The Best NYC Food Pop-Ups of 2022
We will always love our favorite brick & mortar restaurants, but pop-ups have become a necessary part of the NYC diet. Operating without a storefront or a set menu, as many pop-ups do, gives chefs a blank canvas to express their creativity, adding unpredictability and personality to the dining experience. On the flip side, some pop-ups specialize in perfecting one dish, over and over again. That repetition and perfectionism has brought a few NYC chefs to a Master Splinter-level of command over their craft.
We’ve gone through our archive and compiled a list of awards to recap some of New York City’s best pop-ups in 2022. It’s kinda like the Oscars, but way more delicious.
and the 8it Award goes to…
💥 Biggest Banger:
F*ck That’s Delicious Block Party
South 2nd Street in Williamsburg flooded with food-obsessed, cannabis aficionados on the first Saturday of the Fall as Action Bronson pulled up to L’Industrie Pizzeria to flip adana kebab sandwiches fresh off his professional wrestling debut in Queens. L’Industrie popped off as they often do with limited-dishin’ creations, serving the mozzarella stick's handsome, talented, crunchy, saucy, cube-shaped cousin: deep-fried lasagna. Fortunato Bros, Pizzeria Clementina from Rome, and Badmaash from Los Angeles came through as well, each of them serving a special dish drop fit for the occasion.
🤤 Most Consistently Delicious:
Gotham Smash Burger Pop-Up
📸: @gothamburgersocialclub
If you didn’t eat a Gotham Smash Burger this year, do you even live in New York? Chef Mike Puma’s Gotham Burger Social Club began as an Instagram page devoted to burger reviews and after years of research, he developed his own burger formula that maximizes flavor with flawless execution. There were multiple Gotham Smash Burger pop-ups pretty much every month this year, most commonly at Ray’s Bar. There are only two menu items; a double and the much less popular single, because who the hell wants just one patty? If you’re HANGRY you can order a triple, just ask. Its soft, but toasty potato bun hoists crisply seared patties smashed with razor thin onions, topped with American cheese, and stacked with all the fixings.
🥰 Most Unforgettable:
Porchetta Sandwich by Mind Machine x Regina’s
📸: @louie.the.foodie
The Prince of Porchetta, Chef Angelo Competiello (@mind_machine), came through Regina’s Grocery on Labor Day Weekend to sling porchetta sandwiches with onions, peppers, potatoes, lemon zest, and provolone that are now singed into the memories of all who attended. Angelo was inspired by porchetta food trucks in Rome years ago and has since mastered the crackly pork himself; you can hear the whole story on our podcast Forkin’ Around. A pig’s entire mid-section is decked out in garlic, salt, and fresh herbs— marinated, and cooked slowly over a 5-7 day process for his version. He rarely pops up in NYC, so when you have the opportunity to get pork’d, don’t miss it.
🌟 Rising Star:
The Za Report
📸: @thezareport
Miriam Weiskind guided tours for eight years with Scott’s Pizza Tours, accruing a rolodex of pizza knowledge that led her to become a pizzaiola herself. At the beginning of 2020, Weiskind began working at Paulie Gee’s, but the pandemic forced her out of a job. However, she persisted, baking pizza to pass time and giving out free pizza to other’s who had lost their jobs, first responders, and anyone facing hardship. What started as a way to give back has become one of New York’s top pizza pop-ups, frequently selling out at breweries, bars, and restaurants in Brooklyn and Queens.
💪 Hustler of the Year:
Kitchen Time Kev
At the end of September, a self-taught chef in Bed-Stuy slinging burgers, tacos, or barbecue depending on the night caught our attention. He goes by the name Kitchen Time Kev, and his recurring pop-ups draw hungry crowds late into the night. When we pulled up to Kev’s pop-up, he was smashing patties on a small electric flat-top range out the back patio of Turtles All The Way Down. But the burger that came off that grill made a statement; in true hustler fashion, he didn’t need a fancy set up to make an outstanding product. He smashes onions into his burger patties, tops them with more caramelized onions, and crunchy, tart dill pickles for a sweet and sour finish. With this burger style reaching full peak, 2023 is shaping up to be a smashing year to say the least.
😋 Tastiest Tasting Menu:
Din Din
Chef Courtney Sproule’s Din Din pop-ups are meals that taste as if “Julia Child had joined the riot grrrl movement,” according to James Beard Award-winning food critic Karen Brooks, and that quote perfectly captures this culinary rock show that draws inspiration from regional French cooking of the countryside home. A typical Din Din setlist might include an ensemble of pickled mussels, fresh nectarines, and dehydrated ricotta on crostini, a riff on sturgeon conserva with refreshing mint, sweet tomatoes, and peacotum aioili, and a duet of braised pork and sweet Jimmy Nardello pepper cream with Concord Grape French toast. It’s not too late to dig into some Din Din in 2022— the last one of year is on New Year’s Eve; click the bubbly below for all the info.
