Crossroads Collective Vendors Plan Pop-Up

Crossroads Collective will soon be the site of a crossover between two of its vendors.

On Sunday, Oct. 23, Alex Pawlak of Egg & Flour will partner with Discourse Coffee to host This Must Be The Place, a breakfast pop-up at the East Side food hall, 2238 N. Farwell Ave.

Pawlak has been a chef for nearly two decades. For the past year, he has worked alongside his brother, Adam, and the team at Egg & Flour, but he said he’s always been interested in branching out.

“I’ve always kind of wanted to do my own thing, too,” he said in an interview with Urban Milwaukee.

The upcoming pop-up is Pawlak’s project alone, and is not associated with the pasta bar.

“The focus of This Must Be The Place is definitely Alex and his food and him putting himself into a position where he’s able to make the food that he wants and kind of shine a little bit outside of the mantle of Egg & Flour,” said Ryan Castelaz, owner of Discourse Coffee, in an interview.

At the pop-up, Pawlak will present an eight-item menu that will include both eggs and flour — though not in pasta form. Rather, attendees can choose from a selection of sweet and savory breakfast dishes, including several vegan options.

The pop-up will operate from 8 a.m. to 11 a.m. at the Discourse Coffee stand, where guests can order breakfast along with a beverage from the cafe’s hyper-seasonal menu. Orders are available for dine-in or carry out.

One menu standout, The King French Toast, is an elevated take on the Elvis Sandwich, and includes pork belly, caramelized bananas, crushed peanuts and caramel sauce between two pieces of french toast.

For a scaled-back sweet fix, original french toast with syrup and butter or the loaded yogurt bowl with housemade granola are also available.

Other options include The Classic with scrambled eggs, bacon, potatoes and toast, a bagel sandwich, breakfast burrito, avocado toast and tofu scramble. The latter three are all vegan-friendly selections.

For drinks, Discourse will be serving its standard October menu, which includes El Mocha, A Pumpkin Situation and Clyde. The cafe will also debut a new drink, a riff on an autumnal chaider, for the event. The chaider will feature locally-sourced apple cider, Metolius chai concentrate, housemade black cardamom syrup and an orange peel garnish.

Castelaz emphasized that the pop-up is “95% Alex,” with Discourse acting in a supportive role to provide a physical space and thoughtfully-crafted drinks to accompany Pawlak’s food.

“As a friend of Alex, we’re just really stoked and proud of him for having a venue to put himself out there. And that’s what we’re trying to do is facilitate it in any way we can. More people eating the food that he wants to make and serving them up some super tasty, delicious, inventive coffee to go along with it,” Castelaz added.

Although the pop-up is scheduled to run until 11 a.m., Pawlak warned attendees that the food may not last that long. “When it sells out, it sells out,” he said.

However, don’t panic if you miss out on Oct. 23. Depending on the turnout, Pawlak said he may make the pop-ups a regular occurrence.

“We’ll see how the first one goes, and then maybe once a month or every other month, something like that,” Pawlak said.

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