In Salt Lake City and its surroundings, pop-up culinary events are becoming more and more popular and frequent. What’s a pop-up, you ask? A pop-up is a temporary dining concept that operates for a short, defined period—anywhere from a single night to a few months—often in a non-traditional or unexpected location.
Key features of a pop-up is that it’s typically temporary – it “pops up” and then disappears, usually with a flexible location: pop-ups can be hosted in empty retail spaces, rooftops, homes, warehouses, bars, restaurants, or even outdoors. Pop-ups are usually defined by small, focused menus that highlight a specific cuisine, theme, or chef’s creativity. As you will see, pop-ups sometimes have VERY limited menus.
Often, pop-ups are experimental: Chefs and restaurateurs use pop-ups to test new ideas, menus, or concepts without the long-term costs of operating a full restaurant. Pop-ups frequently are collaborations between chefs who might not normally work together. Finally, pop-ups provide a unique culinary experience for guests that is often ticketed, reservation-only, or themed, making it feel exclusive and special.
Examples of local pop-ups that I’ve enjoyed include periodic chef collaborations at Post Office Place; more elaborate and extended pop-ups such as Arthur – Chef Kevin Finch’s outstanding culinary series – which has now found a permanent home in Greenpoint, Brooklyn; Katie Weiner’s excellent SLCPOP, and even tiny one-night pop-ups like Phillip Grubisa of Beltex Meats doing a recent Cubano sandwich pop-up at Bar Nohm and Water Witch. The amazing MonteSLC – now with a home at Beehive Distilling – began as a pop-up. Then there are the occasional gyro pop-ups at Manoli’s to look forward to. There’s a pop-up in size and scope for every taste.
Chef Tomohiro Takamatsu
My wife and I recently attended a pop-up at UT Craft Ramen restaurant in Sandy which featured a chef and ramen restaurant called Sugure from Nagoya, Japan which has garnered Michelin mentions. The very affable Chef Tomohiro Takamatsu landed in Utah for a three night ramen pop-up at UT Craft Ramen and all three evenings were sold out in advance. Not surprising, given the very low ticket price of $18.84 per person.
SPICY SUGURE RAMEN
For that price, guests selected from one of three ramens: Sugure Ramen: rich chicken paitan broth topped with tender pork chashu, grilled chicken, red onions, green onions, fried root vegetable (lotus root), and wheat noodles; Spicy Sugure Ramen, which added hot chili oil for extra heat; and a Vegan Sugure Ramen made from oat milk broth with corn, grilled tomato, mushroom, red onion and wheat noodles.
My wife and I both opted for the spicy ramen, which was outstanding. The broth had a tiny bit of fish flavor, distinguishing it from more typical tonkotsu style broths. I loved the crispy fried lotus root and the charred boneless chicken was lightly blackened on the outside but tender and tasty inside. During the UT Craft Ramen pop-ups their regular menu items and beverages are also available to purchase. We enjoyed sipping Kirin Ichiban beer and canned “Pocket Sake” Sakura Rosé Spritz from SLC’s own Tsuki Sake with our ramen. Speaking of purchases, UT Craft Ramen has an extraordinary inventory of action figures and other toys imported from Japan for sale.
While the Sugure Ramen pop-up has come and gone, I’m told that UT Craft Ramen will be hosting regular pop-ups in the future, tentatively on a monthly basis. While we enjoyed the ramen pop-up once we were seated, it was frustrating to show up at UT Craft Ramen at 6:00 PM – the time we were ticketed for – and not be seated for half an hour later, waiting in line outside in the cold while some folks without tickets were ushered to tables in front of us. But then, that’s sort of the unpredictable nature of pop-ups. I just hope UT Craft Ramen gets a bit more organized for their next pop-up venture.
While most pop-up events are a simple matter of purchasing a ticket in advance, there’s one very notable local exception. The most challenging pop-up to “get into” – so to speak – is Secret Pizza Club SLC, or on Instagram: sammakespizza_slc.
The Secret Pizza Club SLC is the brainchild of Pennsylvania-born Sam Pew, a pizza guru who has won over the hearts of Utah’s hardcore pizza lovers. Sam began selling his East Coast style pizzas from his own home before taking over the space and kitchen at Leavity Bread & Coffee three nights a week to make pop-up pizzas. I know people who have tried for weeks to get their hands on one of Sam’s pizzas, with no success.
The Secret Pizza Club SLC works like this: Three times each week at 3:00 PM, pizza aficionados vie online to purchase pizzas to pick up the next evening at Leavity. Pizza drops are at 3:00 PM Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday, for pizzas to pick up on Wednesday, Friday and Sunday, respectively.
Pew and two pizza makers are said to make around 100 pizzas per drop and they are sold via the Secret Pizza Club SLC website with a limit of two pies per customer. I’ve been following the pizza purchase madness and the pizzas that drop at 3:00 PM are sold out within minutes, literally. Most would-be customers walk away empty handed. But the tenacious keep at it and usually find success in the form of excellent pizza if they keep at it long enough.
Plain Pie
There are typically two pizzas available from The Secret Pizza Club SLC: a “Plain Pie” with plum tomatoes, aged mozzarella, aged gouda, fresh mozzarella, finished with Sicilian olive oil, parmesan, wild Pantelleria oregano and fresh basil, or a “Pepper-Roni” made with plum tomatoes, aged mozzarella, scamorza, Ezzo pepperoni, roasted jalapeño, Sicilian olive oil, 2-year aged Parmigiano-Reggiano, fresh basil and Sicilian oregano. I’ve also seen on occasion a pizza with Brussels sprouts and speck. The pizzas are 18 inches, cut into 8 slices and sell for $27 (Plain) and $29.50 (Pepper-Roni). Not inexpensive. By contrast, a plain pizza from Villaggio Pizzeria – my local gold standard for NYC-style pies – is $19.75. Good luck scoring a pizza from The Secret Pizza Club SLC.
Do you have a favorite pop-up – secret or otherwise? Let us know about it!
Photos by Ted Scheffler
Culinary quote of the week: “You better cut the pizza in four pieces because I’m not hungry enough to eat six.” – Yogi Berra
