Guerrilla Tacos and Angry Egret chef Wes Avila returns with Mexican steakhouse MXO
MXO
One of L.A.’s most celebrated chefs is playing with fire. Wes Avila, founder of Guerrilla Tacos and the now-shuttered Angry Egret Dinette, just opened Mexican steakhouse MXO in Beverly Grove, where steaks and seafood are singed over mesquite and peach wood, salsas and tortillas hit the tables along with ceviches and sides such as stewy Mayocoba beans or salsa macha potatoes, and dishes can come topped with Avila’s own take on steak sauce (here called W1).
“We wanted to do something familiar but unconventional,” Avila said. “You don't see this stuff in steakhouses. The format of the steakhouse is sides that are a little bit more American, even a little French in there, and maybe pastas too. We wanted to do that but flip it and do some Mexican stuff.”
During a trip to visit multiple restaurants in Monterrey, Avila realized he hadn’t seen anything quite like what he envisioned in L.A.: He envisioned open-fire cooking for steaks served with a range of Mexican flavors but with steakhouse service and flourishes such as surf-and-turf add-ons and caviar options. As with his other L.A. restaurant, Ka’teen, Avila partnered with restaurateur Giancarlo Pagani (Mother Wolf, Mars), and both teamed up with SBE Group to open the nearly 5,000-square-foot MXO.
It is, notably, Avila’s first restaurant where he isn’t serving tacos — though all dishes include salsas and can be served with either flour or corn tortillas. At least one item might strike Guerrilla Tacos fans as familiar, however: In lieu of sweet potato tacos, at MXO he’s serving sweet potato taquitos.
“It's an evolution,” he said. “It's been like 12 years and a month since I started my cart and the sweet potato tacos are what I would say was the benchmark then, so I wanted to make it even better."
Dark purple Okinawan sweet potatoes are rolled into corn tortillas and fried, topped with almond salsa and feta — and can be crowned with caviar. Much of the menu is new for Avila’s style of cooking, with mains that include an order-ahead, large-format Wagyu beef shank that’s braised birria-style and served bone-in; 32-ounce porterhouse steaks; carnitas with pickled jalapeño relish; and halibut Veracruzana, with add-ons like King crab legs and jumbo shrimp. Meals are prepared by Avila and nearly all of his team from Angry Egret Dinette, who join him at MXO.
To finish, look for chamomile tres leches cake, a panna cotta take on fresas en crema, mangonadas and more. The cocktail program highlights Mexican spirits, the global wine list includes the Valle de Guadalupe, and tastings of various tequilas and mezcals are available by the glass or the flight. MXO is open Tuesday to Thursday from 5:30 to 10 p.m. and Friday and Saturday from 5:30 to 11 p.m.
826 N. La Cienega Blvd., Los Angeles, (323) 805-0696, sbe.com/restaurants/mxo/los-angeles
Companion
A new neighborhood cafe and restaurant with an Italian bent is open in Venice serving pastries and espresso in the morning, hearty focaccia sandwiches at lunch and fresh pastas, pizzas and planks of Milanese in the evening. Companion, from the husband and wife behind Santa Monica cafe Gnarwhal Coffee Co., extends Nick and Dakota Monica’s efforts to spotlight small-batch and organic and regenerative farmers, as they do in their coffee shop, to produce vendors and vintners.
“I think coffee was really kind of our stepping stone into the [restaurant] space,” said Dakota Monica. “We had the idea for Companion and it was something that we knew we would always do, but we weren't sure when.”
To bring their dream to life, they took over the former Double Zero space but still needed a chef. A mutual friend introduced the couple to executive chef and partner Jack Goode (formerly of Quarter Sheets), who’s cooking what he calls an amalgamation of what he grew up eating at Californian Italian restaurants and the red-checkered-tablecloth Italian American restaurants he frequented during his years cooking in New York City, all informed by the farmers market.
The Bolognese uses Peads & Barnetts beef and pork; sandwiches might be stuffed with carrots and arugula with stracciatella, or porchetta with sweet peaches. Planks of fried chicken dribble vodka sauce and cheese from between halves of fresh focaccia in the daytime, and at night take the form of Milanese with local greens. Goode wanted his pizzas to fall between a crispy New Haven-style dough and a sturdier New York-style crust with only a bit of char; one pie adds clams in an ode to Frank Pepe’s in New Haven, while another relies on red sauce and classic toppings like spicy Italian sausage and onion.
Ice cream for dessert and affogati is made in-house. While Companion offers fewer specialty coffee drinks than Gnarwhal, Italian espresso classics are on offer as are new options such as the Dominic Decoco, made with coconut water, espresso and a house-made cinnamon simple syrup, the cinnamon bark slow-roasted overnight in the pizza oven. Pastries are baked by Ed Cornell at Cafe Tropical in Silver Lake, who met Goode while also working at Quarter Sheets and now fills Companion’s pastry case with bomboloni, cornetti and other Italian sweets.
Companion is open daily from 7 a.m. to 3 p.m. for pastries and lunch, and Wednesday to Sunday from 5 to 10 p.m. for dinner.
