Alex Garcia and Elvia Huerta, the duo behind Evil Cooks, have been slinging tacos, burritos, torta, and tater tots since 2018. Garcia grew up in Mexico and recalls the meals his father, a baker, made from scratch with tortillas, scrambled eggs and beans. Huerta jumped around small restaurants after culinary school then worked for a decade at UCLA. Huerta says Evil Cooks liberated her from the strict recipes she was required to make when she was working for others. The two of them over Instagram and began collaborating.
Garcia abandoned his rockstar aspirations and turned toward the kitchen, starting in the dish pit. "From there, I started falling in love with cooking," Garcia says. Combining his love of music and food, he explains that Evil Cooks wants to rebel against set menus and challenge themselves with seasonal ingredients. "Metal inspires all of our food. We wanted to make it different, we wanted to make it dark" and he wants the reaction to his dishes to be, "Wow, my grandma doesn't do it that way!"
Their pop-up venture is the subject of this week's "In the Weeds."
Evil Cooks' taco de pastor negro is served in a handmade tortilla topped with salsa roja, cilantro, onions, and guacamole. Photo courtesy of Evil Cooks.
Alex Garcia prepares a dish at one of Evil Cooks' private dinners, held monthly in El Sereno. Photo courtesy of Evil Cooks.
Evil Cooks often sets up multiple trompos such as their Poseidon (Black Octopus Al Pastor), in the foreground. In the background, they've got the Regular Black Al Pastor and the Black Asada trompos going. Photo by Erwin Recinos/L.A. TACO