Pop Up Soda Shoppe transports dessert-lovers to 1950s
Swallow Tail Culinary Group, a Vancouver-based food and wine event organizer, is hosting a pop-up dessert festival that will transport diners back to the 1950s. The Pop Up Soda Shoppe takes place on August 30 and attendees and choose between two seating times: from 7 to 9 p.m. or 9 to 11 p.m.
The event will feature a number of local pastry chefs, chocolatiers, ice-cream makers, and confectioners. Cartems Donuterie will be serving its popular Maker’s Mark bourbon-bacon doughnuts and earl grey tea doughnuts, while Earnest Ice Cream will be scooping alcohol-infused ice-cream. Beta 5 Chocolatiers will also be in attendance, as will pastry chef Geoff Van Hassel from Che Baba restaurant, who will be making macarons. The Pop Up Shoppe will also feature alcoholic botanical sodas and milkshakes by Shawn Soole, who is bar manager at Clive’s Classic Lounge in Victoria.
The event will be held at a secret location that is revealed once tickets have been purchased. Attendees are encouraged to dress in 1950’s chic—poodle skirts, fedoras, bow ties, and suspenders.
You can follow Michelle da Silva on Twitter at twitter.com/michdas.
Comments
3 Comments
Indra
Aug 31, 2012 at 7:15am
This was a real disappointment!! All the email and press indicated that it was going to be a culinary taste-test, with words like "seating" and "tasters" or "sample" used in all the secret emails, it ended up feeling as though it was being billed as something it was not. Everyone I and my boyfriend talked to had expected there to be a sort of tasting that would maybe entice us to buy larger plates, or something. We thought part of the reason for the mystery was intentional, when really it was just bad planning.
I and a great many others felt duped. You paid 15 bux, or whatever, and then you arrived and there were no tasters, nothing was (initially) free. You stood in a super long line to pay for some of the mediocre to awful refreshments. How on earth can the famous donuts be mediocre? By being small and cold. How can booze be awful? By being completely unpalatable, and 10-12 bux to boot. The chocolate shake drink was so awful people were just abandoning the over-priced, poorly-conceived "cocktail". Even the vendors seemed taken by surprise that everyone expected freebies, and when they finally realized (or were they finally informed????) there was a sad sort of feedng frenzy from folks. Then, once the organizers realized they had misinformed and upset a great many people, in the first seating, things changed a bit. And the saki shooters they were initially charging 2 bux for, became free. I hear they were giving other folks free booze to calm them down, and that they were blaming an intern for misinforming the public! Having once been an intern, I felt sorry for the person who was going to take the fall for an integral set of emails that should have been overseen by organizers.
Will I ever try to go to one of these events again? It would very much depend on the event and certainty that it was actually what it seemed.
L.J
Sep 3, 2012 at 5:49pm
It was very disappointing when my friend and I walked into the Ridge Theatre expecting samples of desserts. Instead, we had long line ups to wait in and by the time we got inside, every food and drink item had a price tag on it. I was very confused and so was everyone else since the invite indicated samples of desserts and if we wanted to purchase the desserts to take home, it was cash only. Everyone around us also pulled out their phones to check the invite trying to figure out where it said that they had to pay for their desserts. We left after 10 minutes since we were not paying for anything. We didn’t even get the free dessert which was a palette cleanser.
I would think twice about going to any events from this host. This was $30 wasted on just an entry fee for 2 people with nothing to eat. I expected something like Eat Vancouver where you paid an admission fee to get into the event and there was lots of samples to taste inside. If you wanted a bigger dish of what you sampled, you would pay for it with either cash or tickets.
Since the second seating got samples, the first seating should have some compensation.
Swallow Tail
Sep 7, 2012 at 4:04pm
Organizers Response:
Hi Indra & L.J.
The miscommunication with words like "sample" & "tasters" being sent out is indeed our fault. Mine specifically. I should have insisted that our intern submit the email for me to personally review before allowing them to be sent.
Please know that we are not a group of swindlers trying to scam you out of your money. We do these events because we're inspired by food and want to create something special.
In our defence, here's a direct quote from the same email that caused the misunderstanding:
---- ---- ----
"All the vendors will be selling bite-sized versions of some of their famous desserts! They'll also be selling versions you can buy and take home with you. A free dessert taster (think of it as a palate cleanser) is included with your ticket."
---- ---- ----
Sounds like the drink you weren't happy with was the Chocolate Chartreuse Milkshake. I can sympathize…this is a hate it or love it drink.
It might interest you to know that our bartender was nominated international bartender of the year, so though your palate may not be tuned to the intense herbal flavours of Chartreuse, many people really enjoy this drink. Good for you for trying something new though! I'd advise you to steer clear of anything labelled "digestif" in the future.
The feeding frenzy you mentioned is precisely the reason why vendors are hesitant to give free samples. Please try to understand that these people were selling items for mostly between $1-3 just to be able to break even. They did not come with hopes of making a pile of money off you. They wanted to present you with a mini (low cost) version of what you can find in their stores/restaurants.
I can see though that you were not satisfied with this event. Please contact me directly at matt@swallowtail.ca so we can make it right with you.
Matt Guterres
Swallow Tail