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Cognoscenti Coffee's Jack Benchakul Drops Good Girl Dinette for Scoops Chinatown

Cognoscenti Coffee modbar barista Jack Benchakul has traded in Highland Park for Chinatown.

Elizabeth Daniels
Farley Elliott is the Senior Editor at Eater LA and the author of Los Angeles Street Food: A History From Tamaleros to Taco Trucks. He covers restaurants in every form, from breaking news to the culture, people, and history that surrounds LA's dining landscape.

It looks like new digs for Jack Benchakul, the scientifically-minded coffee maestro behind the Cognoscenti Coffee cart parked inside of Highland Park’s Good Girl Dinette. When Eater last spoke to him at the end of September, he and the sleek wood cart were pouring Vietnamese lattes for the weekend brunch crowd, and discussing the possibility of going permanent there, though things now appear to have changed.

Now, according to his own Instagram account, Benchakul has officially moved on from Diep Tran’s long-running diner, and is headed for Scoops in Chinatown. Good timing, considering the current renaissance underway in the area, and the forthcoming arrival of a pair of Andy Ricker Thai food concepts.

When reached by email, Benchakul is quick to note that the move has nothing to do with Tran or the fine folks at Good Girl Dinette. Rather he believes "a bit of coffee renaissance is required in the area," adding that "culinary boundaries are being pushed in that part of town, and it’s getting pretty exciting over there!"

Exciting, indeed. For now, catch Benchakul and the Cognoscenti Coffee modbar cart just steps from Chego inside of Scoops at the Far East Plaza in Chinatown.

Scoops Chinatown

727 North Broadway, , CA 90012 (323) 739-8675