The Co-Branded Permanent Pop-up

a gluten-free baker who launched her own catering and events business in 2014 after jobs ranging from a post-cooking-school pastry externship at Castagna in Portland, Oregon, to gigs at BabyCakes and Ovenly.

guava-filled, Pop-Tarts-style pastries; seasonal pies; and signature stencil and divorce cakes by special order.

At a photo shoot, Yoko Ono once declared Halliday’s miso-chocolate-chip cookies to be the best cookies she ever had. “I was like, ‘Okay, I’m good. My cookies have basically touched John Lennon’s lips, because time works any way we believe that it works,’” says Halliday.

Halliday had been bouncing around rented kitchen spaces, but increased exposure from a Maison Yaki pop-up and a surge of support for Black-owned businesses after the social-justice protests this spring convinced her the time was right to create a retail home for Brutus. “People talk about overnight success, and that’s not real,” says Halliday. “It actually takes ten years.” She’s managing the risk by partnering with fellow chef Eric See, late of Brooklyn’s the Awkward Scone and now debuting his new business, to share a kitchen and bakery space in Crown Heights. Through industry contacts, they got “what people might call a sweetheart deal,” as well as the flexibility to rent for nine months to a year instead of being locked into a long-term lease.

Jacob Siwak did time at Olmsted in Prospect Heights, spent six months cooking in Rome and Bologna, and ran a tasting-menu supper club called Dinner Under the Stairs.

Cacio e pepe supplì, spaghetti alla carbonara, porchetta, gelati, and whipped-cream-stuffed brioche. Also, threecourse dinner kits: “They take about 15 minutes to prepare, and the fresh pasta is as simple to make as Kraft macaroni and cheese.”

Siwak was nearly midway through construction on a 28-seat space on the Lower East Side when the pandemic struck. After finding an interim kitchen in the East Village, he and his sous-chef and his baker launched a three-man operation where they prepared dinner kits to go and served food in the backyard once state regulations permitted it. The pop-up allowed the trio to test the menu and start building a customer base. When they move into their permanent location, they’ll have street seating and continue to emphasize takeout, which Siwak hopes will tide them over until indoor dining resumes.