wood Fired Pizza and Munch Mobile Kitchen. No quarters necessary, but a $5 entry fee is being suggested.

Suggested $5 donation, June 4 and 5 at 5 p.m., 87 Santilli Hwy., Everett; bostonbitfest.com.