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An Ohana Meal, featuring family-style chicken, pork and ribs, from Aloha Catering Co. (Photo by Matt Portelos)
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Coconut pudding from Aloha Catering Co. (Photo by Matt Portelos)
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Sunomono, or cucumber salad with ponzu and yuzu kosho, from Young Mother (Photo courtesy Young Mother)
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Yakisoba, or fried noodles, mushroom and shio koji, from Young Mother (Photo courtesy Young Mother)
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Egg tofu with trumpet mushrooms and garlic from Young Mother (Photo courtesy Young Mother)
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Rigatoni with hot Calabrian chiles and optional burrata from Sprezza Cucina (Photo courtesy Sprezza Cucina)
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Orecchiette with broccoli cream sauce from Sprezza Cucina (Photo courtesy Sprezza Cucina)
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Lasagna, a staple on the Sprezza Cucina menu (Photo courtesy Sprezza Cucina)
Unpredictable experiences that allow chefs to plot their own culinary adventures, pop-ups are a growing part of Richmond’s dining scene. The no-holds-barred concepts often serve as a foundation for future efforts, whether the goal is a long-term residence for the pop-up, a brick-and-mortar restaurant, or simply the desire to explore lesser-known cuisines and share their creations with others.
For diners, pop-ups can be enticing and exclusive experiences, a chance to be part of a venture during its earliest phases, witness a vision unfolding and be part of the journey. We checked in with three new pop-ups in the Richmond area to add to your dining agenda.
Aloha Catering Co.
Growing up in a little town called Mokapu, or "sacred island,” in Hawaii, Aloha Catering Co. owner and self-described “Navy brat” Lauren LeVine lived off base and says that during nearly 10 years spent on the Oahu peninsula, she became immersed in island culture.
Eventually landing in Richmond and attending VCU post-college, LeVine ventured to the West Coast, describing it as a Pacific melting pot.
“Hawaiian food is like 7-Elevens out there; it’s on every corner and very popular,” she says.
Making food for family and friends over the years, LeVine says Richmond’s thriving pop-up scene propelled her to take her passion to the next level.
“The influence of the pop-up scene is the reason I decided to go for it,” says the 36-year-old. "I want to bring ethical Hawaiian street food to Richmond, and the pop-up is probably a very small drop in the bucket.”
A couple months ago, LeVine texted Mike Ledesma, a friend and the chef-owner behind Perch and Instabowl, a message that read, “I’m going to get my business license.” A few weeks later, she was in the kitchen of his Cary Street outpost prepping kalua pork — a crowd favorite of low- and slow-smoked pulled pork served with guava barbecue sauce and crunchy garlic — along with kalbi ribs — Korean-style bone-in beef ribs marinated for 24 hours in a bulgogi-inspired sauce with Asian pears. Other menu items included eggplant katsu, teriyaki chicken, macaroni salad, coconut pudding and the Ohana Meal, a pupu platter of meats and sides.
“I feel like I’m on a high” LeVine says following her inaugural pop-up at Instabowl. “I sold out in 48 hours, and I plan on doubling the orders for the next one.”
With a vision for food trucks and a more elevated brick-and-mortar space, LeVine says a recent Facebook memory from nine years ago brought the birth of her business full circle.
“I had made a comment about starting my own Hawaiian catering company — I think in my heart I always knew it would happen. I absolutely thought I would be doing something like this,” she says.
Appearing monthly at Instabowl, Aloha Catering’s next pop-up is May 23.
Young Mother
“We had a small little Asian community we always found wherever we went,” says Daniel Harthausen, founder of the Japanese-influenced pop-up Young Mother. “I wanted to pay some homage to the families that helped raise me.”
Harthausen says his mother had him when she was 19, and the name of his pop-up is loosely based on her and on his diverse upbringing.
“My dad was doing PTS [in the military], so he would be gone for five days and come back for two,” he says. “My mom was working a lot … and all these dishes are nostalgic to me because of that, because other families cooked for me."
