babe wake up new tgtg just dropped

Was just scrolling on my way home last night and came across this "Brieats" location with TGTG in Long Beach. $8.99 for a "Meal Surprise Bag."

This place is in that Partake Kitchen that kind of seems like a Regus office space for small businesses who need kitchens? And also a market? I included some photos of the place and it is huge but was also absolutely empty when I was there around 9pm so a little bit eerie.

There's no signs for this restaurant and there's also a huge roped off area that says "No drivers past this point" but past that point I heard two people talking and laughing and I had no idea what to do other than being a midwest dad and yelling "HELLO???" and then someone came out.

Honestly it wasn't the warmest customer service and they seemed confused that I was confused by the fact that I was in an entirely empty building with no direction as to where to go, but regardless, the actual chef who I think is "Bri" was there and she asked if I wanted it heated up and I said if that's how God intended it to be I would, so she did. You could tell they were new to TGTG because they didn't even ask me to verify or slide my thing to confirm pickup (I did anyway).

She hands me this (warm, as God intended) pasta container and I'm kind of underwhelmed given that it's supposed to be a $27 value and it appeared to be one serving and there was no bag or silverware along with it (there's plastic silverware available in the building with Wholefoods style dispensers but they were out of forks and honeslty I had no idea of the two women there were in charge of the facility overall and could refill it.) I'm a little iffy since I'm not the biggest fan of alfredo cream kind of sauces, which is what this looks to be. And also, as you can probably tell from the photo, it just doesn't look -amazing-.

Jesus fucking hell it was good.

It was not like a cheesy thick alfredo. Maybe something more just buttery. The pasta was like little pouches of some perfectly salty ricotta (?) cheese. You could tell there was like fresh lemon in there and it worked really well with the fat. On top was like a balsamic drizzle which was also great to balance out the fat. I'm not a pasta expert but given the texture and irregularity the shapes it seemed like this pasta was rolled and cut fresh.

I don't know WHAT that brown thing was (thought it was a meatball at first) but it was like rice and sausage in a ball breaded and fried?? That's the best way I can describe it. Just deliciously savory and not too salty.

Looking into this place, it seems like a catering/private chef business that operates out of the Parktake establishment, which seems like the main type of business that could benefit from a shared space like that. There's no menu online (everything on the website asks you to "inquire" for more details) so it's hard to me to approximate the value of this item. On first blush, the promised value of $27 feels really extreme for basically a single serving of pasta.

HOWEVER, I guess if you view it through the lens of this otherwise being a dish that you'd get from catering, that pricing kind of makes sense given that catering is so effing expensive. So this goes back to the "value" of the item being reasonable given the context that the business operates less than one someone would actually pay for a single pasta dish. Although I feel like if you went to like L'opera or Paraloccia you would probably see a pasta dish for $20+ so maybe I'm just cheap.

Anyway, but for the weird pick up experience I'd definitely go again. $9 for a single serving of pasta isn't something where I'm thinking it's a killer deal that can feed my family through the winter but I am pretty excited to see what else they offer there.

I think they're getting their bearings too but I believe their pickup window was from like 10am-11pm so not even one of those places you have to rush to get to when you get off work or anything like that. You will be confused as I am the first time you try to pick up but you'll figure it out eventually.

It's hard to tell what this restaurant is from the app, but it's like a raspados, aqua fresca, and concessions food truck. It's got a little bit of everything but some unique offerings - the photos on the Yelp page give you the idea of the spread.

Notably, if anyone was thinking like I was before looking it up, this is not one of those fresh strawberry stands in strip mall parking lots. This is a true food truck, and there's a very high chance you will not get anything containing strawberries in it. Just be aware.

My $7 surprise bag was valued at $21 and it came with a guava raspado, nachos, and a watermelon agua fresca.

I'm not sure about what size I got for everything, but the raspados are $6.50-9.50, nachos are $6-12, and agua frescas are one size at $6.50. (numbers according the Yelp photos of the menu, may be slightly higher over time)

Another post I saw on the sub for this location had the same general combo of raspado, beverage, and savory/food item. It's pushing it but if you're thinking every item is gonna be around $7 I'm not mad if you hand me three things and call it a $21 value.

As for the items themselves...

