Vegan pop-up The Mushroom dishes up bold adventures in colorful food and art
You’re sipping natural wine in a dining room where the walls, tables and staff are covered in green. A tower of grilled and roasted squash layered with electric-purple potato puree has been placed before you on a pink plate. Star-shaped radish and black sesame hummus sandwiches surround this miniature tree like fallen leaves, and sugar snap pods filled with carrot puree rest at its base, like logs in a psychedelic forest.
This is San Francisco’s The Mushroom, a vegan pop-up marrying food and art in a way the Bay Area has never seen. Chef Alex Lauritzen and co-owner Frank Valadez pair eclectic ceramics with bright vegan cuisine in what can only be described as living art. Lauritzen started the five-course dinners ($200) highlighting those handcrafted ceramics last summer and has watched as each dinner sells out, with waiting lists long as your arm.
Lauritzen, a native of Utah, comes from the fashion world. He moved to San Francisco in 2017 after living in New York and Paris. A stint at Rose Bakery in both cities sealed his future in food. Since arriving in San Francisco, he has worked at several notable restaurants, including Cotogna, Verjus and Yo También! Cantina, but The Mushroom is his first role as a chef.
Valadez attended design school in Los Angeles and moved to San Francisco in 2015, landing a job at legendary Heath Ceramics.
The two came together when Lauritzen asked Valadez to sew aprons and napkins for the first Mushroom — and that particular shade of green is called Kiwi 160235. It’s “energetic but balanced,” Valadez says. “It’s really bold, but it kind of disappears when the whole room is covered in it.”
We recently spoke to Lauritzen about The Mushroom concept and its marriage of food and art.
QYou’ve commissioned several pieces by Oaxacan ceramicist Jorge Reynoso. Why does his work resonate with you?
A
His work is tactile and organic. You can see the process in all his pieces, even down to his fingerprints interrupting the glaze. I think a similarity in both our work is that none of it is perfect. We are both very into the “gloopy” look, and it’s super fun to play with his glazes when we are plating a dish. Some diners even mistake parts of his pieces as food.
QYou also work with Bay Area ceramicists Daniel Vu and Christopher Kidtofer. Tell us about them.
AWe met Daniel, who is from the Peninsula, at a craft fair in the city. We were instantly drawn to the precision and quality of his work. Frank’s expertise and knowledge in ceramics really helped with the decisions to commission pieces from Daniel. Although they are the simplest pieces we use, they are beautiful. The color of the glazes is stunning, and they’re durable.
Christopher is hands-down one of my favorite ceramists.
The collaboration has been very exciting. We’ve had several meetings to discuss color, print, artwork, and Christopher has even come up with some ideas for plating. Our hope is to turn this into a series of dinners where we work with all sorts of different artists.
Q
How would you describe your food?
AWe source our ingredients from the San Rafael farmers market on Thursdays, which is geared toward restaurants. The food is super simple — really close to the earth, super colorful and whimsical. Part of what brought me to San Francisco is that I’m nostalgic for 1960s psychedelia and have always had an affinity for the ‘70s. But the main mission is to highlight vegetables in vibrant and exciting ways. I’ve been vegetarian since I was 11 and vegan for the past 10 years.
The gazpacho is something I’m excited about. We always do a soup, and this one is an everykind-of-stone-fruit and tomato gazpacho with sherry vinegar and basil oil. We serve that with grilled cornflower and summer squash on top.
Q
What’s next for The Mushroom?
A
For us, the most eye-opening part of this is how excited people are about it. The majority of our guests are in the art, design or food world. And I don’t think there are enough spaces in San Francisco that bring creatives together. Our main goal is to make San Francisco an exciting and vibrant place. We can reminisce about its heyday, but ultimately, it is what you make it. We have big plans and a lot of ideas about the future.