The food writer and cookbook author Alison Roman is bringing her upstate shop First Bloom to Manhattan for a monthlong pop-up on the Lower East Side, she tells Emily Sundberg. From today, Wednesday, November 5, through Sunday, November 30, shoppers can find her pantry items and home goods from 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. at wine bar Casetta, on 61 Hester Street, between Orchard and Chrystie streets. “I’m equal parts thrilled, excited, and nervous to have a brick-and-mortar location in the city,” she tells Feed Me. She’s doing a cafe menu, too.
Roman — a voice of the millennial home cooking era, thanks to viral hits like The Cookies and The Stew, plus stints at Bon Appétit and the New York Times, opened First Bloom in Bloomville, New York, last year. The project falls into the “shoppy shop” category: a charming, semi-personal corner store-meets-country market filled with local produce, tinned fish and pantry goods, ceramics, drinks, and other impulse-buy items. This city pop-up promises a similar vibe, albeit one with a short run.
A pop-up pastry shop for weekday mornings in Fort Greene
Pastry chef Amanda Perdomo — whose resume spans Del Posto, Wildair, Contra, Cool World, and a viral desserts run at Kellogg’s Diner (think strawberry pretzel salad) — is launching Amanda’s Good Morning Cafe inside Strange Delight (63 Lafayette Avenue, between Fort Greene Place and South Elliott Street), serving New Orleans-leaning pastries, beignets, breakfast sandwiches, chicory coffee, and nostalgic desserts Monday through Thursday, 8 a.m. to 1:30 p.m.
A fall neighborhood dine-around
Union Square’s annual Harvest tasting returns on Thursday, November 13, from 7 to 9 p.m., to the Bernard Goldstein Center (124 East 14th Street), with dishes from Gramercy Tavern, Union Square Cafe, Craft, Seahorse, Daily Provisions, and more. Hosted by the Union Square Partnership, tickets start at $125, to help support the programming of Union Square Park.