by Ebony L. Morman 

The pot in Chop Chop Red Pot was Erick Crawford’s dad’s pot. 

“In my lifetime, he was a salesman, so he wasn’t home a lot,” the Virgina-native says. “But when he was home, and he had that red pot on the stove, I knew something was going down.” 

Something included soups, stews, vegetables, and beef, to name a few.  

“Whatever it was, we knew that when that pot was on, it’s on,” he says.  

That’s the same energy the chef/owner and his co-owner, Amanda Overdorf, aim to bring to their various culinary ventures — whether it’s Marlee Jeans Raw Bar, which opened last fall in Davidson, their catering business, or the food truck they opened nearly three years ago. 

Now, the couple is hard at work, transitioning their food truck concept into a shared space with Carolina Beer Temple as part of the forthcoming Ames Street Marketplace in Matthews. 

“We wanted to take the food from the food truck and actually put it into a brick and mortar,” he says. “We’re going to kind of mash the two concepts together — the raw bar and the food truck.”

For Crawford, who received the 2024 UPPY Food Truck of the Year Award, that means serving food inspired by both coastal and Southern flavors, all done with his own twist. For fans, that means getting their pick of everything from fried oysters and bang bang shrimp to short rib grilled cheese and shrimp and grits. 

“I’ve always said if we can just take great products, produce, and food and serve it to great people, great things will happen,” Crawford says. “That’s what’s happened, and that’s what we’re living in right now.” 

Here’s what the owners have to say about Chop Chop’s history, food operations, and the upcoming plans for the restaurant, slated to open later this spring in downtown Matthews. 

Unpretentious Palate: What will the setup be for Chop Chop Red Pot in Matthews?  
Erick Crawford: It’s going to be an open kitchen. There’ll be a counter service situation, and it’s going to be kind of high energy because Carolina Beer Temple will host different events regularly. They have a big mezzanine inside the building where you can rent that out and we can cater that for them. There’ll also be plenty of indoor and outdoor seating — shared spaces for all the businesses. 

UP: What can people expect when they visit? 
EC: We’re keeping the Southern-inspired street food alive. We’ll have everything from shrimp and grits, pulled pork sandwiches, and pork belly to burnt ends, collard greens, and mac and cheese. Of course, we’ll elevate those a bit. And then, we’re known for our specials. We bring a new special to all locations daily. The menu will mostly remain the same. We ran it for two years and everybody loved it, but we’ll make some minor adjustments and add some fan favorites. 

UP: What are a few fan favorites? 
EC: One main staple has always been this short rib grilled cheese sandwich. We also do a bacon jam burger with pimento cheese on it. We’ll add a prime rib Philly cheesesteak. Even though Marlee Jeans is a raw bar, one of the top selling items is a prime rib panini. So we want to cross utilize that prime rib. We did an array of handheld egg rolls off the food truck, anywhere from buffalo chicken, barbecue pork, and Philly cheesesteak egg rolls. They stand out because there’s variety. And we have several chefs that work with us who I give free rein to. I always say, just make it taste good. That’s our motto. 

UP: How would you describe your approach to food?
EC: I want to let the food itself shine. We make slightly elevated, and familiar, Southern food in an approachable way. We also take pride in using a lot of local farmers and vendors, like our bread is all handmade from Wildcrafted Crust. The pimento cheese we use is also from a woman-owned business, Nana’s Porch Pimento Cheese.
Amanda Overdorf: A great example of that is our crab cakes. They’re very simple. We want our seafood to shine. We don’t want to drown it in all the seasonings and sauces. Everything is very flavorful, but without it being overbearing. 

UP: What are your favorite flavor profiles? 
EC: We’ve been getting into a lot of Asian flair. I like these traditional Southern flavors that we have, but I’m also seeing these other cultures using the same proteins. I’m just learning how to use their international flair to play around with my Southern roots. We also play around with smoking — our meat for Cuban sandwiches, chicken wings, pork belly, collard greens, and turkey. We even put smoked carrots in our lunch bowl for a catering order recently. 

UP: What was your vision for Marlee Jeans Raw Bar + Kitchen? 
EC: The way it came about was organic. While the restaurant in Matthews has been in the works for about a year and a half now, this was just like, ‘Hey, we need to do this and make it happen.’ And it came about really quickly. When I saw the space and saw the restrictions that we had to cook with, and what we didn’t have to cook with, a raw bar was it. There was no raw bar in Davidson. There was no brewery in Davidson. So the collaboration — where we share space with King Canary Brewing Co. — makes a lot of sense. 

UP: If you weren’t in hospitality, what would you be doing? 
EC: I would definitely be into some sort of treatment program, like a treatment counselor or something in the sobriety world of helping other people. 
AO: I’d do hair. I’m still very passionate. I follow the trends, and I get my hands dirty every once in a while. The thing about me is I’m a perfect mix to my mother and my father. My mother is a hair stylist and my father is a restaurant owner. 

UP: What do you like to do when you’re not in the kitchen? 
EC: We really like to go to the mountains — Lake Lure and Chimney Rock. That’s my happy place. That’s where we go and write menus and to get inspiration. I’m 45 years old, and I’ve been going to Lake Lure my whole life. So even with all the devastation up there and whatnot, it’s still a place where I’m going to be going on vacation this year, and I’ll go and support the people there.  

UP: What are you most looking forward to? 
EC: I’m most excited to watch this unfold. It’s so organic, and it’s just happening. Without my sobriety, this wouldn’t be happening. I live my life one day at a time, so I just let this unfold one day at a time. I always say I’m okay with what’s happened, what is happening, and what will happen. That’s that kind of a mantra I live by. We’re just going to stay in our lane, stay focused, and just watch this happen. I’m super excited to do that.