I tried Goop's Ghost Kitchen and I liked it

Americas - USA West Los Angeles
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Like everyone else, Gwyneth Paltrow is someone I love to hate. However, I was intrigued when I read on Eater about Goop’s new ghost kitchen because of the pedigree of the chef who, according to Eater, worked at both El Bulli and Per Se.
Gwyneth Paltrow’s Goop Opens L.A. Ghost Kitchen - Eater.

I’ve actually never been to either El Bulli or Per Se, but I can say that Goop Kitchen was really good, despite the fact that the packaging and branding is a bit cringe-inducing.

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For those of us who think Gwyneth is ridiculous, carrying around a bag that speaks of “detoxes” is, well, embarrassing. If there was an option for a non-Goop bag, I would certain check it.

On to the food. I ordered the Goop Teriyaki Bowl, which was grilled Mary’s organic chicken, umami rice blend (shiitake, brown and cauliflower rice), marinated kale, avocado, house-made furikake, Japanese pickled cucumbers, Gyocha’s pickled ginger, and a side of teriyaki sauce. Everything was delicious and you can tell they are using quality ingredients – this is not your every day quick serve food – and it was just more “chefy” than what you would, for example, pick up at Erewhon (which seems similarly focused on “detox” food). I would suggest, however, spending $3.50 for extra chicken because the protein portion was a tad meager.

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For dessert, I got gluten free chocolate chip cookies. I expected them to be awful like most gluten free products, but they were fine.

Would definitely order from Goop again, although I wish they would expand their menu some (which may be difficult for a quick serve ghost kitchen). And dump those cringe-inducing bags.

P.S. Only available for delivery on the Westside.

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I also thought it was excellent. The vietnamese chicken salad was excellent.

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Don’t order the eggs. You don’t know where they’ve been.

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Calling your food “clean” naturally insinuates that other people eat dirty. Completely fine with “healthy” or some other word, but clean food can go fuck itself. It is other-ing.

*This is not a review of OP’s meal or opinions. Just the bag and company motto.

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Just as an aside, people who work with those with eating disorders often will not use word “healthy” b/c it presumes that there is an “unhealthy,” which is often used to justify obsessional calorie restricting.

So, for some, “healthy” is actually not fine and certainly no less potentially damaging than is “clean.”

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I think the notion of “clean food” is not about what other people eat but about avoiding corporate garbage oneself.

https://www.hmhbooks.com/shop/books/Animal-Vegetable-Junk/9781328971623

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Alas, today’s meal was not as successful. I ordered the chicken soulavki lettuce wraps and it’s hard to believe it came out of the same kitchen that sent me food yesterday. It supposedly came with butter lettuce leaves to make a wrap, but as you can see there was no lettuce in sight.

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But the real issue was that the chicken was overcooked to the point of being burnt and was completely dry and tasteless. Middle Eastern cooking experts they are not. This one should have been left on the R&D drawing board. The best part of the dish was the spicy harissa, which was delicious (and the dry tasteless chicken really needed it), but it was a minuscule portion and I wished I had paid $1.50 for an actual order of the harissa.

I also ordered a side of Soccata (a blend of chickpeas, kale, and feta, roasted and pan seared). That was more successful.

My chocolate chip cookies were missing from the order.

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gosh that looks awful. Will you order from them again? It would turn me off, for good.

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Is there even a way to contact the business to inform them of the issues?

The reason I stopped ordering anything from that set of ghost kitchens (The Colony) is b/c (1.) way back when, the person bagging the food didn’t have their mask covering their nose; and (2.) there was no way to (obvious) contact the businesses there to inform them of any problems w/ the food itself.

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Not sure, but it certainly dampened my enthusiasm for the place. The chicken was overcooked and shriveled, but the seasoning also wasn’t great and putting the item on the menu was clearly not well thought out by the executive chef, who may have cooked at Per Se and El Bulli, but who apparently doesn’t have the chops for Middle Eastern cuisine. And it was annoying to order “lettuce wraps” and not get lettuce. And the feta was not particularly good.

Morale of the story is perhaps that you can’t be all things to all people and leave Middle Eastern cooking to specialists. I’ve literally had better at dozens of Middle Eastern fast food places.

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I did phone them about my missing chocolate chip cookies and they said they would adjust the bill, but they sounded so disorganized that I have no confidence that there will be an adjustment when I review my credit card statement. One advantage of ordering through a third party service like Door Dash is that you can take care of those kinds of things quickly and easily through the app.

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Lettuce wraps with no lettuce suggests some profound problems.

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