3 pop-ups that function as real-time test kitchens

In a traditional restaurant, new dishes are developed behind closed doors and filtered through server feedback before making the printed menu. But in Atlanta’s pop-up scene, research and development happens live on the flat top — often with an audience of customers.

Operating out of brewery taprooms, weekend farmers markets and neighborhood dive bars, pop-ups can function as test kitchens where chef-owners such as Jay Felton of Oso Smoke & Dough (@osobbq), Steven Saputra of Bun & Bites (@bnb_atl) and Teresa Martinez of Buen Provecho (@buenprovechoatl) interact with their customers directly so the learning happens in real time.

Although they have more opportunities to interact with customers, pop-up chefs quickly learn the common polite verbal approval — “Wow, this is great!” — is not so helpful. So Felton, who has been popping up with his novel osito (elevated pizza pocket) handheld concept, looks at other signals.

“In the pop-up scene, it’s a lot easier to get the feedback from that initial facial reaction of somebody taking their first bite of something; I feel like it is the most truthful telling thing of it because you can’t hide behind that,” Felton told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution.

Saputra of Bun & Bites, who works festivals and is a regular at Smorgasburg serving Asian fusion sandwiches and dumplings, echoed Felton.

“That first bite never lies,” he said.

Saputra also measures success by whether a festival attendee immediately walks back up to order a second sandwich.

“When people buy one and then they say, ‘Oh my God, this is really good, let me get another one,’ this helps me see that people like it,” he said.

Felton, like Saputra, regularly hands out experimental dishes to dedicated regulars in exchange for uncensored critiques. Felton said that if an item fails in early morning bake tests, like a Korean brisket osito once did, he freezes the prep and scraps it immediately.

In one instance, Felton said he got feedback from a regular that a ricotta pizza osito needed balsamic vinegar. He said he interpreted that as a sign the osito needed an additional sweet acid profile for which he added a more chef-y pomegranate molasses.

At the dive bar and music venue Boggs Social & Supply where she regularly pops up, Martinez of Buen Provecho finds an agile, unbuffered test bed for her nostalgia-driven Southern California street-food and traditional Mexican family recipes. Because she is frequently a solo act, the physical setup removes any separation between the kitchen line and the dining floor.

“More than 50% of the time, I am the one taking the order, making the food and running the food,” Martinez explained.

Standing on both sides of the kitchen pass allows her to bypass the usual dining room filters and quiz resident bartenders and regulars on texture, heat and spice thresholds in real time.

“I’ll be working in the kitchen developing things, and then I’ll ask the bartenders or some of my regulars, ‘You guys want to try this?’” Martinez said. “A lot of times I get good feedback about texture and elements that are missing.”

The pop-up format is not just a downsized version of a traditional restaurant. When it comes to developing new dishes, it is an open-air laboratory where you can taste the tangible output of the chefs’ iterative craft in real time.

And perhaps nowhere is this innovative spirit more pronounced than in how these three chefs are reimagining sandwiches.

Oso Smoke & Dough: The osito barbecue pocket

Before launching Oso, Felton built his career in high-end kitchens, most recently serving as chef de cuisine at Miller Union. Looking to pair his love for Texas-style barbecue with pizza dough, which offered more appealing price points and margins than selling meat alone, Felton initially planned to sell barbecue pizzas at farmers markets. But while scouting markets, he realized whole pies were clumsy for shoppers walking with grocery bags. Inspired by chef Evan Funke’s la mortazza folded dough sandwich in Los Angeles, Felton pivoted to engineer the osito for mobile eating.

Oso Smoke & Dough’s pepperoni osito and middy glizzy osito. (Courtesy of Erin Zellers)

Rather than sticking to rigid baking formulas, Felton drew on his fine-dining experience to experiment with contemporary Neapolitan canotto dough to find the right balance of hydration and strength. Baked in high-heat Gozney ovens, the crust stays crisp while trapping steam and rendering juices inside. Shredding the slow-smoked proteins allows the meat to reabsorb its juices as it rests in the pocket.

Felton’s rotating menu features cross-cultural fillings, like smoked barbecue chicken with mozzarella and marinated kale, slow-smoked grass-fed Georgia brisket and Hawaiian spiced pork rubbed in al pastor spices with fruit agrodolce. Other market options include a ham, egg and cheese osito made with pulled pork, alongside slow-smoked Georgia brisket and Hawaiian spiced pork layered with fruit agrodolce.

Oso Smoke & Dough serves at the Decatur Farmers Market (@decaturfarmersmarket) 4-7 p.m. Wednesday; the Tucker Farmers Market (@tuckerfarmersmarket) 4-7 p.m. Thursday; the Peachtree Road Farmers Market (@ptreefarmersmkt) 8:30 a.m.-noon Saturday, and the Grant Park Farmers Market (@communityfarmersmarkets) 9 a.m.-1 p.m. Sunday.

Bun & Bites’ Steven Saputra and Jasmine Azeharie. (Courtesy of Sam Flemming)

Bun & Bites: The har gow Pan-Asian shrimp burger

For Saputra of Bun & Bites, designing a shrimp burger was an opportunity to translate the crunchy, snapping filling mechanics of classic Cantonese har gow dumplings into a handheld street format.

Bun & Bites’ har gow shrimp burger. (Courtesy of Olivia Arnold)

Instead of grinding the protein into a paste, he adapts the interior architecture of traditional Cantonese har gow dumplings. He hand-chops plump whole shrimp into crunchy chunks, combining them with finely minced shrimp to bind the patty naturally, adding a touch of potato starch specifically to lock in the seasonings so no flavor leaches out during pan-frying. To make the patty accessible to pescatarians and non-pork eaters, Saputra omits the pork lard traditionally used in har gow, pan-frying the shrimp to achieve a bouncy, snapping bite.

Bun & Bites’ Korean barbecue bao bun burger. (Courtesy of Sam Flemming)

Just as he adapted the interior mechanics of Cantonese har gow dumplings, he uses traditional dim sum dough techniques to engineer the buns for his bao burgers. Formulated to match the soft, pillowy mouthfeel of classic Chinese bao, the handmade dough is steamed and then flat-top griddled into a sturdy yet fluffy base for bold fillings, such as Korean barbecue pork belly or panko-crusted shrimp with katsu sauce.

Bun & Bites will be serving at the North Georgia State Fair in Marietta from Sept. 24 to Oct. 4, the Atlanta International Night Market in downtown Lawrenceville Sept. 25-26, and returns to Smorgasburg Atlanta (@smorgasburgatlanta) in South Downtown on Saturday beginning October 10.

Buen Provecho’s Teresa Martinez (Courtesy Fedale Hall)

Buen Provecho: The concha breakfast smash burger

For Martinez of Buen Provecho, menu development is rooted in SoCal nostalgia and neighborhood context. Aiming to build the ultimate dive bar brunch handheld for her collaborations with pop-up Loko Eatz at Boggs Social & Supply, Martinez swaps standard burger buns for sweet Mexican conchas from pop-up baker Teresa Finney of At Heart Panaderia, a collaboration that reflects the tight-knit community of Atlanta’s pop-up scene.

Buen Provecho’s concha burger. (Courtesy of Sam Flemming)

Using a pink hibiscus concha, she pairs its sweet streusel sugar crust with a hard-seared smash patty, caramelized onions, crispy bacon and a fried egg. A house-made cream cheese, honey and chive spread brings a tangy freshness that cuts through the rich, sweet and savory bite.