From Garage Pop-Up to Neighborhood Hub: Inside Chainsaw Cafe
Founder Karla Subero Pittol shares the story behind her success.
Oscar Mendoza
Atop the counter of a bar in New Orleans, a small black Pomeranian named Chainsaw waltzed up and down the platform greeting customers. One patron was Karla Subero Pittol, the owner of Los Angeles’s newest hotspot Chainsaw Cafe.
“[He] was just kind of sauntering around, like the maître d’ of this bar,” Pittol says. Watching the little dog command the crowd’s attention during her trip to NOLA stuck with her. “This little fluffy, tiny, cutesy dog is named Chainsaw.”
This little local legend would eventually become the namesake for Pittol’s cafe, which opened its doors in November. Originally born out of a pop-up Pittol pioneered out of her garage, the Venezuelan-inspired micro-cafe continues to attract long lines and bustling crowds four months after opening on Melrose Avenue in East Hollywood.
Oscar Mendoza
Due to the cafe’s small footprint, Pittol initially envisioned it as more of a grab-and-go, dessert-focused shop. But what she imagined as a “micro-bakery” was quickly championed by the community, prompting her to expand the menu to include savory dishes and coffee.
“As more people started coming in, we started using more stacking chairs, stools, and milk crates, and it’s really taken over the whole sidewalk,” Pittol says. “People are happy to sit on makeshift seating and just kind of thug it out with all these cars driving by.”
As a Venezuelan immigrant herself, Pittol saw an opportunity to honor the tiny shops of Caracas, and was excited to create a similar space in L.A. Though the menu is constantly changing, you can expect a consistent selection of house made pies and ice cream, as well as classic Venezuelan dishes such as the Carne Mechada Arepa.
Pittol often recommends her arepas to customers unsure of what to order, or for those just beginning to explore Venezuelan cuisine. Made with shredded beef and a mix of peppers and spices in between a thick cornmeal bun, she calls it a good “home base” for first-timers.
Oscar Mendoza
“For me, that’s the nostalgia,” she says. “And that really feels like the connection to the motherland.”
Pittol’s extensive experience in the food industry goes back to 2013, when she joined the team at the now-closed, but forever-iconic restaurant Animal. While there, she met her mentor, Jonathan Whitener, the lauded L.A. chef who died in 2024. She followed Whitener when he left to start his own restaurant, Here’s Looking at You, and worked as the executive pastry chef.
Despite the press and recognition that followed Pittol’s work, she says investing so much time and energy into someone else’s project ultimately left her unsatisfied, and she began craving something of her own. Pittol stepped away from the food scene for a time, taking on a range of odd jobs—from starting a floral business to driving for Uber.
But Pittol missed cooking, and confided in a friend who told her to open up a restaurant. “She was like, ‘Just stop being crazy,’” Pittol says. “‘Do what your gut is telling you.’”
Thinking back to a pop-up she ran while studying at the University of California, Santa Barbara, Pittol turned to her garage in Echo Park. With little money, she treated the project, known as The Garage, as a proof of concept for potential investors in a future restaurant. Her hip dinner party setup quickly gained traction, and she signed a lease for a permanent space in early March of 2020, but ultimately pulled out as the pandemic hit.
Still, during COVID-19, Pittol continued selling pies and ice cream from her home through contactless pickup, maintaining the momentum that allowed her to return in full force when restrictions lifted. After signing a new lease in 2024, Pittol spent the next two years building Chainsaw Cafe.
Today, four months after opening, this beloved neighborhood spot is already planning an expansion. Pittol just signed the lease on the cafe’s adjacent space. And though The Garage remains open for special events, such as its recent Valentine’s Day Dinner Party, the cafe now welcomes a steady stream of returning customers.
While there is no canine host at the cafe, it does see its fair share of four-legged regulars. “Their pets start to recognize the space,” she says. “The dogs are leading by their noses into the cafe.” Moments like these help the cafe create a sense of community.
“I haven’t had a bad day there,” Pittol says. “Every day we’re building new memories that I love with new people.”
