‘A win-win’: Miami restaurants stay afloat by renting their kitchens to other chefs

French-Persian restaurant Fooq’s in downtown Miami found itself selling Laotian curry, ping gai lemongrass chicken and homemade sai krog muu pork sausage the last two months.

Today, the menu is Italian. Picture a red, saucy bucatini amatriciana, 24-month aged prosciutto, burrata with pesto — foods that pair well with a carefully selected list of wines, including so-called natural wines made without pesticides or chemicals.

Fooq’s isn’t undergoing an identity crisis. Like several other Miami-area restaurants, it is weathering a COVID-19 emergency in a unique way.

Restaurants that remained closed during the pandemic have started subletting their spaces to pop-ups trying out a new concept. For the restaurants, it’s a way to pay rent and keep the lights on as they search for a path to success with coronavirus as a reality. For the pop-ups, it’s a chance to test-run a concept they hope to turn into a full-fledged restaurant built to withstand the constraints of the pandemic.

Taquiza taco shop has rented its South Beach space to a new Indian quick-service concept, Naan. Over the summer, the high-end restaurant Kaido, closed since Miami-Dade County ordered inside dining rooms shut in March, turned its idle kitchen over to square pizza pop-up Old Greg’s. And Fooq’s, closed much of June and July during COVID-19 spikes and downtown protests, handed the keys first to pop-up Lil’ Laos and now to a wine bar concept, Da Lida.

“A restaurant is like a boat. When you leave it without running for a while, it builds rust,” said Fooq’s owner David Foulquier, who was named to Forbes magazine’s 30 Under 30.

Foulquier’s idea came along at just the right time for Lina Goujjane, who got laid off in March from her job as a sommelier at David Chang’s Majordomo restaurant in Los Angeles. Goujjane, who was Fooq’s first general manager nearly six years ago, started making pasta sauces at home and selling them online. She stayed afloat making $600 a week for three months.

Foulquier followed her journey on Instagram. The two met up in July while visiting family in the south of France — both have French relatives and dual citizenship — and they hatched the idea to let her take over Fooq’s for two months with a wine bar.

She left Los Angeles with her husband, Alex Chang, a chef at the Freehand Hotel in Los Angeles who had opened the restaurant at the refurbished Vagabond Hotel in Miami back in 2015.

Together they streamlined a one-page menu based around her sauces, using imported Italian dry pastas. A sommelier, like Foulquier, she carefully selected wines from vineyards that don’t use pesticides and limit the amount of chemicals they use. Four of the menu pages are dedicated to wine.

Fooq’s stepped in to help with social media, pushing the new pop-up. They blasted the news to their email list. Google Fooq’s and you’ll find the results as “Fooq’s presents: Da Lida,” a portmanteau of Lina and David.

Fooq’s staff of 15 was cut down to five. There was no six-figure executive chef to pay. The two agreed to share the profits.

“Exposing a huge staff to COVID is too risky,” Goujjane said. “We have to treat this like a mom-and-pop. You’ve got to find new ways to stay alive.”

Taking a chance

Lil’ Laos proved it could work. A friend introduced Foulquier to Sakhone Soyarath and her husband, Curtis Rhodes. The two had catered Laotian food occasionally while Rhodes was the head chef at Café Roval and while Soyareth worked as an ad executive. When the pandemic closed Café Roval and Soyareth was furloughed, the two started selling their Lil’ Laos menu online when Foulquier offered to rent them his restaurant for two months.

“It was a win-win for both of us,” Foulquier said. “We had nothing to lose.”

It worked. Having a physical location and the push from an established restaurant helped put Lil’ Laos on the map in Edgewater, downtown and Brickell, Soyareth said. When their deal ended, they found a permanent location at The Citadel food hall in Little Haiti.

Running a restaurant full time during the coronavirus crisis helped the couple focus their business plan on takeout and delivery, which made up 80 percent of their sales. They learned how to keep their food costs low and their check average high. The pop-up paid dividends in experience for their new spot, Rhodes said.

“When COVID happened, it pushed me,” said Soyareth, whose cousin owns several Laotian restaurants in Washington, D.C., including the Michelin-star-rated Thip Khao. “This was the time to do it. You have no other choice.”

