A Pop-up Look Ahead at Chez Noir in Carmel

February 8, 2022 – The inspired interplay of wood-fired shellfish, forest-fresh mushrooms and small-farm produce proved so intuitive they almost defied description. 

But we had to try: For two seafood-loving writers presented with a playground of oceanic flavor, putting words to wonder is a default setting.  

We compared one pairing to the golden hour, the right moment before sunset when photos glow. Another evoked this note: “a superblast of freshness.” Another bite conjured this comparison: “Like air, so light, and somehow merging with everything around it.”

Yeah, I know, a little abstract. Maybe a simpler description works. On at least two occasions both of us let out one-word reviews at the exact same time: “Whoa.” 

When I told a celebrated Monterey Bay chef where I was heading for dinner—the Jonny and Monique Black pop-up called This Must Be the Place at Stationaery in Carmel—his head snapped up. 

“Please take me with you,” Ben Spungin said. “Let me be your date.”

He was mostly kidding, as he was in his first week of opening a brand new restaurant he’s been working on for four years. 

But his ensuing—unprompted—praise for Black had me thinking he might ditch the apron and join. It also had me thinking of something one of my favorite sports analysts says: You learn things when professional athletes talk about fellow pros that you don’t listening to other pundits. 

I think that applies to chefs too. When it’s chefs doing the praising, it carries more weight.

Spungin’s high expectations were validated from the get-go.

The opening pair of bites included 1) a fresh Morro Bay oyster in a canary-yellow sauce of zingy peach, pepper and passionfruit and 2) a rich tart harmonizing foie gras, porcini mushroom and hazelnut. 

In divergent ways they seize the soul of what the canapés can and should be: striking to the eye and the palate, well-composed, hand-held one-biters that hint at the fireworks on deck. 

With them came a splash of dry and light 2018 Crémant Brut Zéro du Jura by Champ Divin, a smart and smooth Champagne alternative that provides its own hint that thoughtful wines, all French—curated by Nate Cohen, formerly of Elroy’s Find Foods—would be very much in play. 

What followed honored the anticipation catalyzed by the first course and promptly upped the ante. The pairing of fresh Pezzini artichoke with mussels, layered with watercress and leek, felt like discovering a new best friend. That’s when my companion and I started doing unplanned but synchronized “Whoa’s” out loud. 

A malolactic fermentation Chablis from France gave the vibrant and complementary flavors a soft and creamy landing place, like a comfy cradle to be rocked in. 

Other pairings would triumph too. But that was the one that really resonated, and the one my pal referenced when she texted the next day. “I’ve been having lil moments of reverie all day remembering those pairings,” she messaged. “The mussels and artichokes…!”

From there earthy white asparagus—the very first of the season, in from Europe—harmonized with uni and an Alsace Pinot Gris that was pitch perfect with its balancing acidity. 

Next the artfully styled striped bass seemed preordained for ingredients I wouldn’t have anticipated: black trumpet mushroom, shaved black truffle, turnip confit. 

Even the least sensational installment, a Schoch Farms raw milk flan, was remarkable in its subtlety and balance. Taken as a whole the five dishes unfolded in a graceful arc.

Black says he gets a sense for intuitive pairings by tasting through the wines with his beverage pros and matching the food to the wines, rather than the other way around.

“It’s always fun for me to hear what a sommelier finds in a wine—they pick out things I won’t,” he says. “It’s one thing if you have a cellar, but for a pop-up like ours I think it’s better to pair the food to the wine than vice versa.”

The pairings serve as a peek at what will happen at the Blacks’ forthcoming restaurant Chez Noir. It will occupy the former La Dolce Vita across from the Carmel Post Office on 5th Avenue between San Carlos and Dolores. 

“It’s a little preview, a chance for us to get the team together, to put a little taster out there for the community,” Black says. “It’s us saying, ‘We’re here, this is the style of food we’re doing.’ 

“It’s fun cooking, and really about the ingredients, with the menu changing every week and showing the range of what we’ll be doing.” 

Monique, his partner on the project and in life, will dial in the feel and flow of service as she did with the pop-up. (The couple originally met in the kitchen of neighborhood bistro Colonie in Brooklyn before moving west, when she switched to the front of the house.) 

“Our approach to service is informed by our backgrounds in fine dining, but we’d like to have as few unnecessary formalities as we can,” Monique says. “We want to exude a warm, convivial atmosphere that can feel fancy but unfussy. We want a place where the food is special but you can exhale and relax. Carmel is a lot of people’s happy place and we want to create another place to be happy.” 

With the conservative opening date for Chez Noir set for June, local audiences will have to be patient. 

The good news there: Collaborations with Octavia, Snail Bar and California Caviar will provide further previews around the San Francisco Bay Area in coming weeks.

Additional Monterey Peninsula pop-ups are also in the works. Preliminary talks are happening with trendy adult beverage destinations in New Monterey and Seaside. 

To stay on top of those, track Chez Noir’s Instagram stories (@cheznoircarmel) or look to its website (cheznoircarmel.com).

A final note about the inspiration for the name. “This Must Be the Place” works on two levels. 

For one, it’s a song the Blacks love so much they had it played by her brother and his fellow musicians at their wedding (The Lumineers cover of the original Talking Heads song, for the record).

But it’s also a nod to the set-up that awaits at Chez Noir, where they’ll not only transform a linchpin property into a destination place to eat and drink, but make it personal. Meanwhile, they’ll be living with their two kids directly above the restaurant.

“This is us having fun,” Jonny says. “‘This Must Be the Place’ is a song that is important to us, but this is also what our new home and restaurant are going to be like: very much our place.” 

Monique elaborates.

“We’d like to create the feel that it’s owned by a family,” she says. “Those places just feel different when you enter: It’s not just a business, you can feel the love in the room. That’s important for us to get across: That it can only happen here, with us.”