Two local pop-ups join forces to open their first brick and mortar. 

Fat Cat, a wine club pop-up founded by Jessica Bell three years ago, and Claws of Mantis, a Vietnamese pop-up by local chef Kevin Tang founded six years ago, are taking over the space formerly occupied by the pinball and Hawaiian food gastropub Outer Orbit at 3215 Mission St. (near Valencia Street), which closed in February 2025.

The collaboration  began taking shape “sort of jokingly” over a glass of wine, said Bell. She was doing a three-month Fat Cat pop-up inside the space formerly occupied by Fisch & Flore, at 2298 Market (at Noe) and Tang did a pop-up inside that pop-up.

The two bonded over the difficulty and expense of transitioning from pop-up to brick and mortar, and began to discuss joining forces, with Tang running the kitchen and Bell running the front of the house. 

Bell found the space through a broker in January. It was nice and well kept, but too big to be the home of Fat Cat. But, not too big to also be the space for Claws of Mantis.

“It all sort of fell into place. The owners were so great and gave us a really great deal that we really couldn’t refuse,” said Bell. 

“Kevin and I decided, fuck it, we can share the rent. We can share the utilities..” 

Fat Cat, Bell said, specializes in serving wine that is produced by underrepresented communities – female, queer and winemakers of color – at a reasonable price, and in making wine accessible to people who want to explore, but feel intimated by the industry. 

Claws of Mantis specializes in California/ Southern Vietnamese cuisine. “The menu is gonna be off the cuff. Vietnamese food you can’t find anywhere else. It’s gonna be exciting. It’s gonna be fun,” said Tang.

Why? I asked.

“I wanted to showcase that Vietnamese cuisine is diverse and regional,” he replied.

Tang grew up near San Jose in a Vietnamese/Cambodian household, and has cooked at local restaurants such as Nari and Mister Jius. On Tuesday, he had just returned from a month-long trip to Vietnam where he held  pop-ups in Saigon and Da Nang, and traveled the country on a two-week immersion tour sponsored by Red Boat, the Vietnamese fish sauce company.

Fat Cat opened on April 9 and its currently serving wine, cheese boards, small plates, deviled eggs and pimento cheese. “The Mantis”, as Tang is calling his part of the business, will open in mid-May.