From tortillas to naan

Five weeks as a successful pop-up has given the Indian street food spot, Naan, momentum while in residence at South Beach’s Taquiza, where they plan to be for another five weeks. Catherina Vallin and her partner, Alex Lipin, had started a successful event-planning company, H&C Collective, by partnering with restaurants like Taquiza to cater weddings and corporate events.

In just their second year, they were on pace for a $400,000 first quarter when COVID-19 cases put an end to events, “the day the music died for us,” Vallin said.

But with a federal small business loan, they partnered with their go-to chef, Anthonidoss Ramesh Abraham, with whom they specialized in putting on Indian weddings in South Florida. Steve Santana, owner of Taquiza, offered to split the rent with them at his closed South Beach location.

“They really did us a solid. It was this perfect cosmic scenario,” said Vallin.

The couple bought a $2,500 tandoori oven to make fresh naan bread to go with dishes like chicken tikka, roasted lamb and palak paneer, as well as sauces, chutneys and lentil and curry stews.

“By week two, we realized this was something special,” Vallin said. “As much as COVID has been devastating, it’s created some unexpected opportunities.”

For Santana, it meant the rent gets covered and there are friends keeping his restaurant space running, while directing Taquiza loyalists to their second location in North Beach.

“The space was just sitting there. So we told them, ‘Do what you want to do,’ ” Santana said. “It’s a cool concept and I think it’s going to go really well for them past the COVID time.”

A success story

They hope to match the success of Old Greg’s Pizza, which Greg Tetzner started in his apartment during the pandemic. Images of his square pizza flooded Instagram and the chef/restaurateur Brad Kilgore offered the kitchen at his upscale Japanese-style lounge, Kaido, which remains closed during the pandemic, for a share of the profits.

There was a month-long wait for his pizza. They outgrew the space and hope to open a permanent location within the next month.

“When we started this, it was always our goal to be a neighborhood pizza shop,” Tetzner said. “This helped put my dream into motion.”

Foulquier hopes Da Lida helps push Fooq’s into the traditional high season, when he expects northerners will come to South Florida to boost sales and he can return to his regular menu. By then, Goujjane hopes to have the wine bar of her dreams in a permanent spot.

“We want Da Lida to exist,” she said, “and hopefully we can bring on that opportunity.”

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Popping up at your favorite restaurant

Da Lida

With room for about 30 outside seats, think of this as a wine bar with food that pairs well for keeping upright: antipasti like Spanish salchichón, delicately sliced prosciutto to hearty pastas, most for around $13.

Inside Fooq’s, 1035 N Miami Ave., downtown Miami. Tuesday-Saturday, 6-10:30 p.m. Instagram.com/dalida_pastawine/

Naan Indian Eats

A tandoori oven inside the South Beach taco shop Taquiza has turned this spot into a quick-service, Indian street food success. “The fluffy goodness” is both their motto and their website address, where you can order everything from samosas, fresh-baked naan bread, from as little as $3.50 to a full-on tasting of the full menu for $80.

Inside Taquiza, 1351 Collins Ave., South Beach. TheFluffyGoodness.com

Lil’ Laos

While they started as a pop-up at Fooq’s, the Laotian cuisine is now available for takeout, delivery and dine-in at The Citadel food hall. Laotian cuisine combines the Southeast Asian flavors of neighboring Vietnam, Thailand and Cambodia.

The Citadel, 8300 NE Second Ave., Little Haiti. Daily, noon-10 p.m. Instagram.com/lillaos/

Haochi Dumplings and Panolo

Union Beer Store, the craft beer and wine shop and bar in the heart of Little Havana has been staying afloat through to-go and delivery sales. But with relaxed regulations, they opened a new beer garden out back. Several local vendors take turns using their otherwise unused kitchen.

A former chef at Boia De, one of Miami’s hottest new restaurants, Victoriano Hernandez became the “Dumpling Meng,” selling his handmade dumplings fresh in the biergarten. Monday-Wednesday, 4-9 p.m. Instagram.com/haochi_dumplings/

Union Beer Store’s longtime bartender and marketing manager, Adrian Castro, who goes by the character Manolo at the pro-wrestling themed bar, takes his turns with making pan con bistec steak sandwiches, Esloppy Joes (made with Cuban picadillo) and stuffed fried tostones. Thursday, Friday and Sunday, 4-9 p.m.

Union Beer Store, 1547 Eighth St., Miami; Instagram.com/unionbeerstore/