Watermelon agua fresca was lovely. Probably too sweet for a lot of people but I really enjoyed it and I imagine if it was a hotter day it would've been so mercifully refreshing. The one size they give is probably around 24oz. (it was full when I got it I just forgot to photograph it before guzzling)

The nachos were your standard concession stand movie theater nachos. Chips seemed like they were from a bulk bag at WinCo and probably towards the the bottom of the bag cause they weren't "stale" but they definitely did not seem fresh. The nacho cheese is your standard nacho cheese you'd get at a ballpark. It is warm in the cup they give to you. They do give you an abudnance of cheese relative to the amount of chips so I probably poured on only about 70% of it and I was pushing the sogginess factor. I'm just personally not a big fan of the liquid plasticy cheese nacho situation so it wasn't that exciting to me but I ate the whole thing so clearly I wasn't that mad about it.

The guava raspado had actual chunks of fresh guava on top of it and layered throughout the crushed ice (though it does look like some kind of flesh at first glance). It had a really true fresh floral guava taste to it. They give you a large boba style straw and a spoon to eat it. My big qualm with this is also a personal issue which is I just can't enjoy guava seeds and they are so damn present when they are. It's also a weird format because you're expecting to be crunching down on pieces of ice (a similar size to the seeds!) and only met with a little resistance, and then later realize you've chomped too hard on what is basically a tiny pebble when you weren't expecting it. So no on the guava for me but their overall raspado formula I think was great. Also would be much more appreciated on a hotter day.

My actual food experience was mid to good, but those were basically my own issues and personal preferences which is the risk you take with a surprise bag. If you split it between two people (which is probably what you were supposed to do) $3.50 each for some novelty drinks and treats that you might not think to order otherwise is pretty good.

I also have a suspicion that this might be the kind of place that is willing to honor some requests for items because they have to make the raspado when you order it or it sits and melts and gets weird. I'm pretty sure they just scooped whatever agua fresca they still had the most of, though I'm sure they had many. The nachos were clearly just chips put in a container and ladled scooped hot into a cup right before it goes in a bag. So there may be ways in future to avoid the guava seed tragedy I befell.

Overall I give it 4 stars. On a hot day if I just needed something to cool off I think it would be fun to try again. I do like that the range of different flavors of things you can get, even in those three categories, is pretty diverse. I probably wouldn't pay full price for any of these, but I'm pretty happy with the experience and would recommend people give it a go. Just know you're probably not getting strawberries.

(and yes i saw their food permit proudly displayed per code on their truck)

I have a lot of thoughts unrelated to the food and service itself so I'll get those basic things out of the way first.

I got the "Kimchi or Pozole Soup" which contains 32oz of soup of your choice (if they have both left when you pick up) and rice for the kimchi soup and traditional pozole toppings for the latter. It also notes "We give a side of salad ONLY if we have extra left over."

According to TGTG, it retails for $45.00 but the app lets you have it for $15.

It's a true side of the road EZ-up establishment by a building that used to be a Rite Aid off PCH near the traffic sample. There's a clear sign printed that says "Soup & Rice", there's some evident good food handling practices like gloves and things on ice and the soup is straight from steaming hot crockpots. The couple that runs the business are very friendly and they are so generous with offering samples. Not like a tiny little shotglass of soup to sip but like a little bowl with a full soup spoon and they make sure try to fish out some of the solid bits so that you can get the full experience.

I went with the pozole because the kim chi was delicious but I could tell it would be too spicy if I had a whole bowl of it. The photos I included are it decanted into a proper bowl and also the components as you open the bag. One 32oz comes with two spoons so I think the idea is that it would serve two? I hadn't had a proper meal all day so I ate the whole thing myself and felt full but I feel like it wouldn't feel like a standalone dish if you had split it up into two.

It was great. Really rich deep beef flavor, but not too salty. Hominy is fucking great. Toppings were fresh and added a good crunch. I wish they had given more than 2 tostados though. The pieces of meat in it were melt in your mouth but super flavor and not too greasy. I'm a baby with spice so I had to have it with a glass of milk but I respected it nonetheless.

So like, it's pretty damn good soup. Is it worth $7.50 a serving? Maybe. Is it worth the usual $22.50 a serving at regular pricing? Well, I'm not sure that's ever actually the price. Which leads me to my next topic....

