Latinos In America

By JAVIER ESPINOZA

The German musician talks to The Wall Street Journal Europe about how he starts his weekend.

Mouse on Mars’s Jan St. Werner is a veteran in the electronic-music world. For nearly two decades, the 42-year-old, alongside bandmate Andi Toma, has been experimenting with an eclectic mix of sounds that have become popular with the club- and dance-music scenes.

Earlier this year, the duo produced their 10th studio album, “Parastrophics,” whose persuasive and exuberant sounds “are completely different from what we already had,” explains Mr. Werner from his home in Berlin. “For us, making records is not a routine,” he adds. “There was a point when we were not sure if we wanted to make another album the way we have done it in the past. We thought there are so many new possibilities of producing and releasing new music.”

In the end, the duo opted for the classic format of a record instead of a digital release. “Then we realized there would be so much material that it made sense to produce it on a long player,” he says. “We made new tracks and used old tracks, and arranged them in new ways. We wanted to make quite an intense album.”

That intensity doesn’t stop with music. It also transfers to Mr. St. Werner’s passion for food. “I am a big fan of olive oil, fresh vegetables and good food and spices,” he says. “[Andi and I] always look for [good food] when we travel. We go to markets and look for the spices and the smells. I think this is a really important part of our life.”

Do you have any favorite local restaurants for a Friday night?

I like Café Moskau, which is a little canteen outside of our recording studio [Funkhaus Berlin Nalepastrasse]. This is in a quiet area outside Berlin with not much around. It is run by a very nice Russian. I enjoy every dish the cook prepares. She makes new creations every day, with interpretations of soljanka, beef steak, goulash, pelmeni, kraut dishes with buckwheat or mashed or baked potatoes.

Do you like to cook as well?

Yes, very much. I love to cook all kinds of things with beetroot, because it is my favorite vegetable…. I really like salad with pumpkin seed and red pepper. If you fry the pumpkin seed in the pan, they start popping. You add red pepper and it gives you this amazing smell. It’s like perfume.

How do you spend Saturday?

[My family and I] usually go to parks because there is so much green in Berlin. I have to go out because I have a daughter. She is 6 years old and she just wants to play around and do stuff outside, so we just stroll around. In Berlin, you can find so many things on the street: musicians or magicians. I really like Mauerpark, which has a huge flea market. There are bands and an English magician called King Richard, who always makes quite cool tricks.

Are there other spots you visit?

There is a park in Mitte called Monbijou, with a little pool for kids. You can lie in the grass and you are really in the center of town. You are where the S-Bahn is. You can see the trains go by and then behind that, there are two museums. They are very beautiful buildings. So if you are in the middle of the park, your kid is having a swim in the pool and you just look up at this kind of collage of the city. It is a really crazy image. It is a mix of everything in a very tiny place.

Where else do you like to go?

I also like to hang out in the area of Wedding. I go and see my friends at a sculpture gallery in Berlin, who make sculptures for visual artists only. They can produce something really small or something really big. They have a warehouse space and there is also a canteen where they have really good food. That’s a place where

I really like to go. I go alone, or with my daughter and my wife.

It’s like a family place. And sometimes we do parties there.

Do you listen to music when you aren’t working?

I have a very ambiguous relationship with music. On one end, it is something I simply enjoy. On the other hand, I have a very analytical view on music, so if I hear, I hear musically. I very much enjoy not having any music; I enjoy the street noise. Near my house, there is a big monastery and I love when the church bells are ringing. I just like to listen to sounds. To me, it makes perfect music. On the other hand, I understand this is not music. I just make a random composition from that. I do it wherever I go.

—Mr. St. Werner was speaking with Javier Espinoza.

Write to Javier Espinoza at javier.espinoza@wsj.com

By KATY MCLAUGHLIN

The owners of Wise Sons Jewish Delicatessen started their business with a dream: to bring traditional Jewish foods such as hand-sliced pastrami and house-smoked trout, to San Francisco.

But the economics of opening a location—costs can range between $300,000 and $500,000 for a 1,500-square-foot space with a liquor license in San Francisco—pushed the young restaurateurs to launch with a more temporary approach: the pop-up.

