When Josue Ordaz received a call from a friend in 2016 saying that they’d seen a box truck that would be perfect for a food truck, he hoped to share authentic Cuban food with Baton Rouge. Now, Geaux Cuban food truck continues to grow in popularity, slowly cementing its place as a Baton Rouge staple. 
Originally from Cuba, Ordaz is a Baton Rouge native and University of Florida marketing graduate. When Ordaz returned home from Gainesville, he found the city lacked the genuine taste of home cooked Cuban food. He continually had to travel elsewhere to find that taste of home, and so the concept of Geaux Cuban came into existence. 
“Whenever I came back to Baton Rouge, I was missing the Cuban food,” Ordaz said. “Every time I wanted to eat some Cuban, I’d have to go to Lafayette or New Orleans to get any of the kind of food that I like. That’s mainly where the idea came from, from wanting to share the Cuban food with the rest of the people here in Baton Rouge.”
Ordaz decided to go all in the moment he purchased the food truck, which opened in November 2017. With the help of friends, Ordaz and his wife Adilene perfected the food truck’s menu to simultaneously serve traditional Cuban food that would encapsulate that taste of the Caribbean island while also satisfying the taste buds of Baton Rouge. 
The menu, which Ordaz says changes approximately every two months, features Cuban staples – the infamous Cuban sandwich, a melange of roasted pork, sliced ham, Swiss cheese, mayo, pickles and yellow mustard on buttered Cuban bread, and ropa vieja, shredded skirted steak served over black beans and rice. 
Although there is variation in the menu, current and past featured items include Cuban nachos, pork tacos, chicken sandwich, ground beef empanadas, tostones or twice-fried plantain sliced that are a popular accompaniment in Caribbean dishes, sweet fried plantains, and croquetas, a meat-base-filled cylinder-shaped roll that’s covered in breadcrumbs and deep fried. 
“Every two months, we try to add something or take something off the menu,” Ordaz said. “Like the tacos, we’ll take those off the menu and we’ll do our plate lunches with the black beans and rice and ropa vieja.”
As business continues to boom, Ordaz wants to expand to a brick and mortar building within the next year. He would also like Geaux Cuban to eventually be a part of the LSU Dining family of vendors. For now, Geaux Cuban is all over Baton Rouge with different daily locations and catering available starting at $250. Ordaz shares he has catered everything from weddings to tailgates.  
“We’re talking to a few different people about getting into Tigerland and serving the nightlife crowd,” Ordaz said. “We’ve been going downtown on Third St. for the last few weeks at a new bar called The Basin across the street from City Bar. We’ve been out there the last few Saturdays, about four Saturdays in a row. A lot of the college kids come down there.” 
Ordaz posts a weekly location schedule for the food truck as well as any updates on the Instagram page @geauxcuban. In addition, the food truck will be a vendor at the next Food Truck Round-Up at the Rowe in Perkins Rowe Friday, Sep. 27 from 6 p.m. to 9 p.m.
Buen provecho, mi gente. 

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@geauxcuban via Instagram

@geauxcuban via Instagram