by Michelle Boudin

Pop-ups seem to be popping up on the regular these days — and according to Charlotte chefs and restaurant owners, that’s a good thing for everyone. 

“I think it helps us keep the joy in food,” says Cat Carter, the co-owner of L’Ostrica who describes pop-ups at their Montford Park restaurant as an interruption of normal operations. She and her team started doing them in earnest last year, sometimes spontaneously, sometimes planned, always with the goal of having fun and keeping things interesting. L’Ostrica recently hosted El Veneno chef/owner Kimmy Bazan for a “Takeover Tuesday” dinner, and the restaurant’s monthly pasta nights started out as a one-time pop-up.

“For a lot of people, this is a profession and a business — but also people in this business love to serve food and make food for other people,” Carter says. “There’s something about a popup that feels like hosting a dinner party on the fly. It can also help us maintain an edge, maintain our skills and get us out of our box in a way so that we think about the food and who we’re serving in a different way.”

Andres Kaifer, executive chef and owner of Customshop and Emmy Lou’s, agrees that the pop-ups are happening more often lately, for a number of different reasons. Earlier this year, Customshop hosted several chefs for a collaborative fundraiser benefitting Charlotte’s Latino community, and Emmy Lou’s recently had Uchi chef Shaun King in the kitchen for a guest chef pop-up. Kaifer says it’s sometimes about allowing room for a chef’s creativity; other times, it’s a chance for a budding chef to prove themselves before opening a restaurant.

“I think it gives people an outlet to express themselves through food and being able to create and come up with new dishes,” Kaifer says. “Ultimately, if your goal is to eventually open your own brick and mortar — like Hello Uncle [chef Michael Le] now has his own truck at Burial Beer — pop-ups can lead to that. He gained a lot of popularity doing all these popups and it kind of gave him brand recognition and proof of concept.”

Le, the chef and owner of Hello Uncle, did his first pop-up as a way to raise money for a friend. After cooking for more than 20 years, he was about to walk away from the kitchen for good when he says the pop-up — and the reaction to it — changed everything. 

“I was going through burnout, but I went to go open my inbox messages for the page itself on Instagram and there were so many messages in there,” he recalls after his first pop-up. “I was shocked. I just kept scrolling down and there’s so many people asking, ‘When’s the next one?’ People saying they really loved my food and it was just this flood of love and support and it just made me really happy. Being in the industry for 23 years, I’ve just been grinding, so getting some kind of recognition for my food felt really, really great.”

NoDa bar Substrate Wine & Vermouth, which often hosts Le and other chefs looking to make their mark on the culinary scene here, doesn’t have a kitchen. Owner Matt Green relies on regular pop-ups to help feed his customers. 

“There are so many cool people in the city that have the chops and talent and stuff and are cooking cool food, but it’s very difficult in Charlotte to get commercial real estate and especially restaurant space,” Green says. “You’ve got all these talented people that have been in amazing kitchens all around the country and all around the world, but they just don’t have a brick and mortar. So for them to be able to have a little bit of platform to cook whatever it is they want to cook that night is pretty cool.”

Green says the coolest part of the growing pop-up trend is the way it reflects how everyone in the Charlotte food scene works to lift each other up. 

“I got so lucky with having a space and never thought I would, so it feels like the least I can do as the one who lucked out is to be able to say, ‘You want to come? You want to come make food?'” he says. “It not only adds to the space that I have, but lets me just share the platform.”

Carter agrees, saying she and her partner purposely open their doors to winemakers and fellow chefs to help them reach their full potential.

“It’s rooted in wanting to uplift the whole community,” she says. “All of us are seeking opportunities for connection and to build connections broadly and Eric and I know how hard it is to be in the trenches and know how hard it is to make the leap to getting a brick and mortar space and getting the funding for it, so if we can play a small role in broadening their audience and connecting them with people who can help build their future, we want to pay it forward.”