🤩 Most Inspiring:
Mirali Dilbalzi at Fulgurances
Imagine reaching your dream of opening a restaurant, but you’re forced to leave it behind. That’s what happened to Chef Mirali Dilbalzi after he launched Mirali, in Kiev, Ukraine in November 2021. After less than four months, he had to flee Kiev in wake of the Russian Armed Forces’ invasion of Ukraine, leaving the restaurant he had worked tirelessly on behind. Nevertheless, Dilbalzi passionately persisted and kept cooking. He organized the "Mirali Charity Dinners Tour" to support Ukraine, which took place at seven prestigious restaurants in Germany, then became the resident chef at New York chef’s incubator Fulgurances in September. His menu showcased harvest season produce, utilizing every part from the top to the root to create mini exhibitions of different fruits and vegetables in every course. Standouts included a butternut squash puree with ancho chile mole, and an artful roasted maitake mushroom in leek foam. We hope he makes his way back to NYC in 2023 for an encore 🤞
⏳ Worth the Wait:
Forsyth Fire Escape
📸: @forsythfireescape
“Hey Siri, play Started from the Bottom by Drake.” New York’s most in-demand burrito repeatedly sold out in minutes on Instagram, generated a four-hour long line at Infatuation Eeeeeatscon, and opened its first brick-and-mortar in 2022. Forsyth Fire Escape, which began as a business that lowered Scallion Pancake burritos in a bucket to customers from their apartment fire escape, is another one-dish pop-up that’s taken NYC by storm. A scallion pancake is topped with pernil, fried queso blanco, guacamole, and lemongrass chili crisp oil, then wrapped up to form a one-of-a-kind burrito. It’s available in Chinatown on Sundays via pre-order and at Olly Olly Market in Chelsea on weekdays. Tap the burritos below for all the deets:
🎉 Best of the Fests:
Pig Island
This yearly BBQ event could make Staten Island your favorite borough. More than 20 pitmasters descend upon the rock to compete for barbecue supremacy. A whole hog rotates slowly over smoky wood while you walk in the sun from tent to tent sampling some of the most esteemed barbecue in the Tri-State area. From pop-ups like Jase BBQ and SmoKing of Meats to brick-and-mortars from NYC and beyond like Blue Smoke and Kimchi Smoke, every single dish there was a hit in 2022.
WATCH THE RECAP 🎥 (featuring co-host Smoke Sweats)
🤝 Most Unique Collab:
Kit an’ Kin x Pelah Kitchen
Kith Treats may have teamed up with Coco Puffs this year, but the standout collab of 2022 was an Afro-Caribbean culinary series called Asé at Ostudio by chefs Anya Peters (Kit an’ Kin) and Jennae Kaikai (Pelah Kitchen) in July. It included a brunch where the chefs’ attention to detail maximized the flavors of each ingredient, featuring Ghanaian sugar bread French toast soaked in cardamon-infused custard topped with strawberries, and oxtail plantain hash topped with a jammy egg. This duo blended the essence of their cultures resulting in a flavor that cannot be replicated.
💡 The ‘Innov8it’ Award:
Rise + Dine
📸: Angela Bankhead
The bottomless mimosa-crushing, music-blasting, fist-pumping, football games on the TV-type brunch is officially out of style. Enter the ramen brunch. Chef Rāsheeda Purdie disrupted the cringeworthy stereotype that brunch has earned with her zen-inducing ramen pop-up series Rise + Dine, where brunch classics like bacon, egg, and cheese sandwiches, gravlax, everything bagels, and BLTs took on the form of innovative ramen. In Japan, eating ramen for breakfast has been common since the early 1900s due to the prevalence of "asa-ra,” the Japanese breakfast ramen culture. Perhaps we should have been eating ramen for breakfast all along. Rise + Dine is coming to Harlem in 2023, and we couldn’t be more excited…
📍 Most Elusive:
@ChefRaphNYC
📸: @chefraphnyc
Regina’s Grocery? Ray’s Bar? Kingston Hall? Short Stories? Comedy Cellar? A dope penthouse apartment? Move over Carmen San Diego, Chef Raph’s next pop-up location up next might be harder to pin down. I mean, who wouldn’t want to host Chef Raph when he’s putting out food that looks & tastes so sexual? Pull up to one of his pop-ups and you’ll find he brings flavor and execution to match, like with his signature hot honey fried chicken sandwich laced with sweet heat, sour Grillo’s pickles, and sexy sauce. Like a culinary Lebron James, when Raph brings his talents to your location, the trophies come with it.
It’s safe to say, 2022 was the biggest year in NYC pop-up history and we don’t see that slowing down any time soon. If you’re feeling fomo from this rundown, don’t worry. For all the inside deets on every food pop-up in NYC check out the Pop-Ups & Drops category in the 8it app. We are tracking the location, times and menu items for every food pop-up in real-time everyday, so you don’t have to.
Private Beta password: NYCPOPUP