Fans Have Until Sept. 29 to Experience Chef Diego Argoti’s Bold Creations
By Dolores Quintana
Two weeks after the PBS Socal web series Rebel Kitchens premiere, one of the featured restaurants, led by chef Diego Argoti, Poltergeist announced that the celebrated eatery would close at the end of the month. You have until September 29 to try some of Poltergeist’s favorite menu items, like the broccoli beef ravioli, duck leg bubble waffle, Thai Caesar salad, and a symphony of new specials that Argoti had hesitated to put on the menu, but has now chosen to go out with a blaze of glory: a chicken heart Waldorf salad, rad nah lasagna, crying tiger rib-eye, and a frog’s leg dish that had graced his street pasta pop up Estrano.
Poltergeist is located within Button Mash, an arcade that has been in business since 2015 and that shuttered temporarily during the first years of the pandemic. The business has always had a bar for quick eats and a small restaurant space where a few different chefs had set up shop to keep hungry gamers and more adventurous diners fed. Chef Argoti’s Poltergeist has been making noise there since February 2023, earning a James Beard nomination for Argoti who was a semi-finalist for best chef, Esquire magazine awarded the restaurant as one of the United States’ best new restaurants, and a space on the coveted Los Angeles Times 101 Best Restaurants list. In keeping with the rebellious nature of the chef and his creation, Poltergeist came in at number 101.
It is a sad sign of the times that Button Mash and Poltergeist could not continue because the last night that I ate at the restaurant, Button Mash was packed with people. But rising rents are taking a toll even with successful businesses.
The news was announced jointly on Instagram and read, “Some sad and surprising news to share. We’ve reached the end of our lease and, after much consideration, we’ve made the difficult decision to not renew it.
Our final day of business will be Sunday, September 29th.
We’ll most miss serving this community we’ve been a part of this past decade. We’re grateful to everyone who’s worked here and everyone who’s come through these doors over the years — from the early Starry Kitchen days to our current Poltergeist era.
We look forward to seeing you all over the next three weeks as we celebrate the experiences we’ve shared in a place that somehow stuck around this long despite never making sense on paper.”