Until recently, Jewish deli food was hard to come by in San Francisco’s foodie scene. But after launching a pop-up restaurant to test the concept, brand, and audience, Wise Sons deli won the confidence of investors and gained the experience it needed to open a permanent location.

Pop-up restaurants—temporary eateries that set up shop for a few days, weeks or months in spaces such as hotel lobbies or other restaurants that close for the night—are morphing into a multipurpose tool, used by different strata of the restaurant industry to test concepts, market new brands, engage with a younger audience, or prove to landlords, lenders and investors that they are worth the risk.

Since first appearing in London in the mid-2000s, when a handful of restaurateurs began staging culinary “happenings,” pop-ups have become so integral to the high-end restaurant scene that there are now pop-up production companies that help chefs and companies stage events and restaurant spaces that serve as homes to a continually shifting schedule of pop-ups.

As the $372 billion restaurant industry emerges from the recession—which saw inflation-adjusted sales shrink slightly in both 2009 and 2010, and stay flat last year—sales are growing modestly, at about 0.5% per year today, according to market analyst Technomic. There is no official count of how many pop-ups have taken place nor a gauge of how they are affecting the industry, but, like that other recession-era restaurant fad, the food truck, they are an increasingly popular and low-capital tactic.

Leo Beckerman and Evan Bloom, the founders of Wise Sons, believed they had lit upon a gap in the market for classic Jewish deli food and began practicing making smoked pastrami and rye bread at home. Neither had experience in the restaurant business.

“The Bay Area has tons of great food, but there was nowhere to get a great pastrami sandwich,” said Mr. Beckerman, who two years ago was an executive at a nonprofit. Mr. Bloom is a former construction manager.

Then, in January of 2011, the partners jumped at a chance to start a pop-up on Saturday mornings in a cafe that was being used by a food-truck business only for its bathrooms, Mr. Beckerman said.

Start up costs: About $2,000 to $2,500 a week, which covered rental space in a commissary kitchen, ingredients, and liability insurance, and was equivalent to what the partners, who worked without pay, earned during each service.

The Wise Sons pop-up soon began gathering crowds and garnering attention in the local press. In late February, just over a year since starting the pop-up, which still operates once a week, the partners opened a fixed location in the city’s Mission District.

The pop-up was “trial by fire,” but well worth it, Mr. Beckerman said. “We got to test our ideas and get the word out and prove our capabilities,” he said. “It’s doubtful any of this would have happened without the pop-up.”

Pop-ups also appeal to established restaurateurs such as Bill Chait, managing partner of Sprout LA, which operates six Los Angeles restaurants. Mr. Chait became a pop-up impresario in August 2010, when he closed a poorly performing restaurant for a few months while developing a replacement concept. Meantime, Mr. Chait rebranded the space “The Test Kitchen” and hosted a series of pop-ups with some of the city’s top chefs.

When his new restaurant was ready a few months later, the Test Kitchen closed. But Mr. Chait has continued staging “mini Test Kitchen events,” he said, in his existing restaurants. In October, in a space that will be used for a new restaurant, Mr. Chait plans to relaunch the Test Kitchen for a month.

Pop-ups are an ideal way to reach a younger audience, he said. For Mr. Chait, who was already paying for the location and some of the staff salaries, input costs were minimal, and he made a margin of about 20% on each event, he said.

“The circle of people we have in this universe, it’s our target market. It’s social-media driven and younger,” Mr. Chait said. A mailing list of more than 4,000 names accrued through the pop-ups “are big diners at our restaurants” now, Mr. Chait said.

For Alan Philips, the pop-up is more of a stage than a kitchen. Mr. Philips, principal of Guerrilla Culinary Group in New York, staged his first pop-up in April 2010. Today, he produces events that promote restaurant groups including Todd English Enterprises and Le Cirque, with sponsorship from brands including Argentine clothing company Etiqueta Negra and Grey Goose Vodka.

