FAMILY RECIPES CONNECT A CHEF TO HIS PARENTS

WES AVILA COOKS HIS MOM’S TAQUITOS AND DAD’S BEEF STEW TO FEEL CLOSER TO THEM

- BY STEPHANIE BREIJO

Photographs from WES AVILA

CHEF Wes Avila, left, with dad Jose Luis Avila, in Pico Rivera earlier this year. Avila enjoys a meal by mom Julia "Judy" Luz Alicia Ponce Avila in 1984.

WHEN WES AVILA misses his parents, cooking their signature dishes helps to comfort him.

And lately the founder of Guerrilla Tacos, the upstart taqueria that became a leader of the Alta California movement, has been thinking of his parents frequently.

His mother, who died in 1995, is often on his mind. But his father, still alive, recently left for Mexico. Though Jose Luis Avila is a legal resident of the U.S., he feared being wrongfully swept up in the Immigration and Customs Enforcement raids that have put Los Angeles on edge for weeks. It was better for his dad, Avila said, to temporarily leave town and avoid even the possibility of it.