Theo Friedman brings a course of food out to a dozen or so guests at Methuselah in Pittsfield.

PITTSFIELD, Mass. — Theo Friedman remembers when he was a teenager and made some cream puffs for his father's birthday - because that is the day he learned how to communicate through food.

 

The Sheffield native's passion for cooking has grown since then. But he isn't in a position to open his own restaurant.

 

Instead, he has been holding "pop-up dinners" in various places throughout the Northeast. 

 

"This came from my desire to continue exploring ideas and look for platforms and spaces to create these experiences," Friedman said.

 

"Without having a brick and mortar restaurant, this is the way to test out ideas."

 

On Monday, he held two sittings at Methuselah Bar and Lounge on North Street with a dozen courses. The one-night-only stints challenges the young chef with turning non-restaurant settings into unique dining experiences. 

 

"Once they experience this together, my aim is that a sense of community is formed through this and people use food as the medium, or shared language, to connect and create a memory together," Friedman said. 

 

Friedman does things a little differently than a typical sit-down restaurant. He doesn't have individual tables and many of the courses don't come on plates; for example one was served on pieces of wood cut in the Berkshires. He leaves the menu lacking some details before he serves the food. 

 

"I intentionally leave out details and want people to walk in a little uncomfortable, a little unsure of what is really going on and what to expect," Friedman said.

 

The pop-up dinners feature menu items he created by working with the spaces. Friedman says he hosts a dinner in various places as often as every other week. Each one will have its unique flair, depending on how the space being used inspires him.

 

"This is how I express myself. It is a driver to get something out. Ideas come to me and I need to get them out. This just feels right," Friedman said.

 

The 21-year-old says cooking is an art form in a way in that it conveys emotion and tells a story much the way language or any performance art piece does. Part of the pop-up dinners is to "break down" barriers that exist in the conventional dining experience to create a shared experience. 

 

Friedman previously was awarded a grant from Tufts University's Research Fund based on a thesis paper he wrote on the dinners. The dinners are served in one long communal table and he personally delivers and explains his dishes as they are served - breaking down the separation from the kitchen and the dining room. His thesis looked at how the food industry separates the chef from the patrons and how stories and emotions from cooking are removed. 

 

Monday was the first time he brought the experience to the Berkshires. The idea stemmed from the dormitories in his freshman year at Tufts to now a job with a New York City company that organizes pop-up dinners. 

 

"These pop-up series have evolved out of a number of events I've done at school. Those came from my desire to cook, to keep learning, at liberal arts school. I would work in New York City for three months during summer break and have amazing experiences and then have to put it on hold for nine months when I was at school," Friedman said. 

 

The chef brings explains the food he created as he serves it to his guests.

He puts on the events all over the Northeast and many pose simple logistical challenges because of the spaces. He went to one recently where the freezer was broken and he had ice cream on his menu. Or others that lacked the proper equipment to make the food. Those instances forces him to adapt.

 

"There have always been challenges beyond just the cooking. There is so much that goes into it beyond the food. It is about planning, it is about strategy, it is about organization, it's about logistics," Friedman said.

 

"A lot of the planning is how am I going to cook the food I am going to cook, not what food am I going to cook."

 

Friedman says he is still trying to find his cooking style and knows he has to put in his time in the industry. He said even if he was offered an empty space to start his own restaurant, he wouldn't do it because there is so much more for him to learn.

 

His passion for cooking took off and became an obsession his senior year in high school after seeing what modern chefs were doing in the field of molecular gastronomy, which uses science to find new things to do with food. Though Friedman says he doesn't like that term, it was what chefs in that field were doing that led him down the path. He became obsessed with cooking and trying new things since them. 

 

That led him to taking jobs in two different restaurants in New York City during the summers. The pop-up dinners are yet another way for him to continue to explore the possibilities of food.

 

"It allows me to to have the freedom and creativity without owning a restaurant," Friedman said.