Say Hello to JP Beer Garden, Popping Up at Vee Vee Before Becoming a Restaurant

Owen Royce-Nagel and Lizzie Szczepaniak quickly became friends with Daren Palacios while all were part of the opening crew at Row 34 (they shared a mutual love of "sausage, beer, vinyl, and their dogs," according to a press release.) Now, the trio is working towards opening JP Beer Garden, a concept that will pop up three times at Vee Vee in Jamaica Plain this month — and eventually open as a restaurant. Married duo Royce-Nagel and Szczepaniak are still at Row 34, and they've also worked at Craigie on Main, The Publican in Chicago, and beyond. Palacios, a jm Curley alum, is now at Lincoln Tavern.

The first pop-up will take place this coming Monday, September 8, featuring duck dishes from Palacios, while the second and third events (Monday, September 15 and Monday, September 29) will be focused on what Royce-Nagel wants to serve at the future brick-and-mortar ("cuisine of Alsace and points east"). Also, there will be sausage trivia. Szczepaniak will do beer and wine pairings for each dinner.

Royce-Nagel and Szczepaniak lived in Alsace together at the beginning of their relationship, according to the JP Beer Garden website, and they "immediately knew they wanted to open a restaurant together reflecting their travels and love for French-German cuisine and culture." Szczepaniak tells Eater that the duo has been planning this for the past five years and hopes to find a space in Jamaica Plain that has "a big outdoor area for a proper beer garden." The goal is to open at some point in 2015, and she says that there will be a Kickstarter campaign eventually.

In the meantime, dine on dishes like duck nuggets with duck-fat fries; crudo (Boston mackerel, speck, beets, pepitas); and choucroute (boudin blanc, pork belly, pork loin, sauerkraut) at the upcoming pop-ups, and keep an eye peeled for future events.
· JP Beer Garden [Official Site]
· @jpbeergarden [Twitter]