On a warm Sunday evening in June, diners enjoyed an exciting new pop-up designed by a chef with serious fine dining chops. It was a meal that emphasized seasonal produce and high technique — the kind of approach one might expect from someone with experience
at three-Michelin-starred Quince and Californios. The opening dish for the first pop-up highlights asparagus from Zuckerman Farms, a layered “sundae” built up with burrata, asparagus, and hits of citrusy Meyer lemon, and topped with rounds of Kaluga caviar, taking some inspirational notes from Quince.
Chef Kedar Shenoy has spent the past 10 years working in those fine-dining institutions, Californios and Quince, and now diners at Heirloom Cafe can get a taste at this dining room in the Mission on select nights. His recently launched pop-up, Kedar, contains nods to his fine dining experience, as well as references to his Indian background and places he’s lived.
As the evening wore on, surprising combinations seeped into the menu. A dish utilizing Baja bluefin tuna — slices of raw tuna dressed in tomatoes, cucumbers, and puffed rice, inspired by the Indian flavors of chaat. “Working with the markets was something that I really learned at Quince — if you start with the best product, you can only go up from there,” Shenoy says.
An agnolotti dish gave Shenoy a chance to dip back into making pasta from scratch, but with nods to Sichuan flavors, with the incorporation of mala spice. The agnolotti itself walks the line between pasta and dumpling, filled with Hokkaido scallop and blue shrimp farce, “very similar to what you would put on top of shrimp toast,” Shenoy says. “I really enjoy both of those things,” Shenoy says of shrimp toast and Italian stuffed pasta, “so it was like, why not marry them?”
Set inside Heirloom Cafe with its high ceilings and charming ambiance, the Kedar pop-up feels like a full-fledged restaurant. That’s on purpose: “I wanted this pop-up to feel like it was a restaurant and less like a side project,” Shenoy says. “I wanted to do my own thing and show people my food, and have people come out and experience it, and give people a good time.” It’s a warm, comfortable atmosphere for diners, and a visit ahead of the first pop-up confirmed to Shenoy that he’d like to continue doing these meals at that corner restaurant.
Shenoy will hold another pop-up at Heirloom Cafe on Sunday, July 26, featuring an eight-course menu composed of a mix of new, seasonal dishes and favorites from the first dinner pop-up. Joining him at this upcoming dinner is pastry chef Madrid Jaramillo-Cattell, formerly of Butter&, now-shuttered Mourad, and Quince, and she will run the dessert menu.
More recently, Shenoy worked as a private chef before starting high-end corporate catering company GreeneFood, with partners Ali and Graham Greene. Shenoy has his hands full with catering during the day, and for now, his goal with the Kedar pop-up isn’t a restaurant, he says. This isn’t a play for restaurant investors, but rather a creative outlet. “I really love the work that I’m doing now with my company, and the fact that I get to have both right now just means the world to me,” Shenoy says. “I feel so lucky to be able to essentially have it all.”
Kedar at Heirloom Cafe (2500 Folsom Street, San Francisco) takes place on Sunday, July 26, reservations only, for $168 per person with an optional $65 wine pairing. Reservations are available via Guini.
