Flavor Lounge: A Nibble Pop-Up Global Dining Series

PA’s Lounge Partnership in Union Square

The Somerville Arts Council is teaming up with PA’s Lounge to offer you yet another reason to hit Union Square each Saturday in June: Flavor Lounge: A global pop-up dining experience. Each Saturday, a Nibble culinary entrepreneur will be cooking up homemade dishes from different cuisines that they’ve been developing in our Nibble Culinary Entrepreneurship Program. PA’s lounge is only a stone’s throw away from the Union Square Farmers Market, so pack up the rhubarb and purple potatoes and join us for food you won’t find anywhere else. And support our entrepreneurs as they develop their business models and test menus. Vegetarian options will be available as well!

Four Saturdays. Four Flavors

• June 4th: Las Carolinas of “Carolicious” present: “Arepada” a build your own Venezuelan
• June 11th: Kulinarya owner and Nibble cooking class instructor Ellie Tiglao serves up a Filipino BBQ
• June 18th: Monica Sepulveda serves up Colombian empanadas with her signature aji sauce
• June 25th: Nimco Mahamud-Hassan puts together a homemade Somali Shawarma with creamy cilantro and garlic sauce

Where: 345 Somerville Ave, Union Square, Somerville

When: From 12p.m. to 2p.m. or until food runs out

Cost: Menus items will vary, but will generally be between $10-$15 per person. Tickets can be purchased at PA’s Lounge day of. A limited amount of tickets will be available for purchase ahead of time.

For more details: visit www.somervilleartscouncil.org And see our blog: www.somervilleartscouncil.org/nibble

Saturday, June 4th: Venezuelan Arepada! Join the Somerville Arts Council for the first installment of Flavor Lounge: A Global Pop-up Dining Series. Carolina Salinas and Carolina Garcia together make up “Carolicious”, a catering initiative currently in the Nibble Entrepreneurship program. For their breakout Pop-up, Carolicious will be serving up a plate of Venezuela’s most talked about food item: Arepas. Homemade with masa corn flour, Arepas are corn pockets stuffed with savory fillings—Venezuelan style meat, tuna, cheese, and eggplant—and easily make a full and satisfying meal. Diners will be invited to customize their Arepas by adding any of four sauces: garlic, basil, spicy, or cilantro. All of this will be prepared with the classic touch of Carolicious, unique flavors from traditional Venezuelan recipes. Don’t miss this one!

June 11th: Filipino BBQ Kulinarya chef and co-owner Ellie Tiglao has been popping up throughout the Boston Area since 2014. In her second collaboration with the SAC’s Nibble program, Ellie brings us a classic Filipino plate that will change the way you think about BBQ. Brace yourself for charcoal grilled Inasal; chicken or portobello mushroom and tofu options. Marinated with garlic, ginger, lemongrass, and coconut vinegar, many restaurant chains in Manila and the Philippines have grown their empires from this one dish. Keeping with tradition, we’ll be serving it up with rice lightly tossed with crispy fried garlic and a refreshing tomato and mango salad. If the feeling strikes (it will), add on a soft boiled egg to soak into your garlic rice, and slices of creamy avocado for a Filipino culinary experience right in Union Square. After you’ve picked up your Farmers Market goodies, we have your summer lunch ready to go. See you there!

June 18th: Colombian Empanadas SAC is jumpstarting the official start to summer by three days with this sizzling South American empanada lunch extravaganza. You’ll be sure to gobble up Monica Sepulveda’s Colombian empanadas before anyone can say ¡Buen provecho! You may remember Monica’s empanadas from our 2015 Ignite festival where she sold out over 500 of these savory pastry hand pies in less than 4 hours. Will you make it before time runs out? We hope so. For vegetarian diners Monica will serve a veggie and cheese option, while adventurous carnivores will likely opt for lengua—a Colombian specialty. No empanada is complete without the homemade aji sauce - a garlicky, vinegar-based sauce that soaks into your savory pockets for the perfect bite each time. Add a cool potato salad tossed with an herb vinaigrette to keep it light and satisfying. Don’t miss this tasty installment of Flavor lounge!

June 25th: Somali Shawarma Summer time means shawarma time! A veteran Nibble cooking class instructor, Nimco’s Somalian shawarma reflects her simple food philosophy: Simply prepared food with fresh ingredients. Yet this doesn’t quite convey the exquisite flavor of her shawarma—served up with home-made pita bread and slathered in a creamy garlic and coriander sauce that could make a shoe taste good, we guarantee you have never tasted shawarma this good. Fire grilled chicken is served up with a fresh addition of crunchy salad for texture. And for the vegetarians, another ringer from her repertoire, fire grilled eggplant and smoked yogurt sauce. Like the rest of these pop-ups, it’s a one shot deal that won’t last long. See you at Flavor lounge!

What is Nibble?
Nibble is A Somerville Arts Council culinary Initiative that supports the city’s rich immigrant communities and celebrates cultural exchange by offering dynamic cross-cultural programming for the public in the form of cooking classes, festivals and tours. Since launching the Nibble Entrepreneurship Program (NEP) program in 2014, Nibble is also a workforce development initiative, enabling immigrant entrepreneurs to explore culinary careers and derive income through selling food at festivals, pop-up restaurants and teaching cooking classes. NEP empowers members of our local immigrant communities to explore what it entails to launch a culinary career, and offer them the opportunity to test food business ideas.

We are currently working with 8 entrepreneurs who hail from countries including Venezuela, India, Mexico, Colombia, Somalia and Brazil. NEP offers an ongoing series of business workshops taught by industry professionals on subjects ranging from permitting and promotion to developing business plans and financial resources. This Flavor Lounge pop-up series offers the public an opportunity to support the delicious culinary creations of our NEP participants and provide real-life business experiences.

For more information: visit blog: www.somervilleartscouncil.org/nibble