About US
La Cocinita (“The Little Kitchen”) serves contemporary Venezuelan-inspired street food
With a food truck & restaurant in the Chicagoland area & a food truck and food hall restaurant space in New Orleans, owners Benoit & Rachel Angulo are proud to serve Venezuelan staples in their two favorite cities.
BENOIT & RACHEL ANGULO
Born and raised in Caracas, Chef Benoit Angulo has been making arepas, a Venezuelan specialty at La Cocinita, since he was 9 years old. This early passion for cooking inspired Benoit to attend culinary school as an adult. Benoit then moved to the States in 2001 to pursue his culinary career.
Rachel and Benoit met while working together at Commander’s Palace, a fine-dining restaurant in New Orleans. While enjoying drinks at a neighborhood bar late one night after a long shift, Rachel and Benoit became hungry, not having eaten since their 5 pm pre-shift meal. Disappointed with the absence of nearby late-night food options, Benoit pitched the idea of starting a food truck together. Benoit envisioned drawing from the feel and flavors of late-night street food carts lining a strip in Caracas referred to as “Calle del Hambre” (“Hunger Street”). Benoit introduced Rachel to his arepas, and soon thereafter, she fell in love with both Benoit and his cooking. The New Orleans truck opened for business on November 19th, 2011, at the same bar where it all started…and the rest is history!
PRESS
La Cocinita has been featured on several major network TV shows, including CNBC’s Restaurant Start-Up, Food Network’s Eat Street, and the Cooking Channel’s Taco Trip with Aaron Sanchez. Benoit competed on Season 11 of Bravo’s Top Chef in the Padma’s Picks series, and served as the personal chef for Sylvester Stallone. La Cocinita has also been featured in the Wall Street Journal and has been voted both the best food truck in New Orleans and one of the 101 best in the country.
DOING OUR PART
During the pandemic, our New Orleans food truck teamed up with Chef's Brigade and joined an all-female brigade of restaurants feeding EMS workers. Led by My House Events, ours was the second brigade to launch in New Orleans.
Meanwhile our Chicago team collected donations to serve free meals to local health care workers and first responders. We have been so overwhelmed by the generosity of our friends, family, customers, and kind-hearted strangers who stumbled upon our mission. To date, we have served meals to over 4,500 local heroes on the front line of the COVID-19 crisis. We are proud to have found a way to boost morale for those working on the frontline, as well as for our team members delivering the food. In addition to facilitating this effort, La Cocinita is contributing to the cause by stretching the number of donated meals with 20% discounts and free delivery to local hospitals and first responders.
