On February 7 and 8, a lunchtime pop-up at C. Cassis in Rhinebeck will offer a focused preview of a restaurant that doesn’t yet exist—but is already fully imagined. Chef Jocelyn Ueng is calling the two-day residency Pretend Restaurant, a name that signals both its temporary nature and its purpose: to give Hudson Valley diners a clear look at the culinary ideas behind Chin Lan, the upscale Taiwanese restaurant she is developing and plans to open in the region in 2027.
The pop-up runs from noon to 3:30pm, with the bar open and snacks available until 6pm. The menu is a three-course, $45 set, with optional add-ons, and cocktails and beverages will be handled by the Cassis team. The conceptual backbone is the Taiwanese bian dang, or railway bento—a familiar lunch format in Taiwan that Ueng uses here as both structure and storytelling device.
“This popup’s menu is inspired by what a typical lunch would look like in Taiwan: a ‘bian dang,’ or a railway bento,” Ueng explains. “These bentos originated in the early `90s as a way to feed guests on long train rides around the country.” Traditionally modest—rice, vegetables, pickles—they’ve since evolved into highly customizable lunch sets served at dedicated bento shops across Taiwan. Ueng’s version reflects winter in the Hudson Valley, filtered through Taiwanese technique, fermentation, and herbal cooking traditions.
The menu opens with a milky fish broth made with bamboo mushrooms and winter melon. Gentle and warming, it nods to the clear, restorative soups common in Taiwanese home cooking while drawing depth from careful stock work. From there, the bento unfolds into a series of composed elements: burdock root and carrots, paired with lacto-fermented cucumbers for acidity and crunch; braised pork belly served alongside a soft-boiled egg and Koshihikari rice, grounding the meal in comfort and richness.
Two optional add-ons push further into Ueng’s interests. Roasted napa cabbage with dried shrimp adds umami and sweetness, while a white wood ear soup with dates, goji berries, and ginkgo nuts draws directly from traditional Chinese medicine, a throughline Ueng is increasingly weaving into her cooking. “This weekend, I’ll be turning to the cold winter season and incorporating winter ferments, spruce, Hudson Valley pork, and traditional Chinese medicine herbal soups,” she says.
The collaboration itself grew out of shared values. “Rachael [Petach], owner of C. Cassis, had the wild and genius idea of trying out a guest chef series in her space, calling it ‘Pretend Restaurant,’” Ueng says. “We quickly aligned on our deep appreciation of biodynamic practices, fermentation, foraged ingredients, and simply put, the earth.” For Ueng, the pop-up also offered a way to introduce Taiwanese cuisine through a local lens—using regional ingredients without diluting cultural specificity.
That balance sits at the heart of Chin Lan. Envisioned as a destination restaurant in the Hudson Valley, it will fuse Taiwanese and Northern Chinese traditions with modern technique, guided by 23 microseasons and a heavy reliance on foraged and wild foods. Dinner service will run Wednesday through Saturday, with weekend lunch sets echoing the bian dang format. A beverage program centered on natural wine, sake, and house-made nonalcoholic drinks will culminate in a self-poured tea ceremony.
will have wild and foraged foods at the core of its menu.
Sustainability and labor practices are foundational to the concept: Chin Lan plans to operate with a no-tipping policy, prioritize ethical sourcing, and employ individuals from marginalized communities. A small marketplace—offering dry goods, produce, and chef tools—will extend the restaurant beyond the dining room.
Ueng’s path to this point has been circuitous by design. Raised between her grandmother’s kitchen and the multicultural sprawl of Los Angeles, she later followed a conventional professional track, studying economics and working in consulting before enrolling at the Culinary Institute of America’s Greystone campus in the Napa Valley in 2019. Since then, she’s cooked at restaurants including The French Laundry, Satoyama Jujo, and Noma, while traveling to more than 45 countries.
“My life experiences have culminated in the creation of Chin Lan,” she says. “It will be a love letter to my journey.”
For now, that journey is visible for just two winter afternoons in Rhinebeck—a compact bento box offering a clear, grounded sense of what’s to come.
