Pop Quiz

Just when we thought the Katz Club Diner would finally halt the game of restaurant musical chairs at the vintage diner cars on Lee Road, an arson fire destroyed half the space. But rather than moving on, chef and owner Douglas Katz has embraced the curse that doomed the five other restaurants since the cars' arrival in 1997. In June, Katz turned the remaining car and kitchen into a catering commissary and pop-up restaurant that changes personality every three weeks.

Q. We loved the diner. Why not just rebuild and start again?

A. There aren't enough seats in that diner to make it a feasible business without the bar car [that was destroyed]. And unfortunately, it was too costly to rebuild that and put it back together the way it was. Using the diner for these streamlined events, we can schedule people efficiently, create menus that we understand the costs of. It will just be a much more efficient model that will create sustainability for us.

Q. What the heck is a pop-up restaurant anyway?

A. Pop-up just means that it's in a space that the menu's constantly changing, and it's never the same. I feel like it's more off the cuff, more spontaneous, more ad hoc.

Q. Tell us more about these menus.

A. This is going to be diner style, much quicker service than an upscale restaurant. We may do Indian street food, we may do a noodle shop night, we may do barbecue, we may do classic diner — maybe pancakes for dinner. It's not a specific restaurant menu that you come to and know what you're getting. It's the element of surprise.

Q. Won't that be challenging, not focusing on one area of expertise?

A. I see it as a great learning experience for us, a great fun thing for us, because it allows us to experiment with things that we're interested in. We're a catering company. So when people ask us to do a specific, themed event, that's what we're used to. We love different ethnicities, and we have that knowledge.