#309: Pop-Up Restaurants of the Serengeti

Artie & Syd got invited to a pop-up restaurant in an abandoned warehouse by the Ballard Locks on Friday night. It was hosted by an aspiring chef from West Seattle who sent out personal invites to some people in town he considered “influencers”, according to Artie. He said this with some pride in his status as Seattle’s second or third-most famous single-panel comic creator. Apparently this is how up-and-coming chefs try things out before committing the time and money to opening an actual restaurant - they reach out to people who have some pull in town & invite them to zero-rent safety hazard sites to be guinea pigs for their still-amateur cooking. And if you’re an influencer, you accept. Syd is a foodie, & the chef is a former patient at the dentist office where she works as a hygienist, and so I think we all know who the influencer here actually is. Happily, both Syd & Artie report the food was pretty good. Good enough to overcome the ambiance of an abandoned warehouse. They both had the Arneis-braised rabbit, which just happens to be the signature dish at Cafe Juanita over in Kirkland, so the buzz among the pop-up guests was that this was a brazen shot across the bow in the bare knuckles Seattle restaurant game. After dinner, they went home to watch NatGeo in bed, and Artie doodled in his Moleskin, which resulted in #309, Syd says “doodling in his Moleskin while in bed” isn’t nearly as interesting for her as it sounds. -Ed.