I don’t grill, but I love being around grilling. Who doesn’t? I love the smell, the standing around and rubbernecking to see the food cook, the smoke in my eyes. (Smoke follows beauty, right? Right?)
Weirdly, I can’t find a place to put a grill in my sixth-floor walk up. So if you’re blessed with a backyard and the means to char burgers and hot dogs any night of the week, I’m happy for you.
For the rest of us, chasing down pop-ups is often the best way to get a fresh-off-the-grill meal with the full smoke-and-loitering experience. Finding a pop-up feels like a game of Pokemon Go — you have to diligently stalk the pop-up’s Instagram for locations and plans, often show up reservation-less and hope the line isn’t catastrophic. Here are a few summer pop-ups that are worth setting post notifications for.
Grilled oysters on repeat
The highlight of my Fourth of July was a grilled oyster topped with the flavors of pan con tomate — vinegary grated tomatoes, garlic and cilantro macho, served with a piece of grilled bread skewered with a Panamanian flag. I may never try it again, such is the nature of the ever-changing pop-up menu from the “unapologetically Panamanian” Flatbush Oyster Co. But I can rest easy knowing they’ll always serve their elemental dish: grilled oysters with buttery jerk seasoning, a bite worthy of its own hashtag.
Details on their upcoming pop-ups can be found on the @flatbushoysterco Instagram.
Smash burgers with a fan club
Shy’s Burgers proudly advertises that they have “no hours, no address, no number.” Probably because if they did have a number, the line would be perpetually busy, and if they had an address, there would be fire hazard-level crowds every day. Sometimes you can expect a few types of burgers and sides, and sometimes it’s straightforward: smashed grass-fed beef, American cheese, white onions, special sauce and a potato bun. At Mimi in Greenwich Village, where Shy’s is doing a residency for the summer, there’s also a bright sardine dish, mortadella with potato chips, and a few other non-burger dishes. For the full outdoor cookery experience (and top-tier people watching), hunting down a pop-up is still the way to go.
Details on their upcoming pop-ups can be found on the @shysburgers Instagram.
Paella plus extremely high vibes
It’s not grilling, technically speaking, but Arroces Street Paella gets to be an exception here. And standing around a gargantuan pan of seafood paella may be even more fun than lingering around a charcoal grill, especially when there’s house music bumping. Arroces, by Eduardo Cuenca, has all of that, plus a few other Spanish classics. At the most recent pop-up at Ensenada, in Williamsburg, there were spicy chicken croquetas, tortilla española and gazpacho.
Details on their upcoming pop-ups can be found on the @arrocesnyc Instagram.
Chaat dogs, get your chaat dogs
Hot dogs grilling is the official scent of the summer, made better with the smell of buns being griddled in ghee. You’ll find that from Chaat Dog, a Desi-Chicagoan pop-up where dogs (beef or vegetarian) are lightly charred, topped with different combinations of chaat, two chutneys (mint and tamarind-cherry), crunchy chickpeas, pickled peppers, cilantro and chaat salt. And they’ve taken the work out of chasing them down, at least for the summer, while they’re popping up at Strong Rope Brewery in Red Hook on Fridays — if you’ve got summer Fridays, I recommend making an afternoon of it.
Details on their upcoming pop-ups can be found on the @chaatdog Instagram.
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