A Verjus chef is making waves beyond his Jackson Square day job, turning heads across the Bay Area with a pop-up that's quickly becoming the industry's worst-kept secret. Walker Stern, who relocated from New York last year to helm the kitchen at the relaunched Verjus wine bar, has teamed up with his partner Devon Nevola to launch Here Before—a roving dining experience that's capturing attention at natural wine venues from San Francisco to Berkeley.
The pop-up's name carries weight for those who know Stern's resume. Before landing in San Francisco, he co-owned Battersby in Brooklyn's Cobble Hill neighborhood with fellow chef Joe Ogrodnek, earning acclaim that landed the restaurant on Bon Appétit's 10 best new restaurants list within its first year and culminated in a cookbook. According to Eater SF, the pair also helped launch Le Rock at Rockefeller Center in 2022, where Stern served as executive chef for the French brasserie.
"The reason it's called Here Before is we've been here before with this same collaboration, and we're exploring [whether] we want to do this out on the West Coast now," Nevola explained in the Eater interview. The couple, who've worked together for 16 years, brings a distinctly New York sensibility to Bay Area pop-up culture—complete with real plates, silverware, and the occasional "drop line" explaining each dish as it's served.
Testing Waters in Wine Country
Here Before has been making the rounds at some of the region's most beloved natural wine destinations. The pop-up has appeared at Millay, the Castro neighborhood's moody wine and sake bar that transformed from the former Fig & Thistle Market, and today returns to Broc Cellars in Berkeley for an afternoon event they're calling "La Grillade." According to Eater SF, the Broc Cellars menu features grilled dishes including chicken à la diable made with Fogline Farms chickens, alongside seasonal vegetables like pimientos de padron.
Stern's approach to pop-ups mirrors his restaurant background: typically two smaller bites, a couple of vegetable dishes, a hot fish or meat dish, and dessert. His base influence leans French with Spanish touches, but as he told Eater, dishes ultimately evolve based on "the best products we can get ahold of and feature." That means menus that shift with seasonal California produce—a far cry from the consistency demanded in brick-and-mortar establishments.
Workshopping the West Coast Menu
One dish that's become a Here Before staple is Stern's tortilla de patatas, the classic Spanish potato omelet he's been refining with input from Bay Area colleagues. As Eater SF reported, he's even consulted with chef Ryan Bartlow of Ernesto's and Bartolo, calling him "kind of like the tortilla master." For today's Berkeley appearance, he's pairing the dish with marinated chanterelle mushrooms, part of a menu that also includes marinated anchovies and Basque cheesecake.
The pop-up format lets diners go all-in on the full menu or pick and choose for "heavy snacking," as Stern puts it. It's a flexibility that seems to resonate with Bay Area diners who, according to Nevola, are notably supportive of the pop-up scene. "Experiencing San Francisco is so amazing; it's supportive of pop-ups, and it's such a great way to get a taste of what people are into and also to be creative," she said.
The Bay Area Pop-Up Advantage
Stern and Nevola's timing couldn't be better. The Bay Area's restaurant scene has increasingly embraced pop-ups as testing grounds for permanent concepts—from Jules Pizza's successful transition from roving operation to brick-and-mortar in the Lower Haight, to Pacifico's journey from pop-up to residency at SFJAZZ Center's B-Side. According to a recent San Francisco Chronicle roundup, pop-ups have become an established pathway for chefs looking to build buzz before committing to permanent spaces.
For now, the couple isn't quite ready to open a full restaurant. "This is just a way to explore a little bit more," Stern told Eater SF. "It just seemed like something that people were doing and could be a fun thing. It's meant to be a fun thing for us, more than a job." That experimental spirit is evident in their approach—bringing restaurant-quality execution to casual settings, testing dishes with industry insiders, and building a following one pop-up at a time.
"We really enjoy food and the community of restaurants," Nevola said. "We've been together for 16 years, and we are trying to bring people the food and the experience that we like to have when we go out—it's just that simple."
