Pop-up Restaurants: Emma at Halyards

Emma, the vegan personal chef of Emma Eats Plants, does an all-vegan pop-up at Brooklyn’s Halyards Bar in Gowanus on Thursdays. (That sounds like some kind of mnemonic.) The weekly menu incorporates her Cuban roots and dedication to fresh, lively veganism. Thanks, Emma.

Halyards is a classy joint, dark and lovely. It was a bit difficult to read the menu, which are placed about the tables. The selection this week: a vegetable lasagna, roasted potato chunks in a creamy red pepper sauce; an almond butter, chocolate and coconut pressed sandwich dusted with cinnamon sugar; and a kale and chickpea corn taco with sunflower seed sauce. What would accompany my Old Fashioned with its potent house-soaked cherries?

The corn taco was scrumptious. Several bites of fresh flavor, very well balanced. It needed a bit of color, however. This I only realized after the flash lit it up. It tasted better than the picture shows.

The red pepper topped potatoes took a bit longer to arrive. Given the restrictions of pop-up dining I understand their being cold. I really enjoyed the red pepper cream on its own but it didn’t mesh well with the potatoes. They pulled my mouth in opposite directions.

I would definitely hit Halyards up again on a Thursday to check out another menu. And maybe I’s stay for the trivia which started up as we were leaving… or bring some records to play as their “juke box” is a record player.