Pawpaw Pop-Up Has North Fork Flavor

Imagine an eight to nine-course meal flavored with unique ingredients sourced entirely from the North Fork for only $65. That’s the tried and true concept behind Pawpaw Pop-Up restaurant, a local company started in 2013 by Chef Taylor Knapp.

Knapp is originally from Indiana but has become a familiar name locally. While working as a chef at First & South in Greenport, he was preparing to leave the restaurant and start his snail farm Peconic Escargot. As the business model came into play, he realized that growing snails would be a slow money-making process.

In thinking of another way to make a living, he formed Pawpaw, with the intention of just having two pop-ups a month, the first being at Aldo’s in Greenport. However, five years later, “It’s kind of funny how it ended up turning into the world’s longest running pop-up,” Knapp said.

Suppers are served Saturdays at 6 and 8:30 PM at Bruce & Son in Greenport with 16 patrons at each seating, making it a culinary gathering of food, drinks, and conversation. Alongside a dishwasher and two servers, Knapp and his four-person team provide a foodie experience unmatched for its price. “We wanted it to be accessible,” he said.

Upcoming Saturdays on the calendar, thus far, are April 6, pairing with Moustache Brewing Co., April 20, May 4, and May 18.

The menu highlights local flavors such as white pine, spruce, bark, roots, wildflowers, and beach plums. A sample menu reads duck egg churro with black garlic crema, and monkfish and parsnip with smoked oyster sauce and oyster leaves, pork skin, chocolate, and juniper. Knapp and his team buy all their meat from the North Fork area, including their lamb and chicken offerings.

“The wild ingredients definitely make an appearance at every meal,” Knapp said.

For more information, visit www.pawpawpopup.com.

nicole@indyeastend.com