Atlanta food pop-ups: Salvadoran pupusas, Japanese sandos and Lebanese pizza
Each week, Punk Foodie highlights Atlanta pop-ups worth catching before they disappear, helping readers find the city’s most interesting chef-driven dining concepts, food trucks, supper clubs and limited-time food events.
Precision-built burgers from Camburger
Who: Camburger (@camburgeratl) from Cameron Lukkar.
When/Where: Wednesday-Friday, July 8-10, 3-9 p.m., Saturday, July 11, noon-9 p.m. and Sunday, July 12, noon-8 p.m. Sceptre Brewing Arts (@sceptrebeer). 630 East Lake Drive, Oakhurst.
Why Go: Lukkar brings a hands-on culinary approach shaped by his 20 years of cooking in kitchens across the country. To ensure each bite is consistently special, he spent four years of relentless research and development, including testing dozens of meats, cheeses and pickles to perfect the original Camburger.
What to Get: The Camburger (two local, grass-fed chuck patties smashed with slivered onions, American cheese and signature secret sauce on a potato bun).
The lineup also includes a fried chicken sandwich (spicy honey, pimento cheese and pickles), grilled chicken sandwich (pepper jack, pickles, fried onions and secret sauce), fried shrimp sandwich (pickles and Old Bay-seasoned mayonnaise) and chicken oysters (made from a prized cut of dark meat from the back of a chicken, served on oyster half shells) topped with caviar.
Colombian hot dogs from Manny Sazon Colombian Street Food
Who: Manny Sazon Colombian Street Food (@mannysazonatl) from Manny Lasprilla.
When/Where: Friday-Saturday, July 10-11, noon-9 p.m. and Tuesday-Thursday, July 14-16, noon-9 p.m. Prep Kitchens (@prepkitchens). 3781 Presidential Parkway, Doraville.
Monday, July 13, 5-9 p.m. and Friday, July 17, 4-9 p.m. NoFo Brew Co & Distillery (@nofobrewco). 6150 GA-400, Cumming.
Why Go: Lasprilla draws directly on his roots in Barranquilla, on Colombia’s northern Caribbean coast, where he previously owned a hot dog stand. He brings authentic Colombian street food to Atlanta, specializing in regional flavors with a particular focus on fully loaded Colombian-style hot dogs. He operates out of both a retail space in Doraville’s Prep Kitchens and a food truck that frequently pops up around town.
What to Get: The savage (split beef frank with shredded grilled steak, shredded chicken, bacon or Polish sausage, along with lettuce, onions, mayo, mustard, rosada aioli, creamy garlic, potato straws, cotija cheese and pineapple glaze) and the sencillo (beef frank, lettuce, onions, mayo, mustard, rosada aioli, creamy garlic, potato straws, cotija cheese and pineapple glaze).
The lineup also includes loaded fries, like the churrasco fries, and burgers, including the OMG burger.
The retail location hours may vary, so Lasprilla says to check Google Maps for the latest information.
Salvadoran pupusas from Mamacita’s Latin Kitchen
Who: Mamacita’s Latin Kitchen (@mamacitalatinkitchen) from Nora and Leslie Merino.
When/Where: Friday, July 10, 4-9 p.m. Duluth Town Green (@city_of_duluth). 3167 Main St., Duluth. Sunday, July 12, 5-10 p.m. Suwanee Circle (@suwaneecircle). 421 Main St., Suwanee.
Why Go: The Merino team pulls on their Salvadoran roots to bring authentic, made-to-order pupusas to Atlanta. Growing up on a family ranch in El Salvador, Nora Merino learned the craft using simple, fresh ingredients. After migrating to New York at 18, she supported her family by selling home-cooked meals, spending years perfecting her signature chicharron pupusas. Since relocating to Atlanta, Mamacita’s grew from a small home-based operation into a farmers market mainstay, and this August they will celebrate their food truck’s one-year anniversary.
What to Get: The queso, chicharron (pork and cheese) and revuelta (pork, bean and cheese) pupusas.
You might also consider the pupusa bombs rolled in hot Cheetos, birria pupusas and the birria tacos.
American fusion ravioli from Not Your Nonna’s Fusion Ravioli
Who: Not Your Nonna’s (@not.your.nonnas) from Bella (Chef Crust) Hunt.
When/Where: Saturday, July 11, 11 a.m.-7 p.m. Smorgasburg Atlanta (@smorgasburgatlanta). 140 Forsyth St. SW, South Downtown.