Mr. Philips said a three-to-four-night pop-up in Manhattan typically costs $30,000 to $50,000 up front to produce. To keep the location budget down, he may offer a hotel or existing restaurant a percentage of bar sales.He searches for liquor companies to provide the booze, and trades other sponsorships for publicity. He also hires public relations firms to make sure the event is announced on blogs and in local papers.

“You have to presell it on buzz,” Mr. Philips said.

John Fraser, chef at Dovetail in Manhattan, opened a pop-up called What Happens When in February last year, where he and his team tried three culinary concepts. Mr. Fraser said the team exhausted itself and only broke even with the four-month long pop-up, but he learned a lifetime of lessons

He learned, for example, than when tables for two are set with small votive candles, “it makes you want to lean in and talk softly,” he said. With long candles, “you tend to lean back and you project your voice more,” he added. Such insight might have taken Mr. Fraser, 36, decades to garner, he said; instead, the pop-up condensed the lessons into a kind of “boot camp.”

Increasingly, big brands want some of the shimmer. New York’s venerable Le Cirque, owned by the Maccioni family, which has eight restaurants in New York, Las Vegas, Dominican Republic and New Delhi, did a pop-up late last summer, produced by Mr. Philips, in a hotel on the city’s Lower East Side.

In a play on the location, the event was called “L.E.S. Cirque,” and took place in the penthouse of the Hotel on Rivington. Grey Goose was a sponsor, so vodka cocktails were flagged on the menu. In a display of trend-consciousness, each night focused on an ingredient in season locally: Menus were built around watermelon, heirloom tomatoes, lobster and sweet corn.

The event was so successful as a marketing tool, Le Cirque expanded its commitment to pop-ups.

In March, Le Cirque will stage a series of pop-ups in country clubs in nine cities, including Houston, Chicago, Atlanta and Los Angeles. For $150, diners will eat the restaurants signature dishes, hobnob with members of the Maccioni family and receive a copy of an autobiography by patriarch Sirio Maccioni.

The pop-ups could eventually lead to “ventures across the country,” said co-owner Marco Maccioni. “It’s a way to get to know those markets,” he said.

Write to Katy McLaughlin at katy.mclaughlin@wsj.com

Candace Jackson on The News Hub looks at three homes: Tori Spelling and Dean McDermott have listed their Malibu home for $2.7 million; Brook Byers and his wife, Shawn, have sold their San Francisco home for $10 million; and a 1,271-acre ranch in Colorado is on the market for $23.9 million.

Actors Tori Spelling and Dean McDermott have listed their Malibu, Calif., home for $2.7 million.

The couple purchased the home in September 2011 for $2.4 million, according to public records. The home is on 1.8 acres in the Point Dume section of Malibu, and includes access to a private, gated beach. The 2,400-square-foot home has three bedrooms and 2½ bathrooms. Before moving in, Ms. Spelling and Mr. Dean made roughly $100,000 worth of upgrades, including adding organic gardens, a chicken coop, new kitchen appliances and 100-year-old French oak wood floors. They also built a miniature horse corral. The property has views of the canyon below, and also includes a one-bedroom mobile home on site that can be used as staff quarters.

The couple, along with their children, star in their own reality show, “Tori & Dean: Home Sweet Hollywood.” Listing broker Madison Hildebrand of Coldwell Banker Previews International in Malibu says the couple decided to sell because they recently found out Ms. Spelling is expecting a fourth child and the home is too small. “They moved in with every intention of staying,” says Mr. Hildebrand.

Ms. Spelling rose to fame in the early 1990s for her role as Donna Martin on the TV series “Beverly Hills, 90210,” and is the daughter of the late television producer Aaron Spelling and his widow, Candy. Last summer Candy Spelling sold the 57,000-square-foot mansion in which the younger Ms. Spelling was raised for $85 million.

Colorado Ranch Goes on the Market Asking $23.9 Million

Western Disposal Services owner Dan Souders and his wife put their 1,271-acre ranch in northwestern Colorado on the market for $23.9 million.

Bordered by the Elk River, the property includes a 5-acre private lake and a stream for sight fishing. Located about 12 miles north of Steamboat Springs, the ranch also includes a 7,575-square-foot main house as well as seven other residences. There’s also an indoor equestrian center, outdoor riding rings, a horse barn and a cattle barn.

