The Pop Spot isn’t a pop music venue. They don’t feature a large selection of soda pop. And popcorn isn’t on the menu.
But, after only being open a few weeks, The Pop Spot at 715 West Brookhaven Circle is turning into a pop-ular place. The “pop” stands for pop art, which is represented on a wall with prints, including some Andy Warhol-looking Campbell’s soup cans. The enticing menu features both Venezuelan and American dishes.
Thomas Schaub, a regular at The Pop Spot, says, “I come down for the atmosphere and food. It gives a little bit of a Midtown vibe in East Memphis.”
The Pop Spot is the brainchild of Venezuelan native Sylvia Leon, who co-owns the eatery with Franco Bordonaro. Leon moved to Memphis as an exchange student in 2003 and lived with an American family while attending Bartlett High School. “I stayed with that family and they helped me get my papers and all that. The situation in Venezuela was really bad at the time and that’s why I decided to stay,” she says.
The Pop Spot Burger (Photo: Michael Donahue)
Leon graduated from Southwest Community College with a business management degree. As a woman in Venezuela, she says, she would have had to depend on her parents. “That’s just how our culture is. Also life. I didn’t want to do that.”
She got her degree and opened Casa Leon, an event venue that later turned into a restaurant, on the site of the old Jim’s Place East on Shelby Oaks Drive. In 2022, the business was sold. “It was getting too dangerous. One of our security guards got shot in the parking lot. I said, ‘I can’t do this anymore.’”
Leon went to work at Mid-South Latino Chamber of Commerce, where she is executive director. In December 2024, she and Bordonaro decided to open another restaurant. She found a property for lease on Brookhaven Circle, one of her favorite streets. “People come here and just walk from restaurant to restaurant,” she says.
Leon “wanted something different” from other restaurants there, “a fun place, a nice atmosphere, a good vibe. A place you want to stay and have some drinks.” She also wanted the pop art concept, but she didn’t want the art to just be on the walls. She wanted the walls themselves on the outside and inside to be painted pink and yellow, like the colorfully-painted restaurants in Venezuela.
But her brother suggested that customers might get headaches or even leave with such vivid, intense colors. So Leon settled on more neutral walls. But, she says, “We transferred the pop art into our food and into our drinks and put the pop art on the walls.”
The colorful food does pop out, like The Pop Spot Burger, which, for now, comes with purplish-pink buns. Or the three sliders, which — this week — have pink, yellow, and green buns. Colors change at The Pop Spot. They have their buns made and dyed by a woman from Venezuela who owns Nanis Bakery in Olive Branch, Mississippi. “They’re safe. They’re edible colors,” says Leon.
She describes their fare as “American food with a fusion of Latin flavors.” It’s “gourmet type, very well presented.”
Bordonaro, also is from Venezuela, provided the recipe for The Pop Spot Burger, which, according to the menu is “six ounces grilled (hamburger meat), artisan sourdough, fried egg, shredded cabbage, American cheese, cheddar, herb aioli, and potato sticks.”
The mini-arepas, another Venezuelan item, are described on the menu as, “fried crispy [arepas] topped with chicken and pineapple pico de gallo, shrimp and cole slaw, and beef tenderloin, avocado, and herb aioli.”
“We also have salads, tacos, hamburgers, quesadillas, salmon, redfish, grilled chicken steaks,” Leon adds. And that’s just some of the items.
Gerardo Tovar, former sous chef at The Capital Grille, is their executive chef.
Their drinks are colorful, too. They include “Poppin’ Pink Flamingo,” which is made with tequila, sparkling grapefruit soda, lime, and pink sparkles.
A spacious patio on the west side of the restaurant is slated to open in early spring. Leon plans to eventually feature music by solo artists or small groups.
“People are just finding out about us,” Leon says, but she is ready for more folks to pop in.