I became aware of Guerilla Tacos through an article written by Russ Parsons of the LA Times. It was an interesting story of Wes Avila who graduated Le Cordon Bleu, cooked in French kitchens, and realized that he wanted to be the best taquero in Los Angeles. Yes, you read that correctly, Avila wanted to make tacos. That is an interesting goal, to say the least.
He routinely parked his food truck next to coffee shops in the DTLA Arts District. It was usually an hours drive from home to visit Guerilla Tacos, but after I bit into my first taco, I was glad I made the trip. I was so obsessed with his tacos that I would bring reusable plastic containers to pack items to share with my wife.
I’ve been to a number of taquerias and the interior of Guerilla Tacos is quite striking. The concept is a fast-casual restaurant with the counter doubling service as a bar. The menu is posted on the wall and they have daily specials. I like the fact that they had a tribute to the late Jonathan Gold. A secluded corner table had his iconic profile painted on the wall.
I was happy that I arrived at Guerilla Tacos at 7 p.m. Paris time. Because it was after 5 p.m., I didn’t feel any guilt about trying one of their craft cocktails. After all, how often are you going to enjoy a cocktail with a taco?
I selected a Mexican version of an Old Fashioned cocktail. It was appropriately named Brown is Beautiful and was made with reposado tequila, vermouth, Cocchi di Torino, Mexican Fernet, vanilla liqueur & orange oil. This was extremely smooth and I enjoyed the touch of vanilla. I’d definitely select this drink again.
Many of the menu items were also previously available on his truck. An example of this is the Hamachi Tostada. I added the optional piece of uni simply because I know they use Santa Barbara uni. Salsa Bruja was applied to the top of the hamachi and thinly sliced apples were layered. The uni was placed on the top along with chopped apples and chives. The sweet, sour, spicy flavors combined with the tender and crunchy textures was an enjoyable experience.
The highlight for me was the Prawn Taco. Three large prawns heads-on nicely framed this dish. Mojo negro sauce was “painted” on to the flour tortilla canvas, pancetta, red cabbage was added and it was topped with fresh cilantro. The mojo negro sauce had a number of spices and was complex. I was oohing and aahing with every bite.
I also ordered items to share with my wife. Since she’s not that fond of seafood, I brought her a Beef Taco, a Carnitas Taco, Potato T
Guerilla Tacos, 2000 E 7th St, Los Angeles, CA 90021; 213.375.3300
guerillatacos.com