If you missed the fried rice with pungent shrimp paste at Shophouse Seattle on Monday night, well, too bad. The down-home Thai joint has already shut its doors.
Shophouse creator Wiley Frank spends most nights as sous chef at an upscale restaurant called Lark. But once a week, Frank and his wife transform a nearby bar called Licorous into a short-lived eatery dedicated to simple, authentic Thai street food.
His venture is just one permutation of an emerging class of restaurants called pop-ups, in which chefs set up temporary shop in breakfast spots, art galleries, financially troubled eateries and places that don’t normally serve food. Then, after a day, a week or a month, they shut it down.