don’t play.”
This is the street-level philosophy and slogan that guided Wes Avila to shake up L.A.’s Taco Life forever with Guerrilla Tacos, and now perhaps the city’s tortascape too.
This morning, Los Angeles Times reported that Avila’s newest sandwich venture in Chinatown, Angry Egret Dinette, will open to the public for lunch tomorrow. The tiny menu will be based on Avila’s refined-yet-approachable sazón that he became famous for at Guerrilla but on powdery, panadería-direct bolillos instead of corn tortillas.
Just don't call it a torta, since, in the Times' report, Avila mentions how he learned his lesson dealing with the double-standard that can come along when trying to use higher-cost ingredients in a nostalgically "cheap" food like tacos.
Expect fillings like tender suadero (Mexican-style confit beef brisket) on a grilled bolillo, a vegetarian sandwich filled with fried squash blossom and mustard frill greens, and Avila’s take on a cold-cut filled, complete with a runny fried egg. Though Avila informs L.A. Taco that the menu will always be changing. Aside from these torta-inspired sandwiches, Avila shares that he will also have fries, shaved ice, and some “Mexican rice bowls” where he plans on utilizing the wok capabilities in his new location’s kitchen. Avila sources the simultaneously crusty and squishy bolillos for his sandwiches from La Favorita Bakery, an old school panadería in Boyle Heights.
There will be outdoor tables for customers to be able to eat their freshly assembled sandwiches. However, as delicious as this all sounds, this new concept is temporary and will only be open for three months to start. The project was all planned, funded, and executed solely by Avila, with no partners or investors.
The new-school sandwich shop comes less than three months after Avila relinquished his executive taquero position at his institution, Guerrilla Tacos. His longtime customers who got to taste Guerrilla Tacos’ first iteration as a taco stand operating on a sidewalk in the Arts District may find this new concept to operate under the same DIY aesthetic. And if Guerrilla Tacos is any indication of how far Avila can grow his Pico Rivera-meets-classically trained approach to a humble staple dish, this is only the beginning for Angry Egret Dinette.
Angry Egret Dinette is at 970 N. Broadway No. 114, Los Angeles.
