A pop-up-style food kitchen will be opening soon in Merced.

The owner, Ronnie Wallace Jr., plans to offer a variety of culinary options when his business, Essence 41504 Catering, opens at 260 W. 18th Street.

When Essence 41504 Catering opens, there won’t be a set menu. “One week, I might decide to do a BBQ menu; two weeks later, I might want to do a Hispanic-inspired food menu,” Wallace said.

“This will be mostly my catering kitchen and a location for me to have pop-ups,” said Wallace. However, Wallace eventually plans to have outdoor seating and will offer private reservations upstairs.

Wallace, who graduated from the Culinary School Le Cordon Bleu in San Francisco in 2011, worked at Michelin-starred Joe’s Restaurant on Venice Beach in Los Angeles and as a Sous Chef at Redfish Grill in New Orleans before moving to Merced and opening a catering business in 2018.

The certified chef plans on opening his pop-up kitchen around the same time as his new food truck, 41504 Catering Presents: Curb to the Kitchen, later next month.