Why This Pop-Up Service May Replace Restaurants in the Coming Years

I found it incredibly easy to navigate Feastly's website and book the reservation. I appreciated all the details, including the price, the type of cuisine, the chef's bio and rating, and high-res images (and descriptions) of a sample menu. Most of Feastly's dinners are between $28 and $75 for multiple courses.

Most chefs host the dinner in their homes or in rented spaces, but Feastly also has a few pop-up loft spaces (like the one I attended) in coveted locations. I can't speak for the home dinners, but I have been to two of Feastly's pop-up locations and enjoyed the clean, modern spaces and tablescapes.

Most Feastly dinners are BYOW (bring your own wine) with no corkage fee, but some chefs will provide wine pairings and will clearly state that in the dinner description. The S.Pellegrino dinner I attended offered extremely unique wine pairings from Italy. I tried Bele Casel Prosecco that is reminiscent of sour beer and orange wine. I definitely want to buy that funky, fermented, unfiltered sparkling wine for another time.

You won't find "just chefs" among Feastly's rotation. This is Geoffrey, and he fished and foraged the majority of the food he served us at the dinner. Feastly prides itself on showcasing chefs with these unique talents that may not have a place in traditional restaurant settings. Geoffrey calls his dinners Ichido, Japanese for "once," since each of his dinners are singular and can never be repeated. His menus constantly change depending on the season, the hosted spaces are different, and the group of diners is never the same. Unlike traditional restaurant settings where you probably don't meet the chef or step into the kitchen, the opposite is true at a Feastly dinner. Diners can step into the kitchen to check out what the chef is up to and chat about the food he's making. "I'll give you a set of gloves if you want to help out," Geoffrey joked.

There was only one slight hiccup in the evening, and that is there were no passed appetizers during the hour or so wait to be seated. I couldn't help myself and dove into the bowl of popcorn plated at the table that was intended for the first course.

At Feastly dinners, you sit with strangers, but this sets the stage for connecting with some really fascinating people. My friend and I met two photographers who had been in the city for a long time and knew the ins and outs of life, love, SF, and its changing industries. We had fluid conversation during each course. And as is the tradition with pop-up restaurants, the chef came out to introduce the course, give it some context, and describe the origins of the ingredients.

For a $50 dinner (with wine pairings), there were so many courses and a ton of food. I walked away full, content, and happily buzzed. In San Francisco at a midpriced restaurant, $50 may get you an entree and one glass of wine.

What I love about fixed menus is opening my taste buds up to trying things I would maybe never order (or ingredients I have never seen on restaurant menus). I tried unique Japanese pickles and varieties of fish (also pickled) that I had never heard of.

The chef brought out one of the fish he had just caught on Monday (the dinner was on a Wednesday). But it looked remarkably fresh, as if it had just been pulled from the ocean. The chef attributed the preservation to a specific fishing technique he learned while working in Japanese restaurants. I didn't write it down, so I can't relay it, but I was amazed how much care Geoffrey had for the ingredients. He may be the closest thing there is to an American Jiro.

Every course just got better and more impressive. Sous-vide egg and melt-in-your-mouth pork belly.

I walked into Feastly on a whim and didn't expect to love it as much as I did. I definitely plan to book another table soon and discover more of the incredible chefs in my area. Who knows, I may even sign up to host a dinner myself. I do have an exorbitant amount of organic produce in my garden, and a Feastly crowd seems like the right place to make use of it . . .