I enjoy when I see someone living out his or her dreams. One such person is Wes Avila who is the chef and owner of the Guerrilla Tacos food truck.
Wes Avila’s professional career began as a Le Cordon Bleu grad and started out with a stint in France and later with chefs such as Gary Menes,Walter Manzke and Alain Ducasse. Through this experience he discovered that he wasn’t passionate about what he was doing. While driving through LA, he realized that the taco was a great platform for him to serve his creations.
Avila started selling tacos on card tables and later graduated to a food cart. Early on, he introduced non-traditional ingredients into the taco such as seared cauliflower, diver scallops, wild boar and sea urchin. When time allowed, he did taco runs into Baja just to make sure he was up with the current trends.
I’ve been to Guerrilla Tacos a few times and you really can’t characterize their food. At best, I would say that it is a tasting menu that resides on tortillas instead of appetizers on porcelain plates. There is usually an item for breakfast and a small variety of tacos or tostadas which are more appropriate for lunch.
Big Eye Tuna with Uni
During one of my first visits, I read the menu and saw a tostada with “Santa Barbara uni”. I was not expecting to see that on a taco, much less from a food truck. Of course I ordered it and I really liked it. After eating that tostada, I was game for anything he had to offer.
You can ruin a meal simply by having an inferior tortilla. Avila sources his tortillas from La Princesita Carniceria y Tortilleria in Boyle Heights. La Princesita Carniceria y Tortilleria makes their tortillas from the blue cónico variety of maize from Mexico. Once you’ve tried corn tortillas sourced from this region, you’ll agree on the difference they make.
Recently, I visited them at Blue Bottle in West Hollywood. I ordered the Sweet Potatoes and Feta, Calamari, and the Soft Shell Crab Tacos. I also selected the Pancetta and Potato Burrito. Street parking there is extremely limited and nearby parking requires a residential permit. As a result, I had to park about 4 blocks away from Blue Bottle. That helped with my Fitbit challenge!
Three tacos from Guerilla Tacos
The Sweet Potato and Feta Cheese Taco was creamy and quite tasty. I believe that the earthy corn taste of the tortilla really blended well with the sweet potato and the feta cheese. Until I tasted the taco, I had no idea that this was calamari. They had taken the grilled calamari and and sliced it into small cubes and combined it with pickled onions and chives.
Pancetta, Egg and Potato Burrito
After I got home, I sliced the breakfast burrito in half and shared this with my wife. We thought that pancetta was a nice lean substitute over bacon. It was combined with sliced potatoes, a fried egg and chile de arbol.
Avila told me that he just received the keys to his new brick and mortar restaurant. It will be in the Art District in DTLA. I was happy to hear the news; after he opens that location, I won’t have to wonder where his terrific food will be that day.
Guerilla Tacos
http://www.guerrillatacos.com/