Why Go: Hunt brings extensive industry experience to her pop-up, having started at Mellow Mushroom at age 17 and working her way through nearly every restaurant position before eventually running other restaurants. Her culinary approach is deeply rooted in her Italian-Puerto Rican heritage and Southern upbringing. She translates this blended background into unique American fusion ravioli, where every component from the hand-rolled pasta to the custom spice blends and slow-cooked meats is crafted entirely from scratch.
What to Get: The fried buffalo chicken dip ravioli with Hunt’s original buffalo chicken dip stuffed in fresh pasta and tossed in ranch butter or the creamed spinach ravioli served in an herbaceous bechamel.
Also on the menu is fried cheese ravioli filled with mozzarella pearls and ricotta, served with a mild marinara dipping sauce.
Japanese sandos from Ticket To Tokyo
Who: Ticket To Tokyo (@ticket_to_tokyo) from Peter Sheng.
When/Where: Saturday, July 11, 4-9 p.m. Blooms at Ponce City Market (@blooms.emporium). 675 Ponce De Leon Ave. NE, Old Fourth Ward.
Why Go: After years in commercial real estate, Sheng shifted to his true passion: Japanese sandos. Drawing on his experiences traveling to Japan after growing up in China, he says his concept is designed to transport people to a late-night Tokyo convenience store run, showing that extraordinary food need not be precious. Sheng bakes shokupan, a fluffy Japanese milk bread, fresh from scratch using a traditional recipe and a Pullman pan, ensuring perfectly square slices with the exact structure and softness needed to hold its fillings.
What to Get: The beef or chicken sandos (slow-braised in a house soup of 30-plus herbs and spices and served on shokupan).
The menu also features a tamago sando (a soft-boiled soy egg marinated overnight in house broth) and a fruit sando with matcha cream.
Can’t make the pop-up? You can schedule a Wednesday night home delivery by placing your order before 8 p.m. on Monday.
Lebanese residencies from Habibis
Who: Habibis (@habibisatl) from Fadi Alkaasamani.
When/Where: Starting July 13, every Monday-Friday, 7-11:30 a.m. and Wednesdays, 11:30 a.m.-5 p.m. Chow A La Carte (@chow_a_la_carte). 2440 Piedmont Road NE, Buckhead.
Sundays, 3 p.m. until sold out. Little Cottage Brewery (@littlecottagebrewery). 120 Olive St., Avondale Estates.
Why Go: Alkaasamani was born in Russia to a Lebanese father and a Russian mother, then grew up in Lebanon. His chef-driven approach is rooted in classical culinary training from Lebanon and Switzerland, as well as his high-level experience working at the renowned Old Edwards Inn & Spa and various restaurant groups across Georgia. For his new Chow A La Carte residency, he takes familiar, approachable breakfast dishes and pizza and layers them with authentic Lebanese flavors. His pizzas, for example, feature house-made sujouk and lamb sausage, with depth-building fermented peppers in the tomato sauce and olive oil sourced directly from his father’s 500-year-old trees in Lebanon.
What to Get: For the daily breakfast at Chow A La Carte, go for the Lebanese breakfast bowl (batata harra potatoes, three eggs, sujouk, tomato, onions, peppers, parsley and feta) and the mankoushe (fresh-baked Lebanese flatbread with toppings such as cheese, za’atar, lahm bi ajeen or spiced beef, or cheese with lamb sausage).
For the Wednesday pizza lunch, go for the sujouk hot honey pizza (tomato sauce, mozzarella, Armenian Lebanese sujouk sausage and hot honey drizzle) and the Lebanese lamb pizza (tomato sauce, lamb sausage, mozzarella, pickled onions, arugula and pomegranate molasses).
Check out what we previously wrote about Alkaasamani’s residency at Little Cottage Brewery.
On Our Radar
- July 11: Wellness & Nature and Carla Fears’ Gourmet Street Foods are collaborating to put on a dinner under the stars in Fairburn.
- July 11: Dhaba BBQ will be debuting a new dish, Gulab jamun pork belly burnt ends, at their pop-up at Stout Brothers Smyrna.
- July 12: Revenant Wine is popping up at Parkgrounds in Reynoldstown; Hapa is the featured food vendor.
- For the month of July: At Smiley’s Burger Club in Decatur, you can get their smoked pork burger collaboration with Sweet Auburn BBQ.
Note: By their very nature, pop-ups are fluid and subject to the whims of weather. For the latest schedule and information, consult the pop-ups’ Instagram feeds.