Blistering shishito peppers set off the smoke alarm, brought firefighters and evacuated three floors of the Skyloft apartment in West Campus. Josh Hee, informatics senior, kept cooking, determined to finish the prep work for Hog and Mortar, the pop-up restaurant he operates with partner computer science junior, Kenta Fukuchi.
Fukuchi and Hee said two years ago, they barely knew one another. After meeting at a Japanese Association Golden Week event in 2023, the duo now runs Hog and Mortar out of Fukuchi’s apartment.
“We weren’t tight at all,” Hee said. “I was an officer in JA, and he wasn’t even a member.”
After not speaking for a year, they reconnected when Fukuchi impulsively bought a pizza oven, and they committed. Now, they serve their specialty pizza, “Hog and Mortar,” and other fine dining dishes.
“Let’s do that thing we talked about two years ago,” Fukuchi said. “And then we did it.”
The hog rider and mortar, two of Hee’s cards from the game Clash Royale, inspired the name.
“It’s not like one of us is hog or one of us is mortar,” Hee said. “Sometimes, I’m hog, sometimes he’s hog. Sometimes, he’s the one pushing the boundary. Sometimes, he’s the one holding it down. We wanted to take that idea and put it into the name.”
Hee said cooking became a passion when he made a special Cacio e Pepe meal for his girlfriend.
“I realized … I was able to give her an experience that’s not just glorifying for myself, but it’s able to give her life something she didn’t have before,” Hee said.
Fukuchi said this philosophy inspired him, too.
“I was always into cooking a little bit, … but it wasn’t until I met Josh … I really found my love for cooking,” Fukuchi said. “With Josh, he likes to cook for other people and use it as a love language. I got inspired by that and started doing the same thing.”
Prep work begins around 8 p.m. the night before at Hee’s apartment, where he stays up most of the night. The next day, the two cook and serve guests alone at Fukuchi’s apartment from around noon to 10 p.m.
For their most recent pop-up on Feb. 18, Hog and Mortar collaborated with That One Noodle Shop, another student-run pop-up in West Campus. Hee said they served around 48 guests.
“It’s like magic,” Fukuchi said. “I think it’s so magical that you can get these seemingly random ingredients, and you put them together, and people are so amazed by how it tastes. You get to change people’s day just with food. Food’s very powerful.”
Kathryn Mey, a biomedical engineering sophomore, came to the pop-up because her friend suggested they go together.
“I feel like you won’t be able to get this anywhere else, especially with students who have a passion for cooking,” Mey said. “I’m very excited to see what’s going on moving forward.”
Outside of Hog and Mortar, Hee works as a charcuterie chef at a French restaurant downtown, gaining experience for what comes next. Hee hopes to open a brick-and-mortar restaurant one day.
“This is my dream,” Hee said. “This hog is my dream.”
