Find authentic Puerto Rican cuisine at food truck’s new Warner Robins spot

A popular food truck that serves up authentic Puerto Rican cuisine now has a fixed, standing location.

Kimika Latina Cafe can be found parked on most Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays at 111 Watson Blvd. across from the Warner Robins Police Department and across from the main gate of Robins Air Force Base.

The food truck is known for its empanadas, Cuban sandwiches and daily specials such as “Arroz Blanco, Carne Guisada y Ensalada,” or beef stew served with white rice and a salad. 

Also popular are the papas locas – ground beef, lettuce tomato, garlic sauce and bacon served over fries or over twice-fried green plantain slices known as tostones.

The weekend menu is posted on the food truck’s  Facebook page.

Kamika Latina Cafe shares the base of operations with La Cocina de Manny, another food truck that primarily has been mobile but whose owner now plans to park on site on most Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays.

The shared space includes a covered patio with a handicapped ramp attached to a large trailer that was formerly an auto dealership. Air conditioned restrooms inside the trailer are available for food truck customers. The food trucks are parked in a large parking lot near the covered patio.

Wilda Hood, Kimika Latina Cafe owner, decided to park her mobile business to decrease operating costs and in response to customer requests.

With every food truck event, the Georgia Department of Health requires an inspection. In addition to health inspection fees, many events charge food trucks entree fees.

Those expenses add up, but parking the food truck curbs those costs, said Hood, who will finish up prior commitments to roll out the food truck that extend through the first of 2027.

Also, Hood still wants to do some of the big festival and food truck events. She plans to post updates on the food truck’s Facebook page when she won’t be at home base but on the road.

But for the most part, Hood said she expects to operate at the Watson Boulevard location. She said customers have been asking for a permanent location.

“Peole were always asking me, where was my place?” Hood said. “You know, where was my restaurant?

“Where can they find me so they don’t have to be looking at social media to find me?”

Hood learned to cook from her mother and grandmother. Born in Puerto Rico, Hood spent her early years in Springfield, Mass. Her mom came to the U.S. to “better her life.”

“When she came here, she was raising four kids as a single mom, and so she would cook at home,” Hood said. “It was wonderful to grow up around all this food.

“And when my mom would roast a pig, it was all hands on. Everybody had something assigned to do.”

When Hood was 10, her mom decided to move the family back to Puerto Rico. On her own, Hood returned to Massachusetts in 1990. She worked different jobs mostly in sales. She also lived in Brandon, Fla., where she once had a sandwich shop and a pizza shop. She later met her husband, Tim Hood. They married in 2006.

“When we got married and moved to Georgia, I always had that dream of having a sandwich shop again,” Wilda Hood said. “It took many years but I finally took that leap.”

Kimika Latina Cafe started as a food stand at Smiley’s Flea Market at 6717 Hawkinsville Road in Macon in January 2021.

“It was March of 2022 that we decided we were going to go in a different direction, and that’s when we built this food trailer ourselves,” she said.

The Hoods operate the mobile food truck together. He also has a full-time job. She plans to mostly operate the stationary business with the help of employees she plans to hire. He’ll continue to help out and join her when they’re on the road.

“The funny thing about food trucks is that they’re not new to us because in Puerto Rico, there’s been food trucks since I can remember,” she said. “Since I was a child, you could see a food truck on the side of the road.

“Again, I learned to cook from my mom and also my grandmother. These flavors, as much as I have traveled, I longed for them, and I couldn’t find them. And I’ve always said if I could feed someone and just make them happy, I would, so that’s where the idea for the food truck started.”

With her food truck drawing Spanish-speaking customers as well as English speaking customers, the menu and her business Facebook posts are in both languages. 

Hood prefers to hire bilingual employees to best meet the needs of her customer base, and she expects to expand her menu once she hires one or two more employees.

Kimika Latina Cafe celebrated its grand opening Aug. 29 at its home base – after four soft opening dates –  with special dishes that included roasted pig. The food truck sold out of food.

“I just happened to come by because I saw a food truck and it was Puerto Rican food,” said Tia Hill of Warner Robins, who stopped by the day before the grand opening. “I like different flavors. I’m originally from Florida.”

Hill ordered two beef empanadas and beef stew with white rice but skipped the salad.

“I like different types of food: Cuban food, Puerto Rican food, Haitian food,” Hill said. “All of it has its own taste to it. I’m a foodie.”

J. Manuel “Manny” Figueroa also stopped by on the Friday before opening day, pulling his La Cocina de Manny food truck behind his pickup truck into the parking lot of the shared base of operations with Kimika Latina Cafe before heading back out.

He set up for business on site on the grand opening day. He specializes in Southern Mexican food.

“Southern is the way that  we cook dishes,” said Figueroa, who previously worked at Salsa’s Mexican Grill in Warner Robins. “It is totally different from the rest of the country of Mexico.”

The flavors of Mexican food change based on the region, he explained.

He offers dips, nachos, tacos, burritos, quesadillas, fajitas, and more.

Current hours for Kimika Latina Cafe are 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. Thursday through Saturday. La Cocina de Manny hours are 4 p.m. to 8 p.m. Thursday and Friday and 3 p.m. to 7 p.m. Saturday. Check each of the food truck Facebook pages for updates.