Argoti preferred to spend Thanksgiving in the kitchen long before he was cooking up bowls of altruism, though it was to avoid the day, not celebrate it.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was a very sad time,\u201d he said. \u201cAll I cared about was working and partying.\u201d<\/p>\n
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Argoti plates to-go bowls of ramen during his annual Thanksgiving pop-up in 2024.<\/p>\n
(Stephanie Breijo \/ Los Angeles Times)<\/p>\n
But in 2017 he was invited to a fellow chef\u2019s house, where he and other cooks prepared the most extravagant meal imaginable: turducken roulade, pumpkin stuffed with mac and cheese, a green bean casserole topped with croissant dough, turkey gravy with gizzards and hearts drizzled over hachiya persimmons. It was Argoti\u2019s signal that he can, and should, get real weird with it.<\/p>\n
The following year, during his time in the kitchen of Bavel, one of Argoti\u2019s co-workers mentioned that he didn\u2019t have anyone to spend Thanksgiving with. So Argoti invited him over and spent the holiday pushing the boundaries again. They shoved a whole pineapple into the carcass of an al pastor-inspired turkey<\/a> and hung it over a grill at a basketball court. They fashioned a steamed-cabbage roulade with layers of sourdough stuffing, pumpkin pur\u00e9e, roast turnips and mushroom gravy. Argoti invited his parents, and he felt he was finally falling into the groove of Thanksgiving.<\/p>\n \u201cIt was this very lavish, over-the-top dinner, and a way to redeem myself,\u201d he said. \u201cIt was the first time I ever took any days off to cook Thanksgiving \u2026 they turned into us cooking more [as a family], and being more united.\u201d<\/p>\n Then the pandemic hit.<\/p>\n His friends and family weren\u2019t gathering, but Argoti realized a sidewalk pop-up could be the perfect platform to provide a social solution.<\/p>\n \u201cI noticed that there were resources for people that didn\u2019t have shelter or food, but there weren\u2019t any services or resources for people that could have all the money in the world and be well-off, but lonely and depressed and alone,\u201d said Argoti, who struggled with depression and substance abuse for years. \u201cAt least you could have your friends or go visit your family that you miss. And now [due to COVID] that was out of the equation.\u201d<\/p>\n Argoti\u2019s Thanksgiving-leftovers ramen with turkey, gravy, pumpkin spice noodles and cranberry-sauce chile crisp in 2024.<\/p>\n (Stephanie Breijo \/ Los Angeles Times)<\/p>\n He set up portable burners in the parking lot of Echo Park\u2019s Button Mash \u2014 the arcade that would house Argoti\u2019s acclaimed but since-shuttered restaurant, Poltergeist<\/a> \u2014 doling out Thanksgiving-inspired ramen and other comforting off-the-walls creations. The next year he did it again, to more than double the interest..<\/p>\n Share via Close extra sharing options <\/p>\n <\/p>\n
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