Lunch Box, a semi-frequent pop-up burger grill at Henhouse Brewing, Shady Oak and Bacchus Landing, has taken over the former East West Cafe spot in Sebastopol as a brick-and-mortar home.
Owner Derek Harn has been renovating the space over the last few weeks with plans for about 50 seats, including a chef’s counter with five bar seats facing the open kitchen. The menu will feature locally sourced ingredients, craft burgers, sandwiches, fries and salads. They’ll also prepare much of their own food in-house including bacon, special sauce and French fries and will cure their own pastrami and grind their own meat.
Lunch Box burgers are the kind of messy, smushy, everything-good-about-beef burgers paired with “dirty fries,” a pile of crispy fries, chevre ranch dressing, bacon, green onion, roasted garlic and pepperoncini. You’ll need a handful of napkins and a stout appetite.
Lunch Box had planned to be part of the forthcoming Livery on Main food hall but the owners decided to open the larger space instead. No word yet on an opening date, but you can follow their progress at lunchboxsonomacounty.com.
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Speaking of pop-ups: Sangsan, a pop-up from chefs Ploypailin “Ploy” Sakornsin and Jeremy Kuo (both alums of the Michelin-starred SingleThread), is Thai and Korean cuisine like you’ve never tried.
After hosting dinners at Lioco winery and special take-out dinners at Quail & Condor, now they’re dishing up shrimp patties with plum sauce, rich shrimp and pork peanut sauce with rice cakes, grilled turmeric chicken thighs with tamarind sauce and a sweet-sour cold Thai pork salad on Saturday and Sunday nights at the Miracle Plum Kitchen in Santa Rosa (the menu changes and you need to order ahead, to get a pick-up time).
On Tuesdays through May 24, find them at Lo & Behold in Healdsburg, 214 Healdsburg Ave. Find details and ordering info at sangsanhealdsburg.com.