Bits & Bites: Former Magdalena chef launches ‘nomadic restaurant,’ Kneads expands, Indian fast-casual coming to Columbia
Whether you call them pop-ups, supper clubs or nomadic restaurants, ephemeral dining experiences are still having a moment.
The one-night-only meals continue to crop up around the Baltimore region, and this week I have details about two new options for local foodies craving something unique.
For a slightly less fleeting dining option, there’s news of a Locust Point pop-up from Kneads Bakeshop. And in Columbia, diners will soon be able to grab a bite from a new quick-service Indian restaurant from the owner of The Mint Room.
Nomadic restaurant
April 21 was a big day for Scott Bacon. Not only was it the chef’s 34th birthday, it was also the day he launched his first solo dining project.
You might recognize Bacon’s name from his three years as the executive chef at Magdalena, the restaurant inside of the luxe Ivy Hotel in Mount Vernon, where he prepared Southern dishes with a global flare and also showcased the flavors of the Chesapeake Bay watershed (He even pushed diners to expand their horizons by trying a taste of the invasive blue catfish.).
Before Magdalena, Bacon molded the culinary program at Patterson Public House and worked in the kitchen at several Foreman Wolf restaurants.
This year, he decided to strike out on his own. He left Magdalena after a New Year’s Eve service to focus on a new pop-up dining project called Fennec. The roaming supper club, which Bacon has branded a “nomadic restaurant,” takes its name from the Fennec fox, a small mammal native to North Africa.
The omnivorous fox bases its diet on scarcity and seasonal changes, which is how Bacon wants to build the menu at Fennec. Meat won’t be the focus on the plate, which will instead spotlight fresh produce.
“It’s going to be similar to the way I sourced at Magdalena: very hyper-seasonally, very local, trying to keep everything from D.C., Maryland, Virginia, Pennsylvania, but with a very globally influenced vegetable focus,” he said.
Technique is important to the chef, who is well-versed in smoking, pickling and fermentation. Bacon has two Konro hibachi-style grills for cooking food over charcoal or wood fire. For his first pop-up, an Earth Day supper at Black Ankle Vineyards in Mount Airy, he perfected a whole wheat and benne seed sourdough bread. He collaborated on the dinner with chef Tae Strain, who runs his own pop-up series called Ggoma Supper Club.
Bacon intends to concentrate the roaming restaurant’s appearances in the Baltimore and Washington, D.C. area, with plans for both ticketed and non-ticketed events in the coming months. Eventually, he hopes to open a brick-and-mortar restaurant in Howard County, where he was raised.
Though Fennec’s April 21 debut meant Bacon was working on his birthday, the chef didn’t mind. The day marked a new chapter in more ways than one.
“It’s a very good birthday present,” he said.
To the Table
Another pop-up launching this spring will spotlight the bounty of the Chesapeake Bay.
Childhood friends and foodies Katelyn Rockwell and Andrea van Wagenberg recently started the To The Table dinner series, which will recruit local chefs to prepare a multi-course meal accompanied by beer and wine pairings, live music and bucolic settings.
The first edition of the supper club will take place May 11 at Lansdowne Manor, a historic farm in Centreville, on the Eastern Shore. Janny Kim, a partner and head chef at Jailbreak Brewing Co., and Kevin Brothers, a Baltimore-area private chef, will prepare a dinner that will be served outdoors, among soybean fields and 100-year-old oaks.
A menu is still in the works, Rockwell said, though diners shouldn’t expect crab cakes. “There’s so much more to eat and experience,” she said.
Rockwell, who runs a social media management and marketing agency, and van Wagenberg, who works in cybersecurity, are not chefs themselves. But the friends enjoy pop-up dining and wanted to see more opportunities to gather fellow foodies for a communal dining experience. They plan to host four To The Table dinners this summer, with every meal served al fresco. In July and August, the venues will be by the water, to keep temperatures down.
Tickets for the first dinner are $345 a person, a price tag that Rockwell acknowledged can seem steep.
“There are people who put a lot of value into the experience and there are people who are not going to,” she said. “You’re paying for food and beer and wine, but really you’re paying for the experience.”
Kneads expands
Kneads Bakeshop will get into the pop-up game this spring with a temporary location in Locust Point.
The Harbor East bakery, run by grandchildren of the H&S Bakery magnate John Paterakis Sr., will take up residence inside the former Local Oyster restaurant at 838 E. Fort Ave. beginning in May. A spokesperson for the bakery said the length of Kneads’ stay has not yet been determined.
The pop-up is the latest expansion for the bakeshop, which also has plans to open a new grab-and-go location at the Village of Cross Keys in North Baltimore this fall.
In Locust Point, Kneads will have indoor and patio seating and will serve coffee, breakfast pastries and omelets as well as salads and sandwiches for lunch. The bakery will be open Wednesdays through Sundays from 7 a.m. to 2 p.m.
The Mint Room goes fast-casual
The team behind The Mint Room, a North Indian restaurant with locations in Ellicott City, Hunt Valley and Bel Air, will put a fast-casual spin on the cuisine for their next restaurant.
The chain, owned by restaurateur Prince Anand, will branch out with The Mint Express, a quick-service concept that’s expected to open in the Columbia Palace Plaza shopping center later this year.
The 80-seat restaurant will serve favorites from northern and southern India, as well as Indo-Chinese dishes like tikka masala, korma and tandoori chicken.