Having lived everywhere from Okinawa, Japan, to Nebraska and Florida, the club manager and coffee roaster at Common House introduced the concept in mid-March, the dishes rooted in nostalgia and childhood memories.
“I have this philosophy about food: In order to make good food, you had to have experience with it. If you don’t know how something tastes good, how are you supposed to create it? I attribute my ability to cook to those people,” Harthausen says.
The 25-year-old has maneuvered his way through the service industry, with a resume that includes Alchemy Coffee, a head chef position at the now shuttered pop-up turned restaurant Yaki, and time at Restaurant Adarra.
Sticking to a fairly set menu but allowing for seasonal influences, Harthausen says the pop-ups present an opportunity for him to refine the dishes and that he plans to continue to roll out the multiseating pop-ups once a month throughout the summer.
“I always told myself, if started cooking again I had to be able to focus on the food,” he says. “I really enjoy Japanese food, and there's this hole that I feel like doesn’t necessarily always get filled. Everyone can get ramen and everyone can get sushi, but [there are] so many other dishes that aren’t represented.”
The Young Mother menu features savory items such as chawanmushi, a steamed egg dish with dashi and salmon roe, mussels with seaweed and sake, and nagaimo — mountain yam with pork belly — along with curated cocktails and sake hand-selected by Adarra owners and sommeliers Lyne and Randall Doezter.
Young Mother’s next pop-up is May 17 at Restaurant Adarra.
Sprezza Cucina
“There is absolutely never any ricotta in my lasagna; that is sacrilegious,” says Angela Petruzzelli, chef of the rustic Italian pop-up Sprezza Cucina that has sold out each week since its inception in March.
The 30-year-old speaks dreamily of Italy and the tiny town by the Adriatic sea, Bari, where her father was born, where her connection to cooking truly began.
“My earliest memory of being in the kitchen, I was probably a few years old, cooking with Grandmother and my aunts,” says Petruzzelli, the sole operator of the pop-up.
Over the years, Petruzzelli has perfected her family’s lasagna recipe, a labor of love including a Bolognese sauce that takes eight hours to make. Frequently requested by friends, co-workers and relatives, the lasagna, a permanent menu item on the Sprezza Cucina menu, Petruzzelli says, is “the most rewarding, it’s kind of what I based my entire business off of.”
After moving to Richmond last March, the transplant from Miami says she quickly took notice of the food scene and its devoted pop-up following.
"In Miami the pop-up scene was nonexistent,” she says. “It feels like stars had aligned — I moved to a small city, and this is happening here.
Currently operating out of The Broken Tulip every Saturday, Sprezza Cucina offers a menu with a rotating cast of dishes that all show the simplicity of Italian cuisine.
“Sprezza comes from ‘sprezzatura,' which means the art of taking something complicated and making it really easy,” she explains. “That’s what Italian food is — I think people think it’s very cheese forward or they’re gong to eat a giant plate of pasta and feel full for 10 days, but that is absolutely not the case.”
With the majority of its pastas made in house, Sprezza Cucina has served rigatoni with hot Calabrian chiles and burrata; pappardelle with pomodorini, cream, pancetta, shallots and Parmesan, an ode to her mother; and orecchiette with broccoli cream, as well as a panino with mortadella, a simple sandwich of bread and meat, and various versions of tiramisu.
Petruzzelli says of these dishes,” If you went to Italy, it would all be so common, or be found in someone’s house in Italy, that's part of the experience.”
With a growing fan base for the pop-up, Petruzzelli says she hopes to land a permanent home for Sprezza Cucina within the next year.
“The goal is the brick-and-mortar,” she says. “There’s a lot of Italian restaurants, but I want to create an atmosphere that feels like Italy — my food is so traditional."
Sprezza Cucina appears weekly on Saturdays at The Broken Tulip.