Literally if you just want to know about is the soup you can stop reading here

I don't think this listing is at all operating with the spirit of TGTG (and that might not matter to a lot of people but I wanna talk about it)

When I was at the stand there wasn't any menu up in person, but the menu on Yelp seems to suggest that the standard price for the soup and all the trimmings would be $20. Although that includes a drink, which wasn't with the TGTG, and it does seem to guarantee salad. Still, I don't think there's any scenario where you can say that someone would normally be spending $45 on any one order of soup even as a combo.

I think it's fair to say that the $45 full price listing on the app is BS.

I also think isn't really the spirit of TGTG because the pick up window of 7pm-10pm is quite literally the only time the stand is open. God bless us who get to enjoy fresh food then but it feels like it isn't really helping with food waste. I heard one of the owners telling a woman who was ordering that she can get the TGTG app in that moment because "it's cheaper on there" which seemed to reflect that the owners aren't thinking of TGTG as a way to deal with waste.

A way they do deal with waste is by selling containers of frozen leftover soup which you can get also on TGTG (there it's listed as being $10 rather than $30). That to me seems like exactly what TGTG is intended for. Actual over stock (no pun intended) that can save for a short while that someone might want at a discount. But it seems like in addition to selling leftover food that might go to waste like the point of TGTG they're just selling fresh food through the app at a $3 discount?

I don't really care about whether I got salad, but it does seem weird to me that the app promises the possibility of salad based on remaining inventory, but I got there a little after 7pm and there was no salad to be seen. I don't think you can promise potential salad if you start the day off with no salad.

None of that's criminal. Again, if you're not thinking you're helping cut down on food waste and getting $30 off of some really good soup and recognize you're just gonna pay $15 for some really good soup, go for it. It's good soup. But it just felt not fully in the spirit of TGTG.

Which brings me to my most unhinged question and rabbit hole, is this vendor operating legally in the city of Long Beach?

I couldn't find anything about this company (partially because of the generic name) other than the Yelp, Google, and TGTG listings, and its official instagram which posted for the first time 4 days ago and has 2 followers and is following 1 account. The Secretary of State website has the LLC being first filed on May 2, 2026.

I know there's mixed views about what street vendors should be required to have in terms of licensing in LB, but on paper there should be some business licenses and food permits available and I couldn't find anything on the various department websites. I did ask one of owners about what kind of permit they're using for this kind of stand and said "oh all of the ones we need all the ones the city makes us have" and I asked "Oh so like a full restaurant permit or like a street vendor license?" and she said "All oh them oh all we need cause like Too Good To Go wouldn't let us use them if we didn't."

Which is sort of true in that the terms of service requires their partners to abide by all regulatory guidelines where they do business, but it's kind of a blanket statement and I doubt they're checking each municipality when someone chooses to list on their app.

Also on paper if street vendors do have the proper licensing they're supposed to have on display the permit where the public can see it

I'm not saying they're an illegal business and in terms of food handling the fact that the soup is too hot to eat when it first comes out of the pots I'm pretty comfortable assuming everything is getting cooked out of it that needs to. Whether or not they're following the legal requirements that plenty of other perfectly safe businesses don't is really up to you to care about.

(Also my lawyer brain just wants to remind everyone that you really really hope anyone you're consuming food from has liablity insurance, cause if you get food poisoning and have to get your gallbladder taken out a la Daily Harvest, you better hope they have a way to cover those bills)

I did DM them when I first made my reservation to see if I could get anymore details on their licensing or business, so maybe they can get them to me there better in writing than in person in the presence of soup.

I think I'm just kind of baffled by the idea of a small business all of a sudden showing up with branding and a menu and the logistics established for providing the food in that unique location, and then it seems like they're trying to make a living selling non leftover food on TGTG? I wouldn't be surprised if TGTG takes less of a cut than things like Doordash or Grubhub and that's why they're just using it like a general way to sell fresh product. It does seem a little shady how much they artificially overprice it on the app to only discount you $3. And you're probably not gonna get food poisoning or your credit card information stolen, but for now idk how much money is in the entity you'd be able to sue.

Tl;dr $15 for 2 servings of hot, tasty soup made and served fresh. If that sounds good to you probably get it. I haven't appraised the soup market much but I kind of suspect you could probably get double that from like a Mexican market and you'd be just as happy.