New Pop-Up Eatery Approved for Mass MoCA
NORTH ADAMS, Mass. — A new pop-up restaurant has been approved at Massachusetts Museum of Contemporary Art for a brief winter interlude.
Door Prize, operated by husband and wife team Bryan "Swifty" Josephs and Jenny Klowden, will run one night a week through the end of March.
The takeout restaurant will be located in the space formerly occupied by Gramercy, which reopened in Williamstown last year, and that was most recently used last summer as a pop-up eatery by New York City's Chama Mama.
It will feature mainly regional American soups, sides sandwiches. The owners hope to open on Feb. 10 and run on Thursdays from 3 to 7:30 p.m. through March 31.
Josephs and Klowden contacted iBerkshires on Thursday to clarify the fare being offered at Mass MoCA, including two Indiana sandwiches — a pork tenderloin and seitan "pork" sandwich — baked potato soup for their debut on Feb. 10. Other proposals are grilled cheese sandwiches, fried oyster po'boys, torta sandwiches and Philly cheesesteaks. Each Thursday will be a different regional menu.
"We are so excited to get our food out to the community!" they wrote.
Chris Handschuh, tenant operations and special events coordinator at Mass MoCA, said the couple had moved here from California in the past year or so and hosted a pop-up last September at A-OK Barbecue on the museum campus.
"Their frst night of operations will coincide with Bright Ideas Brewing's movie night, followed by other programming at the brewery that is yet to be determined," he told the Mass MoCA Commission on Monday. "The customers will be able to order from Door Prize at the Courtyard A service window or online from their homes. ... Customers will either have their food delivered to the brewery to eat indoors or be able to get it to-go off site."
According to the couple's website, they have extensive experience in the restaurant and hospitality industry in the San Francisco Bay area and currently offer catering. The name of the restaurant comes from John Prine's "In Spite of Ourselves" that they danced to at their wedding.
The Mass MoCA Commission unanimously approved the new tenant but questioned its ability to run once a week and the long-term prospects for the key location.
Tracy Moore, the museum's deputy director, said Door Prize was something of an experiment for the operators who have "other explorations" in the community.
"It's a very focused and limited operation for all those reasons. So we're happy to put a toe in the water with them and they feel the same," she said, adding that Door Prize or Chama Mama or other pop-ups were possible in that space this coming summer. "We don't have a current, more long-term permanent tenant to suggest to all of you and contemplate for tenancy on campus at the moment so we may continue to explore the pop up model with door price and or others in subsequent months."
Commissioner Eric Kerns asked if the museum was actively seeking a more permanent tenant for the space, which is just outside the museum's main entrance.
"It's right outside the front door. A perfect spot for, you know, really a landmark kind of restaurant like, you know, Danny Meyer at The Modern kind of opportunity for especially now, postpandemic as we're seeing restaurants in major cities closing, chefs looking for opportunities outside of New York City," he said. "It just seems like there's a moment here."
Moore said there hasn't been an active recruiting plan, pointing to the pandemic and the transition to a new director, but there has been interest. The museum wanted to select the best partner for that space and the for vacancy on the first floor of Building 13.
"We couldn't agree more that it is an anchor space for our campus and the community and the opportunity is really exciting," she said. "We've had restaurant proposals that we've entertained and still are taking a look at but we're being careful and cautious. ...
"The next step is to do exactly what you're describing which is to, you know, seek out that partner that's going to have a shared vision and value system for the campus."
So far the pop-up concept has worked well, both she and Handschuh said.
"It really sort of helped sort of enhance that community atmosphere that we bring to courtyard A, and connected the courtyard location outside of the restaurant space," Handschuh said of Chama Mama. "Those warm summer months, early fall, the dates that they were opening. It was really a beautiful activation of the outdoor aspect of our campus here."
Mayor Jennifer Macksey asked that the commission be apprised of any changes or extensions of Door Prize's plans. She also suggested a meeting in March with the museum's new Director Kristy Edmunds to hear about her thoughts of the campus and programming.
In other business, the commission elected Macksey as chairman and Robert Davis and vice chairman.
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