Which is all to say, they’ve been here before.
“The reason it’s called Here Before is we’ve been here before with this same collaboration, and we’re exploring [whether] we want to do this out on the West Coast now,” Nevola explains. “Experiencing San Francisco is so amazing; it’s supportive of pop-ups, and it’s such a great way to get a taste of what people are into and also to be creative.”
Stern and Nevola are working the pop-up circuit as they learn more about the Bay Area. They’ve appeared at wine and sake shop Millay in San Francisco, and on Sunday, October 19, they’re returning to natural wine maker Broc Cellars in Berkeley for an event.
Stern and Nevola, who handles front-of-house management and social media, bring some restaurant touches to their pop-up. For instance, they use real plates and silverware when they can, and occasionally incorporate a “drop line” explaining the dishes they’re handing off to diners. It’s not that they’re opposed to paper plates and plastic utensils, but they see Here Before as “a mini restaurant [that] is popping up,” Nevola says.
In that vein, Stern approaches pop-ups as if it’s a mini restaurant menu, typically two smaller bites, a couple of vegetable dishes, a hot fish or meat dish, plus a dessert. Stern’s base influence for the pop-up is French, with a bit of Spanish touches; from there, dishes evolve based on “the best products we can get ahold of and feature,” he says. For now, what that means is vegetables during this summer-to-fall transition of produce. At Broc Cellars they’re serving pimientos de padron and sliced tomatoes, if they manage to stick around for the weekend. (Stern says that his prepared menus flux and change with the seasonal ingredients.) They’re dubbing that event “La Grillade,” as there will be grills to cook up a portion of the dishes, such as the chicken a la diable, made with chickens from Fogline Farms.
One dish that Stern regularly places on the menu is a tortilla de patatas, a Spanish omelet with potatoes that he’s workshopping. He’s even sought advice from friends like chef Ryan Bartlow of Ernesto’s and Bartolo (“He’s kind of like the tortilla master,” Stern says) when he first started working the dish. He’s topped the dish with a piperade, or pepper stew, but for the Sunday event, he’s created a marinated chanterelle mushroom accompaniment. There’s even a marinated anchovies dish, and a Basque cheesecake as a closer. Hungry folks can go HAM and order the entire menu, but it’s also good for heavy snacking, as Stern puts it — picking and choosing through the selections.
“We really enjoy food and the community of restaurants,” Nevola says. “We’ve been together for 16 years, and we are trying to bring people the food and the experience that we like to have when we go out — it’s just that simple.”
The duo is not quite at the stage of opening up a restaurant, but they’re enjoying the pop-up life for now. “This is just a way to explore a little bit more,” Stern says, “and it just seemed like something that people were doing and could be a fun thing. It’s meant to be a fun thing for us, more than a job.”
Here Before pops up at Broc Cellars (1300 Fifth Street, Berkeley) from noon to 4 p.m. (or sold out) on Sunday, October 19.