“My last chemo almost killed me in October, I felt the vitality being squeezed out of my vessel,” says Josh Gil, the Riverside-raised, pioneering modern Mexican chef who co-founded Miraté in Los Feliz.
Gil is reflecting on his grueling battle with colorectal cancer and his decision to bring back his anarcho-punk-rooted underground “Supper Liberation Front” dinner series, starting Monday, December 16th.
Gil was first diagnosed with Stage II cancer in July of 2022 while he was in Jalisco tasting the wares of different raicilla producers for his restaurant’s award-winning bar, Mirate, (#46 in the top 50 bars in North America), which he founded in Los Feliz. Now it’s progressed to Stage IV.
Nonetheless, Gil does not back down from a fight and strives to beat it. The chef is using the power of cooking to give him strength to overcome it all.
“I’m better than I was," he tells L.A. TACO. "I feel I am healing. Once I could stand again, I started cooking for myself… so soul-filling."