1700 Lincoln Blvd., Venice, companion.la
Butchr Bar
Echo Park’s newest wine bar is also the meatiest business on the block. Boasting an in-house butchery program that includes sausages, charcuterie and dry-aged steaks, Butchr Bar, from husband-and-wife team Tyson and Bridgette Blackney, serves grass-fed, pasture-raised and organic meats processed almost entirely in-house. Executive chef Danny Rodriguez (formerly of Cobi’s) and sous chef Chianne Mallari (formerly of Carlsbad’s Jeune et Jolie and San Diego’s Animae) fill the menu with hearty steaks aged in the restaurant’s fridges, such as lamb with red-currant jelly or rib-eye with kumquat mostarda; small plates such as beef tartare with chile oil and quail egg or a whole fermented tomato stuffed with herbs and hibiscus salt; and charcuterie boards that might entail boar, lamb, pork and more, while bread is sourced from the neighboring Clark Street Bakery.
To pair, the Blackneys and manager Henry Smith assembled a tight list of biodynamic and natural wines sourced primarily from California, Italy and France, along with bottles and cans — or “tinnies,” as Australians like the Blackneys say — of local brews from Malibu’s Rancho West, Lakewood’s Coopers Brewery and downtown’s Skyduster Beer. Butchr Bar is open Wednesday to Sunday from 3 to 10 p.m.
301 Glendale Blvd., Los Angeles, (503) 320-7111, butchr.bar
Carla Cafe
A viral sandwich pop-up is now a bricks-and-mortar cafe in Beverly Grove, serving the to-go items that garnered fandom from Gwyneth Paltrow, Hilary Duff and countless others during the pandemic — plus new dishes and a matcha-forward beverage program. Carla Cafe, from husband-and-wife duo Avi Ahdoot and Jessica Horell, began humbly with a homemade sandwich made of grilled chicken, garlic aioli, arugula, Parmesan and tomato that picked up steam on their private, personal Instagram accounts. When the couple needed a new income stream in 2020, they took the leap with sandwich pop-ups that would sell out in minutes.
Due to the popularity, they debuted a pickup outpost at West L.A. ghost kitchen Colony, but late this summer, they finally launched their own restaurant in the former home of Monty’s Good Burger. Now they’re serving breakfast items such as Korean barbecue steak breakfast burritos, huevos rancheros tostadas and cream-top matcha lattes, the signature garlic chicken sandwich and tuna chop sandwich and new lunch dishes like open-faced tuna melts. In the future, Ahdoot and Horell plan to offer dinner service, with beer and wine. Carla Cafe is open Monday to Saturday from 7 a.m. to 3 p.m.
8432 W. 3rd St., Los Angeles, (310) 492-4993, carlacafela.com
Hibiki BBQ
A new late-night San Gabriel yakiniku restaurant aims to plop diners right into a Japanese cityscape. Decorated with an assemblage of train signage, colorful lights and faux storefronts, Hibiki BBQ offers an eyeful as guests grill Japanese, Australian and American Wagyu, pork jowl, scallops, beef tongue, vegetables, squid and more. Ownership wanted to blend Japanese grilling with facets of the Korean barbecue experience, so while the meats are unmarinated, assorted banchan such as spicy pickled radish can be ordered alongside the grilled items.
Prepared dishes such as agedashi tofu, tonkotsu ramen, ankimo, takoyaki, Wagyu cheese curry and bibimbap are on offer along with sparkling teas and yuzu cheesecake. Hibiki BBQ is open Monday to Thursday from 5 p.m. to midnight and Friday to Sunday from noon to 3 p.m. and 5 p.m. to midnight.
529 E. Valley Blvd., Suite #108A, San Gabriel, (626) 782-7000, hibikibbq.com
Family Style Food Festival
Once a year some of L.A.’s top restaurants team up with legendary fashion brands to collaborate on limited-edition merch and dishes, and on Sept. 28, Family Style returns. The sprawling food and apparel festival now owned by Complex was founded by the Hundreds’ Ben Shenassafar and Bobby Kim and their partner Miles Canares, and exists at the nexus of food and fashion. This year will bring both worlds to L.A. State Historic Park with roughly 50 food and beverage participants, including Baroo, Burritos La Palma, Open Market, Camphor, Lasita, Cobi’s, Holy Basil, Din Tai Fung, Budonoki, Moo’s Craft Barbecue, 715 Sushi, Mariscos Jaliso, Park’s BBQ and New York City’s Katz’s Delicatessen. On the fashion side, look for one-day-only drops and limited merch from Carrots, Pokémon, Anti Social Social Club, Nike, Paisa Boys, Garden & Seeds, the Hundreds and more.
Read more: At the merging of fashion and food in Los Angeles
This year’s festival, held from noon to 8 p.m., is hosted by comedian and DJ Kerwin Frost and features a cooking competition called Next in Line, where chefs Suzanne Goin of A.O.C. and Caldo Verde, Antonia Lofaso of Scopa Italian Roots, Brooke Williamson of Playa Provisions and Jazz Singsong of Jitlada each nominated one of their cooks to participate. The winner takes home $10,000, custom merch and new opportunities to help further their culinary career. General admission tickets to this year’s Family Style Food Festival cost $40 and include event entry and entertainment, with food, drinks and merch available for additional purchase; VIP tickets cost $200 and include access to VIP-only areas, which contain free food and drink, plus free exclusive merch.
1245 N. Spring St., Los Angeles, familystylefest.com
This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.
