Pop-Up Farm & Local Chefs Bring Possibilities to Vacant Diner in Lower East Side
New York, NY (PRWEB) April 16, 2014 -- This past weekend, Made in the Lower East Side (miLES) unlocked the vacant restaurant space at 399 Grand Street for City-Hydroponics, a firm specializing in the development of Controlled Environment Agriculture (CEA) facilities, to install a pop-up urban farm behind the deli counter. Starting Thursday, April 17th, LES restaurateur, Alex Mitow, will cook up 4 nights of back-to-back dinner parties, incorporating herbs and greens grown in house as well as performance art.
WHAT: Pop-up Farm x Vacant Diner x Local Chefs
WHERE: The vacant space at 399 Grand Street (previously Noah’s Ark)
WHEN: Open to the community April 15-28 | Alex’s All-American Diner Dinners April 17-21
For it’s final month of vacancy before a new lease and new tenant, the vacant space at 399 Grand Street, previously Noah’s Ark, will be transformed into a pop-up farm, pop-up restaurant, community space, educational field-trip destination, and dinner party salon.
“The concept is to utilize currently vacant storefronts to grow fresh herbs or other ingredients for rotating local chefs to test new recipes. Not only is it a chance to showcase the state-of-the-art hydroponics system developed by City Hydroponics, it gives a chance for local chefs to create something out of the box, hyper-local, and fun!”, said miLES founder, Eric Ho.
City Hydroponics’ Vertically Oriented Hydroponics System (VOHS) was developed in response to the need for increased crop production capacity closer to consumer populations.The system is capable of growing between 300- 3,000 mature plants in less than twenty- five square feet of growing area. Two units are now installed at 399 Grand St., bringing hyperlocal sourcing to the next level; growing ingredients just feet from the kitchen.
Alex Mitow, owner of the local Los Perros Locos, is bringing to life Alex’s All American Diner. Over the course of 4 nights, and 4 dinners, he will be experimenting with new ideas, including a Disco Diner dinner and a night of S&M (Spaghetti & Meatballs, with a twist).
Not only will this pop-up bring growth and greens to life indoors, serve as a kitchen and a dining salon, but also it will satiate an appetite for learning. The Education Alliance will be bringing preschool students in for classes with the City-Hydroponics. Beyond that, the miLES team, the orchestrators of the activation and partnerships, invites the public to come explore the glowing hydroponic pop-up farm on weekdays, 10AM-2PM, now through April 28th.
399 Grand Street is part of the Seward Park Cooperative. It is with their commitment to the community and cooperation that miLES was able to get the go-ahead for the activation.
This pop-up farm x vacant diner activation is occurring in tandem with miLES Spring Storefront Transformer pop-ups, at 37 E 1st Street, and the two city debut of miLES latest, and most micro, retail innovation: the minipop. More info on the Storefront Transformer Spring pop-ups can be found http://www.storefronttransformer.com. More info on the minipop can be found at http://www.strikingly.com/minipop.
About miLES: made in the Lower East Side
miLES open storefronts to possibilities by creating short-term, multi-use spaces as community hubs. Think airbnb for storefronts with a community incubator twist. miLES lowers the entry barrier for entrepreneurs, and local communities to use storefront spaces, while providing an additional revenue stream for space hosts.
miLES latest initiative, "Storefront Transformer", is a set of pop-up toolkits designed to make the conversion of space as easy and seamless as possible.
http://storefronttransformer.com/about-sftf/
Interviews and more information available upon request.
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Eric Ho, Made in the Lower East Side, http://madeinles.org, +1 5514827795, [email protected]
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