Mr. Souders, 68, and his wife bought the property about 16 years ago for $10 million. They put part of the ranch on the market in the past but have now decided to sell it in its entirety. “We’d like to spend time some place a little warmer,” says Mr. Souders. Jeffrey Buerger of Hall & Hall has the listing.

Brook Byers’s San Francisco Home Sells for $10 Million

Brook Byers and his wife, Shawn, have sold their San Francisco home for $10 million to Andrew Spokes, a principal and senior managing member at Farallon Capital Management, a San Francisco hedge fund.

Mr. Byers, a partner at Silicon Valley venture capital firm Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers, bought the Presidio Heights home in 1985 for $1.5 million. He and his wife began quietly shopping the home last year for $15 million, but dropped the price by 20% in December.

The 9,300-square-foot Georgian-style home dates back to 1910, when it was designed as a wedding gift to a daughter of the Coors beer family. With eight bedrooms, it also has a master suite with views of the Golden Gate Bridge.

Lisa Wolfe and Susan McBride of TRI Coldwell Banker represented Mr. Byers in the sale.

—Candace Jackson and Lauren A. E. Schuker—Email: privateproperties@wsj.com

A version of this article appeared April 13, 2012, on page D8 in some U.S. editions of The Wall Street Journal, with the headline: Private Properties.

CULVER CITY, Calif.

$885,000

A roughly 1,800-square-foot apartment with two bedrooms and two baths, downtown

DETAILS: This contemporary condominium unit has an open-plan kitchen-and-living area and a covered terrace. The fourth-floor apartment is part of a 2009 mixed-use building that has 18 units and a gym.

FOODIE ALERT: Less than a half-mile away is critics’ favorite Fraiche, with its rustic French and Italian fare. Also nearby: restaurant supply store Surfas, which offers cookware and gourmet food—including more than 60 olive and other oils—and gastropubs Ford’s Filling Station and Father’s Office, which offers a $12 burger with dry-aged beef, caramelized onion and gruyère.

FRIDAY’S FORECAST: Sunny, high 80 degrees

SOURCE:
Tami Pardee, Pardee Properties, 310-907-6517, tami@pardeeproperties.com

AUSTIN, Texas

$999,000

A 4,100-square-foot home with six bedrooms and four baths, on 0.38 acre in a gated neighborhood in Westlake Hills

DETAILS: This two-story, Mediterranean-style home was built in 1997 and renovated in 2007. It has 24-foot ceilings in the great room, some vaulted ceilings and two bedrooms on the first floor. There are also several fireplaces, a pool and a putting green.

FOODIE ALERT: Uchi, a nationally recognized sushi restaurant, is six miles away. (The “pitchfork” roll comes with Wagyu beef, avocado and leek crisps.) Other notable restaurants include Olivia, where an entrée of lamb liver and onions costs $15, and Garrido’s, where Tex-Mex goes upscale.

FRIDAY’S FORECAST: Partly cloudy, high 95 degrees

SOURCE:
Cord Shiflet, Moreland Properties, 512-751-2673, cord@moreland.com; Realtor.com

NEW YORK

$945,000

An 1,100-square-foot penthouse apartment with two bedrooms and two bathrooms, in the West Village

DETAILS: This cooperative unit is in a 1961 doorman building with a roof deck. The 17th-floor apartment has exposures on three sides.

FOODIE ALERT: Babbo, Mario Batali’s restaurant, is less than seven blocks away. The pasta tasting menu costs $69 without wine. The original location of Joe the Art of Coffee is nearby, as is Blue Hill, which the Obamas made their date-night pick a year ago. An entrée of Hudson Valley chicken with shiitake mushrooms and spinach runs $32.

FRIDAY’S FORECAST: Partly cloudy, high 83 degrees

SOURCE:
Joanne Greene, Brown Harris Stevens, a Christie’s Great Estates affiliate, 212-906-9341, jgreene@bhsusa.com

— Juliet Chung