Thirteen years after Wes Avila first turned the classic taco de papa on its head by using in-season, local sweet potatoes, he continues to evolve his iconic, accidentally vegetarian taco. Five iterations of that iconic taco later, it now comes in a superlatively crunchy flauta filled with fluffy steamed Okinawan sweet potato and fried in rice bran oil, a best-seller at MXO by Wes Avila, his Mexican steakhouse on La Cienega.
“If you could copyright taco recipes like you can copyright lyrics or music, I’d be a rich man,” Avila jokes inside the elegant dining room of his eight-month-old new restaurant. “But nah man, I get it. As a chef, inspiration comes from everywhere.”
Avila’s sweet potato taco has been copied by many in L.A. and beyond. It’s also a best-seller at his taquería in Kyoto, PioPiko, proving that this taco is also effectively huge in Japan. Closer to home, a variation of that taco sits comfortably on Andrew Ponce’s menu at Silver Lake's modern Mexican restaurant, A Tí.
“The first time I had a sweet potato taco from chef Wes, it completely changed the way I looked at tacos,” Ponce tells L.A. TACO.
“I wanted to chase that feeling, so I created my own version with Japanese sweet potato, shio koji, and salsa negra. It’s humble, and I just hope it makes the chefs who inspired me proud.”
At Tigres Fuegos in Redondo Beach, chef Jimmy Tapía openly admits his adoration for Avila’s iconic taco, with his version also a best-seller on that menu, where it features mushrooms and is tied together with a robust salsa macha.
“This is our homage to Avila’s taco for sure,” he told L.A. TACO in a recent visit.
Avila’s formula for the taco is simple: a crunchy element (initially pine nuts, which later evolved to Corn Nuts), a velvety version of sweet potato, a creamy cheese, a spicy, thick salsa, and fresh vegetal elements, which comes from minced chives (used to be braised leeks, as taught by his mentor, Gary Menes, at Le Comptoir, where Avila worked).
Avila’s formula for the taco is simple: a crunchy element (initially pine nuts, but later evolved to Corn Nuts), a velvety version of sweet potato, a creamy cheese, a spicy, full-flavored, thick salsa, and a fresh vegetal elements, which comes from minced chives (used to be braised leeks, as taught by his mentor, Gary Menes, at Le Comptoir, where Avila worked). He published the entire recipe for this classic taco in his 2017 cookbook, Guerrilla Tacos: Recipes from the Streets of L.A.
Avila himself will never forget the first time he had an unabashed replica of his taco at Antojitos, a Mexican chain restaurant with locations at both Orlando and Hollywood Universal Studios' CityWalks five years ago!
“At first, it caught me off guard, they even put minced scallions!," he says. "But they didn’t get the salsa right. Ha, Exact, but the salsa wasn’t right! That blew me away.”
At MXO, he’s still using the white corn tortillas from La Princesita in East L.A., but now he’s omitting the butter because the Okinawan purple potatoes are so fluffy and buttery on their own.
His habanero and chile de árbol salsa, inspired by romesco, is still intact and bright as ever, generously ladled over the flautas. So is the feta cheese. He is still using Bulgarian feta for its low salt content and creamy mouthfeel.
The current take on the taco remains a great snapshot of Avila’s wildly innovative approach to tacos. The origin story goes back to the first year of Guerrilla Tacos, when it was just a grill cart on the street.
“I was just messing with different vegetables, but then winter came, so it was sweet potatoes' turn,” Avila says.
As taco enthusiasts, we are trained to compare modern tacos to traditional regional tacos that have been around for a long time. The staples like the aforementioned crispy potato taco that is a favorite dish to many, or suadero, or carnitas.
But seeing how far this taco has come and been emulated by many in just 13 years, who’s to say this isn't a brand new taco to enter the canon. Along with the rest of the greats?
826 N. La Cienega Blvd. Los Angeles, CA 90069
