- Yeah, kindness is life-changing just ask my next guest.
When the pandemic struck,
she turned to her kitchen skills
to help her community. Using-
If I would have done that
the community would have been screwed
using, using her family's old recipes.
She made food for police officers and healthcare workers,
and that led to making more food for people in need.
And along,
you know, the way,
she gathered an army of helpers.
Now she owns her own restaurant in Houston, Texas,
where she's doing way more than just feeding her neighbors.
She is what we call a Rad human.
(intro music)
All right y'all, from Boot Texan Kitchen
Say hi to Angeline!
(audience cheering)
First of all, I feel like we kind of match.
- That's right, you're my sister.
- Our color scheme.
- That's right.
- Texas sisters.
Okay so, uh, meet the judges.
I don't know if you'd met before.
(judges greeting Angeline in unison)
- I didn't do it.
(audience laughing)
All right. So let's back up.
So before the pandemic, I,
this is awesome
cause it's so different from what you're doing.
You worked in a bank?
- Yes, worked in a bank for 15 years and, um,
December, 2019, my fiance proposed to me.
We were planning on getting married March 2020.
(audience clapping)
- [Kelly] Oh! That is some vomit timing.
- So, pandemic kind of hit.
- Timing killed that.
- Timing killed that dream. That didn't quite happen.
So we just decided that as we were sitting at home,
kind of watching everything unfold,
we decided to be a part of the solution.
People were scared,
not really knowing what's going on with COVID.
We were working from home.
He was furloughed from his job.
- [Kelly] Yeah, like a lot of people.
- A lot.
And um,
we just decided,
let's try to bring people together.
I can cook
and I can bring people together.
Whenever you come around.
It's like everybody's family.
So we pull people together, cooked food. Um.
Essential workers,
Metro Police department,
the Harris county,
911 teams, some of the nurses.
A lot of which, were our family members.
So we just started taking food to 'em
basically just to say,
I know you're scared, I'm scared.
You're not in this by yourself.
And let's try to come together.
(audience clapping)
- Its definitely been a rough couple of years
for everybody.
So,
how did this end up becoming a full fledged restaurant?
- So um, we started, you know,
passing out the food
and the people were like,
this was really good. And I'm like, I know.
(audience laughing)
- [Kelly] I know. I am good at cooking.
- [Angeline] That's right. These are recipes from
you know-
- [Kelly] Oh my God, we are so Texan right now
with this dish right here.
(Angeline laughing)
I love it.
- [Angeline] So you can imagine we're giving that away.
Look at the ribs. You gotta to see that.
- [Kelly] Oh, I love ribs! Oh my god.
- [Angeline] People are coming in
they're like, thank you for the food,
but, um, can you come to my birthday party?
And can you cater and can you do this?
- [Kelly] Oh!
- And then I told my fiance. I said, you know what,
maybe this is what we should actually do
because it's helping people.
And it seems like it became more than just what I initially
thought that it was going to be.
- [Kelly] And like, look at the amazing impact
you're making on your community.
That's the most beautiful part, you know,
(audience clapping)
actually doing something you're good at and you love.
- [Angeline] Right.
- [Kelly] And helping so many people.
So the restaurant is doing more, like I said,
than just providing meals, right?
- Yes. So we've started so many initiatives.
We have one where we bring in young girls and we teach them
entrepreneurship skills. So I have my niece, Audrey.
She's eight years old, but she's super smart.
And she loves to read. So,
we helped her develop a bookstore.
So now she reads to younger kids and she has books.
She gives away, we partnered with a local bookstore,
that gave her books.
And um, we have a lot of, several of my family,
gotta be careful what I'm saying with these judges,
but they didn't always do the right thing.
- [Kelly] We all have people like that.
And sometimes we're those people,
- [Angeline] Sometimes we're those people.
So it's like, you know,
we have some that are not going to be academic scholars.
They're not going to get football
or basketball scholarships,
and they're at risk.
So, we give them the skills that they need.
My fiance, you know, teaches them how to mount TVs,
how to do carpenter work,
how to balance, you know, the accounts,
how to, just how be an entrepreneur.
How to have your own
so that you don't have to go into crime.
You don't have to be a statistic.
- [Kelly] Opportunity.
- [Angeline] There's opportunity.
- [Kelly] Plenty of opportunity
- That's right.
So we want to give them that.
And that's kinda what we've morphed into.
- [Kelly] And people have no idea.
My mom was a single mom and she grew up
and she was the eldest of sister.
Like she didn't really learn how to cook
and then I didn't learn how to cook.
That's the thing that is a beautiful thing to pass down.
And it's so important. Like with my kids now, too,
its like, your feeding,
it's medicine, food is medicine.
And like, to be able to like, really know how to, you know,
nurture your body and do well for it, its so great.
- I was watching with Sarah and um-
- [Kelly] Priyanka? Yeah.
- Yeah. I was like, whose idea was it
to bring me on the show with Vivi?
(group laughing)
- Here's the thing,
- [Man] And judges.
- [Kelly] And judges?
- And judges.
- Here's the thing
- Here's the thing, I am a carnivore.
Okay.
So I love meat, but I also, I will tell you,
and it, in Texas, it's harder to find
like where I'm from, where we're from.
But out here, I will say, cause they,
they were like, let's go to this vegan restaurant.
I was like, no.
And I was like, and then I went and it was really good.
- [Angeline] Yeah!
- [Kelly] It can be good,
but you got to get someone that can make it good because it
can also go poorly wrong.
Um,
So, but I get it. Now, I like steak girl,
so yeah.
But I do have some good news.
HEB spirit of giving is deep rooted in their values.
And they stand with Texas communities in times of need.
They love the work you're doing to help frontline Texans and
they want to see you grow.
So they're going to give you $10,000 to help out.
(audience cheering)
- [Kelly] Did you want to say something?
- [Man] I was just going to say that Angeline,
you are not only feeding the body.
You are feeding the soul
- [Kelly] Amen.
- And that's, that's making a big difference.
(audience clapping)