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About me

Hola! My name is Monica, but everyone calls me Mika. I am the chef & owner of Caja Caliente down here in sunny Miami. I was born and raised in Miami and my family is Cuban. All my dishes are inspired by my hispanic roots which you will see in a lot of my cooking. Growing up, my grandfather owned cuban restaurants and my mom owned a catering company. I guess you can say it runs in my blood! I graduated with a degree in business but knew I wanted to follow in their footsteps after college. I started a food blog called Mikabites when I was 20 which after sometime became a full blown catering business that I ran out of my mom’s garage ( I know...crazy)  After a few years of successfully running Mikabites I decided it was time to hit the streets in a food truck and that was when Caja Caliente was born in 2016. I always admired the L.A food truck scene and was inspired by the taco trucks out there. I decided to use all my  family recipes passed down to me from my grandfather and mother and created “The original cuban taco”. Imagine lechon, vaca frita, and traditional cuban recipes but in the vessel of a taco.

 

In 2019 I expanded and opened my first brick and mortar in Coral Gables. We now have our flagship there & two trucks on the road. In 2020 we received the award for best taco in all of Florida... Safe to say it’s been a wild & amazing ride with my family. Nothing makes me happier than sharing in the kitchen everyday with my family. 

 

When i’m not cooking you can find me doing yoga, writing, outdoors or reading (although 99% of the time i’m in the kitchen creating). I’ve done a few cooking shows on the Food Network & the Cooking Channel, that may be how some of you guys found me here! I decided to create this website for you guys as a lot of you have been asking for my recipes you’ve been seeing on my instagram and virtual cooking shows. I’m so excited to finally share them with you guys & bring you into my crazy culinary world.

 

Hope you guys enjoy it! xo

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