Chais Renae
Audio By Carbonatix
The holidays are a time when we treat ourselves, which makes holiday pop-ups at bars and restaurants a natural destination. At many bars around the Valley, the decor and drinks are done to the nines, but less often is there festive food to match.
Sottise, the downtown French restaurant led by chef and owner TJ Culp, has taken a different approach to the pop-up craze with its inaugural after-hours, three-course bite-and-sip pairing, called Christmas in the Parlor.
A holiday pop-up is something he, operations director Matt Kelin and beverage director Mike Warrington have long wanted to offer, but “every year the holidays just sneak up on us,” Culp says.
But this year, they’ve got some extra firepower and all the trappings of a Hallmark holiday rom-com brewing in the kitchen. That’s because Crystal Kass, an acclaimed pastry chef and James Beard Award finalist, who also happens to be Culp’s fiancée, is collaborating with the Sottise team on this pop-up.
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Christmas in the Parlor is the first time Kass and Culp are working together professionally, but it won’t be the last.
Culp also owns the modern American bistro Restaurant Progress and the twee roadhouse Sidewinder. Kass trained in French pastry techniques in Chicago and honed her boundary-pushing bakes at Valentine over the last four years until she exited the restaurant in October.
After the Parlor pop-up wraps, Kass will craft desserts for the New Year’s Eve menus at Sottise and Restaurant Progress. In 2026, she’ll begin making desserts for all three restaurants from a space Culp has carved out in his restaurants’ Melrose commissary kitchen. Previously, Culp’s chefs also handled desserts.
“Everyone there has been super-supportive,” Kass says of the transition. “They’re all super-excited to see where the dessert program could be headed in the future.”
The culinary duo has no shortage of ideas they want to tackle, together and independently. You can get a first taste of what that looks like at Christmas in the Parlor.
“We figured Christmas is the perfect time to launch all of this and then to combine all of our brains together,” Culp says.
Sara Crocker
A date-night holiday pop-up
As customers walk up to Sottise, jazzy, vintage holiday tunes can be heard from the open door to the historic Leighton G. Knipe House on Second and Portland streets.
The dining room, which the Sottise team calls the parlor, features exposed brick and wood floors. Large-bulbed Christmas lights zigzag across the ceiling like bistro lights. Vintage figurines — evergreens, Santa and penguins — decorate the bar. It’s an understated European Christmas.
The turntable is stocked with vintage holiday records that include classic American staples like Louis Armstrong and Bing Crosby, as well as rare international finds scoured online, like the French and Hawaiian album, “Noel Hawaien.”
The Sottise team envisions the Parlor pop-up as a cozy, romantic nightcap to end a date night — something that, as Culp describes it, is “a little more intimate, a little less party vibe.”
Their intuition is spot-on. Sottise is one of our favorite places in the Valley for French food and our Best Date Night Restaurant.
As a guest walks in, the bartender asks, “Are you ready for a taste of Christmas?”
A festive prix fixe at Sottise
For the experience, Kass and Culp have crafted savory and sweet bites, and Warrington has created three cocktails to sip with them.
“They’re all intended to be a bite or two, super small, so they’re not overwhelming the cocktails,” Kass says.
The first bite is a Christmas tree-shaped rosette from Culp. This crisp fried treat is normally sweet, but Culp flips that with salmon, creme fraiche, roe and dill. Alongside it is a bubbly, bright gin sipper from Warrington, made with genepy, lemon, bay leaf, peppercorns and soda.
The subsequent two courses are all about dessert.
Kass starts with a creme fraiche mousse, shaped like a Santa hat. This light, marshmallowy treat has a cherry hidden inside and a crisp sable cookie as the foundation. The dish pairs with a riff on the Tom & Jerry, a Christmas cocktail made with cognac, rum or both spirits. Sottise’s version, served in a crystal teacup, uses oleo rum and is topped with a spiced meringue. The first sip is a little cold from the meringue, warming from the rum and rich with the scent of the star anise that garnishes the drink.
For the final course, Kass has made a mini Bûche de Noël. This European-inspired yule log features a rich chocolate mousse spiked with mesquite, “of course,” Kass quips. While at Valentine, Kass regularly worked unique, Arizona-specific ingredients into her pastries and desserts. The yule log also features a salty, crunchy layer of hazelnut feuillentine and tender brownie. Warrington pairs it with a Brandy Alexander, a classic cognac-based dessert cocktail that gets its creamy, almost eggnog-like consistency from being shaken with ice cream. The drink is finished with a generous dusting of shaved chocolate.
Sottise won’t serve any a la carte food, but its bartenders will stir martinis and Manhattans for any patrons who want to stay for one more spirit in this Christmas pop-up.
The pairing is $75 and offered on Friday and Saturday nights from Dec. 5 to 20, with 90-minute seatings available from 10:30 p.m. to 1 a.m. Guests must reserve tickets online.
Christmas in the Parlor at Sottise
Weekends through Dec. 20
1025 N. Second St.
