CHANGE MAKERS
Dana Rodriguez
Jose Avila
Applause, Please With multiple Mexican restaurateurs from Colorado up for a James Beard Award this month, are chefs of Latin American descent finally getting the recognition they deserve? BY ALLYSON REEDY
Sharif Villa Cruz
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As soon as you part the red curtain that separates La Diabla Pozole y Mezcal’s entrance from Larimer Street, you’re hit with the scents of toasted chiles, slow-roasted cochinita pibil, and long-simmered broths. These savory smells signify essential components of the tacos and stews that satisfy our appetites for Latin American flavors. They’re so familiar, and yet their creators often are not. Colorado is known for the sort of Mexican food that chef Jose Avila makes at year-old La Diabla near Coors Field and at his weekly barbacoa pop-up, El Borrego Negro, in Westwood. Mexican American chefs such as Avila—many of whom have run the kitchens of well-known eateries in town—are an integral part of the local restaurant industry. Plus, Avila estimates that 80 to 90 percent of the kitchen workers he’s cooked with over his 20-year career in Denver have been Latino. That guesstimate stands diametrically opposed to the fact that those of Latin American descent haven’t been as P H O T O G R A P H Y BY J O N I S C H R A N T Z
JUNE 2022
