Covering food and drink in the Buffalo Niagara region is a blend of hard news and entertainment. Food reporter Francesca Bond discusses her approach to food coverage with Executive Editor Sheila Rayam.
The kids in the Parkside neighborhood can probably tell you about the "popsicle lady" who sells gourmet ice pops at their local bookstore.
Regulars at the North Tonawanda Farmers Market know all about the married couple who bake a new kind of empanada with fresh produce each week.
Until recently, one of the best pints of local ice cream could be purchased just once a week in the Elmwood Village - and only if you knew the producer's home address.
Some of the most innovative food in Buffalo can be a bit elusive. All of the above businesses - Ernie's Pop Shop, WNY Empanadas and Quokka Sweets, in that order - are examples of food pop-ups. Think of a pop-up as a test run for culinary ideas. Rather than investing in a brick-and-mortar or a food truck, budding restaurateurs can cut their teeth on a low-cost, low-risk and creative alternative, often while keeping their day jobs.
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Pop-ups often literally pop up under plastic tailgate tents at farmers markets and breweries. Sometimes they have a physical storefront you can visit, but maybe only for a few hours a week, and often only if you order in advance. Most pop-ups rent space in commissary kitchens - like renting a fully furnished apartment - to prepare their foods, then finish any additional cooking on site.
Some of the buzziest restaurants in Buffalo, such as the James Beard-nominated Southern Junction and the French patisserie Butter Block, started as pop-ups before opening their permanent locations. (Both businesses regularly have lines out the door spilling onto the sidewalk.)
"It's becoming more and more popular," said Andrea Lizak, associate director and business adviser at SUNY Buffalo State University's Small Business Development Center. "Just getting your foot out there before you're doing anything larger."
The Small Business Development Center, which offers free business advice to every interested person who walks through the doors, encourages clients to pilot their food concept with a pop-up, according to the center's director, Susan A. McCartney. It's easier to secure bank financing when you have data on your business, or as it's called in the biz, "proof of concept," which can be gathered while operating on a smaller scale.
"Everyone has a big vision," McCartney said. "In order for them to move forward and actually succeed, we have found it beneficial for them to create a more modest version of their dream and they can acclimate themselves to the basic business challenges."
Pop-ups breed creativity
Rebeca Fong-Reynolds, the "popsicle lady" who owns Ernie's Pop Shop, tested recipes for two years before her first pop-up last September. Her popsicles are much more gourmet than the colorful boxes in stores. She uses produce from local farms in most of her flavors, often asking herself when she sees a new crop: "Can I ice cream that?" (Snow peas? Yes. Pickled beets? No.)
Her popsicles are inspired by her Ecuadorian heritage - her mother is from Alausi, Ecuador, "the second-most famous town for ice cream popsicles," Fong-Reynolds said - and her Western New York roots, hence the local produce. Some of her popsicles are unlike anything else offered locally, such as the Colada Morada flavor made with local berries, peaches and warm spices - coming up in October, inspired by a traditional drink served in Ecuador for All Souls Day.
David Brown and Otto Garcia, owners of WNY Empanadas, cook pre-ordered empanadas and tamales out of Chandler Street and ask customers to pick them up at specific farmers markets. They make large, doughy Mexican empanadas descended from a type of Cornish pasty, along with tamales and sweet, pie-like galettes. The flavors change nearly every week, depending on which fruits and vegetables are in season. A recent galette revealed a colorful interior of local peaches and blueberries, while an empanada encrusted-stuffed poblano pepper was bathed in sherry walnut cream.
By starting fresh each week and keeping their offerings small, they are able to cook with more flexibility. They are not tethered to the expectations that come with a larger menu or a bigger team.
"The way of standing out for us is just offering something different each week," Brown said.
After two years of growth, Brown and Garcia quit their other jobs last year to focus full time on empanadas, some catering and baking Mexican bread for local restaurants. On a good weekend, they sell about 500 empanadas and 100 tamales.
"We're not making tons of money," Brown said. "But basically it pays for itself in that we're not losing any money. We're coming out even. Everything gets paid. We can pay ourselves, pay the bills."
A culinary connection
You could argue that everything is temporary, but pop-ups are especially transient.
That's what makes them cool.
Monthly pop-ups by Fat Daddy's 716 feel like a party, which is what longtime friends and new business partners Alexis Kerr and Gabriel B. Nieves want.
The food is fun - a short and evolving menu of cookie dough-stuffed brownies and cake inspired by nostalgic strawberry ice cream bars sold in school vending machines. Even the photos posted after the event look like society-page snaps: portraits of customers laughing while holding their bags of treats or gazing lovingly at a piece of cake.
"I just want to be part of the community," Nieves said. "I really love food and beverage because of its ability to connect people."
Fat Daddy's 716 won't be throwing these parties forever. Eventually, the owners would like to open their own space, a bake shop-meets-diner-meets-cafe that feels like "walking into your grandma's house."
Then there's the exclusivity. Customers usually stumble across them, either by physically being at the right place at the right time or virtually on their Instagram feeds. You never know if you're going to be able to buy the food you just ate again, or if the chef will have moved onto the next small, experimental batch.
Quokka Sweets, a dessert and ice cream brand by pastry chef Jenn Batt, has a new ice cream choice every week - and they are never the kind of flavors you find at a chain supermarket. She sells pints only at Farm Shop Buffalo. (A recent week's flavor: Aperol Spritz Creamsicle.)
When they are not working their other restaurant jobs, industry veterans Nicholas Rice, Mark Rossman and Brett Krebuszewski pop up with their live-fire Neapolitan pizza venture, Save Me a Slice. Orso Nero Pizza started as a restaurant kiosk in the West Side Bazaar, then pivoted to a pop-up and has been a fixture at breweries and markets throughout the summer. It works as a source of supplemental income, Diletti said, but is difficult to do without another job.
"When it's on, it's on," Diletti said. "When it's off, it does seem like a lot more work than it's worth sometimes."
Both Save Me a Slice and Orso Nero hope to evolve into pizza restaurants within the next year.
In the meantime, Diletti is viewing this as a learning period: How do you make a perfect Neapolitan pie with a leopard-spotted crust when it's hot and humid or cold and drizzly? How do you choose the right venue with enough customers to make it worth your time? How do you save money for your dreams?
"I guess that's the exact nature of business," Diletti said. "Developing and becoming whatever it is that you end up becoming."
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