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(From left) Instabowl Chef de Cuisine Kevin Tate, Sous Chef Chris Smith and Chef-owner Mike Ledesma
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Sous Chef Chris Smith is looking forward to debuting a Caribbean-influenced concept in the future.
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Ramen 14 on the Instabowl menu featuring house-made noodles
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"Curry in a Hurry," a gluten-free and vegan dish topped with shrimp and featuring yellow curry, coconut milk, white rice, dark roasted peanuts and Thai basil
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The green papaya salad from Perch makes its way to Instabowl's menu as well.
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Pika, Pika Poke bowl with ahi tuna, seaweed salad, compressed pineapple, cucumbers, sushi rice, spicy aioli, sweet soy reduction and scallions
When Mike Ledesma's business partner purchased the shuttered Acacia Mid-town space at 2601 W. Cary St. in January, the Perch chef-owner had starry-eyed visions for his second restaurant — a beautiful market and brunch spot, complete with an indoor patio, fish-cutting station and cured meats hanging from the ceiling.
Now, that vision seems like a distant dream. It’s mid-November, and the bar inside the former fine-dining establishment is scattered with various takeout containers, the dining room void of tables and chairs, and instead of being on the brink of opening a chic Cary Street outpost, Ledesma is a week away from debuting Instabowl, a virtual food hall. Set to open on Monday, Nov. 23, the strictly takeout and delivery venture will present a rotating lineup of chef-driven restaurant concepts.
"Guests, they see the risk of going out, and servers the risk of people coming in. I’m trying to reduce that risk,” says Ledesma, a former stockbroker turned chef and restaurateur. "This is a case study and evolution for survival, basically."
Instabowl will serve as the umbrella for a variety of forthcoming restaurant concepts that will typically change every 30 days. Future ideas will incorporate global influences from Mexico to the Caribbean, along with a bake shop.
At the foundation of Instabowl, Ledesma says, is a push to keep chefs motivated and offer direction.
“Here’s an industry that’s struggling; where are these chefs going to get jobs?” he says. “I’m trying to create opportunity so they don’t get discouraged and they are [still] around 15 to 20 years down the road.”
Under the restaurant veteran’s guidance, chefs will have the chance to put their ideas in motions in a hands-on, real-time environment.
Ledesma says Instabowl is flexible for a reason.
“The reason it’s so loose is so that we have options,” he says. “We don’t know what’s going to happen, so just basically trying to take these young chefs, teach them how to brand and run restaurants — micro-businesses — and kind of let them learn off the Instabowl platform.”
If an idea is successful, Ledesma says there is potential for expansion, whether that means another location of Instabowl or a brick-and-mortar space dedicated to a well-received concept.
For the past eight months Ledesma has been navigating operations at Perch, the expansive Scott's Addition homage to Pacific Islands cuisine and his first solo venture, where he had time to test the takeout waters.
“When we went to curbside and takeout [service at Perch], I would drive it 20 minutes home, let it sit for another 10 and then taste it,” he says. “Does it work, is it too soggy, how does it heat? We're using that approach for here. This was taking [Perch] and streamlining it.”
Although this may not be the upscale second restaurant Ledesma originally imagined, Instabowl is a sign of the times and a direct response to the pandemic.
To offer an interactive takeout experience, online chef demos will showcase how the dishes are made, along with playlists customers can listen to while enjoying the meal.
The culinary team at Instabowl is helmed by a duo familiar to Ledesma. At Perch for over a year, Kevin Tate will serve as chef de cuisine for the new operation, having previously worked with Ledesma at the now shuttered Patina. Joining him as sous chef is fellow Patina alumnus Chris Smith, who also shared a kitchen with Ledesma at Max’s on Broad.
In recent years, virtual food halls have been popping up in major cities across the country such as New York, Houston and Philadelphia.
The flexible ebb and flow of concepts is ideally suited to the current ever-changing nature of the food and beverage industry, allowing restaurateurs to experiment with new ideas and quickly gauge customer feedback. If a dish isn’t selling or a concept fails to gain traction, then it’s on to the next one. Takeout-only and grab-and-go ventures mean less staff is needed, and fresh, rotating menus that are only available for a limited time appeal to diners.
"Instabowl can still sell fan favorites [from Perch],” says Smith, most recently of East Coast Provisions, “but we’ve just got to go with the climate, take it in stride and do everything we can to move forward.”
The initial Instabowl menu is a collection of primarily salads and breakfast and lunch bowl options.
Under the salad section find a green papaya variety — a mainstay on the Perch menu — alongside a Spam “Cobb” featuring butter lettuce, feta, egg and a mustard vinaigrette, and a kale salad with sweet potato, macadamia nut, dried cherries, Parmesan, and sesame-ginger dressing, with the option for add-on proteins.
Breakfast includes steak and eggs with corn salsa, chimichurri, avocado and pickled red onions; “The Grateful Hemp,” with Greek yogurt, figs, berries, hemp seeds, honey and bee pollen; in addition to buttermilk pancake “tacos” stuffed with egg, bacon and avocado.
Lunch options include poke, ramen and pork adobo bowls, and “Feed The Seoul” — rice noodles, baby bok choy, bulgogi chicken and shiitake mushrooms. Vegans can choose from the “Mighty, Mighty Mushroom” with red quinoa, French lentils, braised kale and a cashew cream; vegan crabcakes; or a Sri Lankan-inspired banana-flower curry called kesel muwa.
“It’s a whole big unknown,” Ledesma says of Instabowl's blank canvas. “I think this is the time where we can create value and that it’s going to be a fun project. I hope this takes off, this is a model that works and that I can grow.”
Instabowl will be open daily from 9 a.m to 5 p.m. In the future, beer, wine and to-go cocktails will be available.
