got the ooe and each sandwich I ate just got better and better. coming in I was expecting some bright and acid flavors that chef wes liked to use at guerrilla tacos, but all the sandwiches were very nicely balanced. I noticed only the culver had a really crusty bread, not sure if that’s by design or not.
and new this week the mookie melt.
patio dining was quite pleasant with plenty of shade and spaced out tables.
I ate The Whittier. Chef Wes has invented the nü-LA french dip. Suadero w/ some horseradish cheese situation that mashes up the best of East LA w/ the best of DTLA and makes something pretty damn tasty. The textures were a really satisfying part of the experience. Excellent bolillos with crusty outsides and soft chewy insides. Combine that with the crispy edges on the griddled suadero + all of the other components and you get a chomp experience as satisfying as that scene in Cinema Paradiso where Salvatore watches Alfredo’s reel:
My GF ate The Saguaro. I only had a bite so I asked her to describe what she liked about it and she said, “I liked the texture of the sandwich and dimension of the flavors.” Then she looked at me like she wanted me to stop asking questions so she could get back to grading papers. So… she liked it?
The fries were just utilitarian. Well cooked and tasty but not as surprising as the sandos.
Overall, I would say definitely worth a trip. Seems like they are still working on a few things but I can see this place turning out some great food.
This might be an odd question but do bollilos differ from tortas?
I’ve always noticed at the Mexican market bolillos have a more oblong shape while tortas are rounder. Also they seem to have different textures. But these are just my observations. Anyone?
The Whittier Blvd comes piled with beef suadero, horseradish cream, avocado, queso fresco and serrano chilies, while the Culver—a nod to a torta from his Guerrilla Taco truck days—involves prosciutto di Parma, Maasdam cheese, arugula and a fried egg. The Saguaro features layers of tempura-fried broccolini with sungold tomatoes, market greens, salsa macha and ricotta, though given Avila’s hand-picking of these vegetables at the farmers market, they could change at any time (the first day of business, it included squash blossoms).
got the ooe and each sandwich I ate just got better and better. coming in I was expecting some bright and acid flavors that chef wes liked to use at guerrilla tacos, but all the sandwiches were very nicely balanced. I noticed only the culver had a really crusty bread, not sure if that’s by design or not.
and new this week the mookie melt.
patio dining was quite pleasant with plenty of shade and spaced out tables.
The sandwiches here pack quite the punch in flavors textures!
Because I got to dine on Sushi Kaneyoshi and Sugashita bento, I picked up some Angry Egret for the fam. I got a bite or two of each just to see what I was missing out on.
The Culver - prosciutto, arugula and a fried egg…you had me at hello. I could eat this sandwich anytime of anyday.
The Mookie Melt - the chicken was so good…and with the bacon, poblano salsa and scallions…so much yum that my husband did not detect the gruyere cheese that was also there
The Whittier - so many flavors that I love all in one place! I don’t think I will ever get tired of eating this one.
The hardest part was finding the location…I clearly didn’t read instructions well enough to go through the slightly opened gates to see it in the courtyard with Steep and Steep after dark.
I had The Whittier and The Mookie, really good sandwiches, I like the texture on the brisket in the Whittier, a crispness with the fattiness and the flavor of the beef.
Fries were good too. Crispy and soft interior.
Just adding to this as I went the other day - overall impression was positive. Big fan of the flavors, which have chef Avila’s fingerprints literally and figuratively all over them, and I’d like to try more and will continue to monitor specials too.
That said, I do think that there were some technical/strategic kinks to perhaps work out - for example, on the Mookie all of the flavors were awesome and worked well together, but the salsa on both sides of the sandwich made the bacon a little chewy and the chicken skin stretchy. Perhaps it’s a transit issue, but in this takeaway world I think it could be constructed so that it would hold up for a fairly short car ride.
We liked the saguaro more, though the tempura fried veggies (though delicious) suffered from the same lack of crispness. Not sure what the fix is there except ordering and eating absolutely immediately so it can’t sit.
Want to stress that we did really enjoy everything! Just a couple little things left us feeling like it didn’t entirely live up to potential.
