PORT MORRIS — Budding chef Jonah Reider, who gained notoriety for operating a restaurant out of his dorm room at Columbia University, will head up to the Bronx Brewery on Feb. 20 to help put together what organizers are calling a "pop-up culinary experience."
Reider will prepare dishes at the brewery including short ribs beef braised in dark espresso beer and rye pale ale; beet and coriander brined salmon; and salad with mustard frill, greens, blood orange and apricot sumac dressing as part of an artistic event that aims to combine food, drinks, lighting and sound.
"It will be very immersive in the sense that everything is meant to work together," said Nick Mezansky, marketing coordinator for the Bronx Brewery. "We have a sound and light production team coming in, and they’re actually going to be setting things up so that sound and light are actually bouncing off of our tanks."
Reider connected with the Bronx Brewery in the wake of a burst of attention he received about his running of a "faux-staurant" at Columbia, he said.
"Mad people were hitting me up, and I was also talking to a lot of different folks around New York City who I thought were doing cool culinary things," he said, "and the Bronx Brewery was one of them."
He stressed that he did not view the upcoming event as a dinner or pop-up restaurant, instead describing it as "an artistic experience that includes food."
"There’s going to be this audio visual environment," he said. "That’s the coolest part in my mind."
The Bronx Brewery has been looking to use its space for more interesting gatherings this year, and Mezansky referred to their collaboration with Reider as a great fit for this goal.
"It's good. We’re trying to do more unique events this year, and that could be one," he said.
The event starts at 7:30 p.m. in the brewery, at 856 E. 136th St., and tickets can be purchased online at $50 apiece.
Reider is in his last semester at Columbia and said he is looking forward to thinking more about how to make food just one component of an artistic environment.
"I still do the supper club, and I like that," he said, "but I’m way more excited about exploring weird ways to incorporate dining into art and music, events and spaces."
