FOOD cargoshippingtimes 11/23/2025 0 Comments

The free Thanksgiving ramen pop-up behind Poltergeist and Astrono chef Diego Argotti

Diego Argotti’s pasta pop-ups are amazing. The irreverent, genre-bound chef usually advertises pasta events just a day or two in advance with promotional flyers, hangs out late into the evening on LA’s sidewalks and parking lots, and then disappears.

But not about Thanksgiving.

Without fail, the former Poltergeist chef can be found on Thanksgiving Day filling free bowls of leftover-inspired noodle soup with mashed potatoes, turkey and XO-laced cranberry sauce. It’s his way of giving back to the city, and providing it for anyone who needs a different place for a hot meal — and a new appreciation for the holidays themselves.

Argotti preferred to spend Thanksgiving in the kitchen before he cooked the alms bowls, even though it was a day to avoid, not celebrate.

“It was a very sad time,” he said. “All I can think about is working and partying.”

Esterano chef Diego Argotti prepares Thanksgiving-inspired ramen in the commercial kitchen

But in 2017 he was invited to a fellow chef’s home, where he and other cooks prepared the most unusual dishes imaginable: turkey roulade, stuffed pumpkin with mac and cheese, green bean casserole with croissant dough, turkey with gizzard and duck stuffed with hearts. It was Argotti’s signal that he could, and should, get real weird with it.

The next year, during his time in Bayle’s kitchen, one of Argotti’s co-workers said he had no one to spend Thanksgiving with. So Argotti invited him and spent his vacation strengthening the boundaries. They tossed a whole pineapple into a pastor-inspired turkey carcass and hung it on a grill on a basketball court. They made a steamed cabbage roulade with layers of sour stuffing, pumpkin puree, roast turnips and mushrooms. Argotti called his parents, and he felt that he was finally in the groove of Thanksgiving.

“It was very tasty, a high-end dinner, and a way to let go,” he said. “It was the first time I ever took a few days off to cook Thanksgiving … they made us cook more. [as a family]And being more unified.”

Then the plague broke out.

His friends and family didn’t gather, but Argotti knew that a sidewalk pop-up could be the perfect platform to provide a social solution.

“I saw that there were resources for people who didn’t have shelter or food, but there were no services or resources for people who could have all the money in the world and be comfortable, but be lonely and depressed and alone,” said Argotti, who struggled with depression and substance abuse for years. “At least you can have your friends or go to your family that you miss. And now [due to COVID] It was out of balance.”

A red plastic bag of leftover sugar ramen with turkey, gravy, cranberry sauce, chili crisps, and Thai basil.

He’s set up portable burners in the parking lot of Echo Park’s Button Mash — the arcade that would house Argotti’s popular but later closed restaurant, Poltergeist — doing Thanksgiving-inspired ramen and other comforting off-the-wall creations. The next year he did it again, to double the profits.

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Argotti solicits pre-orders via Direct Messages on Easter’s Instagram account the week before Thanksgiving. Now, approaching the pop-up’s fifth iteration, he’s made friends and gotten to know repeat guests over the years. Some are people who can’t go home to their families outside the city, some are nurses who work in graveyard shifts, others work in the service industry and cater to others on vacation. Sometimes, the whole family will show up together because they don’t feel like cooking.

Argotti doesn’t judge guests’ status, provided they follow the rules: one bowl of soup per person, order via DM, and schedule a pick-up time.

One year, Argotti said, he emailed a national grocery chain to ask for two chickens as a donation. A “really insulting” corporate response told him that his efforts would be better spent on charity instead of cooking for the community. He continued anyway.

Argotti does not accept money for the soup, although a few donors have sent $100 to support the cause and help pay for the ingredients. He prepares his gift for 24 to 48 hours, roasting the turkeys, roasting the meat, and boiling the bones in pots that cook all day.

Garnishes of mashed potatoes and gravy next to a bowl of soup in the kitchen next to empty red plastic containers

Last year argot was planted in the kitchen of Skydister Beer’s upcoming Silver Lake Brew Pub, where the chef plans to reappear this year. He braised turkey legs, piled on the pommes purée topping, and made a big bowl of lemongrass-heavy tom cao gai for the vegan option.

Fresh pumpkin spiced pasta sat on the counter, boiled to order at each takeout just as it would be in a full restaurant setting. Sometimes friends showed up to help with the cooking, and his mother—who often made it into the kitchen every year—helped oversee the batches of soup. Solo diners and groups of friends gather outside the kitchen.

For a chef whose event flyers often pose for obscenities — like an avocado wearing a ball gag or a Hello Kitty duck — it’s a surprisingly healthy deal. And it comes but one day a year.