La Cocinita Chicago

Call it kismet. Call it karma. Call it Ka.

Whatever you call it, I call it damn lucky.

Scroll back a couple weeks in New Orleans. I was there with three other buds and our very first day, after catching Sage Francis live, we ventured towards La Cocinita for late night noms.

Sadly, the truck was closed by midnight and we just missed out. Bourbon Street took up most (ok, all) of our nightly adventures after that and I never did get another chance at the truck.

Unbeknownst to me, La Cocinita was preparing to launch a truck in Chicago. Today. Within reach.

Since I failed so famously in New Orleans, there was no way in hell I'd be missing my chance at an NBC Tower debut.

Too bad nobody at work was able to make the trek on short notice. It was a perfect day for a two-mile round trip walk. (Side note: What ever happened to trucks at Hubbard and Wells? Things were looking good there for a while.)

Simple menu concept for some amazing Latin American street food: choose your vessel, choose your protein, choose your sauce.

I took recommendations and went with a pair of arepas: one pulled pork and one Venezuelan beef brisket, both with spicy tomatillo sauce.

Fully redeemed and back at the office, I had the juiciest, most flavorful arepas I've ever had. Granted, I've never had arepas before, but that's not the point. I was still tasting this lunch hours later.

I think next time I'll opt for the "burri-tacos." Any world where you can cross a burrito with a taco is a world I want to live in.

It's been just about four months since logging a new Chicago truck. What a fantastic way to break my dry spell!