Anyone been to El Ruso since they opened a truck in Silver Lake? (Or did they just te-locate their truck).
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I live close and go probably twice per week (not great for my figure lol).
Only went once to their old location, and believe they’ve moved to Silverlake for now. Without indexing/comparing to the old, I quite like but don’t find transcendent. For me, the salsas/lack of salsa variety is a weak point, but I’m not an expert on Sonoran stuff so maybe there’s something I’m missing. Each order gets a little bag of lime, cabbage, cilantro onions, and a red and avocado salsa, but as a sauce person I typically prefer to condiment my isht to my own taste.
The move is their Friday/weekend special, the Ahuja plate, a short rib meat taco and then a short rib bone plopped on a cheesy tortilla with a little meat attached. Also their Muneco taco, which is chicharron in salsa roja and asada. And the sobaqueras.
Edit: I buried the maybe obvious lede that their flour tortillas are very, very good.
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Good lord, I can’t believe it’s been two weeks since this thread was started. Just a quick update, I got the cemita from Los Originales De Puebla yesterday and while it wasn’t bad I still think Cemitas Tepeaca (at least the location I linked to) is better.
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Sonoratown Sonoratown
Sonoratown
Sonoratown
and if you like seafood, Holbox.
That’s it. You’re welcome.
i vacillated between el ruso and sonoratown for flour tortilla, and unfortunately chose el ruso. the silverlake location quality seems to have gone down a lot compared to before - from a sample size of one visit, the tortilla seems to have lost a lot of the qualities that made it great, particularly texture, and also seems to have very slightly shrunk in size? the asada was also lacking in smokiness…
birria el jaliciense at 3442 olympic on saturday mornings is some really outstanding goat! the best-tasting goat fat i’ve had in a while, very clean, pure richness
asadero chikali is maintaining its consistency with the flour tortillas
los originales tacos arabes de puebla is also maintaining its consistency with the tortillas and the arabes
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Make that a sample size of two. Bummer!
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no smoke whatsoever on the asada
i had driven by at around 11 when they were presumably cooking up the initial asada and there was tons of smoking wafting out of their truck, but apparently to little effect. its also sort of jarring how little overlap there is between the current clientele and that at the original location…
on another note, tireshop is doing solid (this time was a lot better than my previous time, maybe in part by comparison against el ruso)
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Sonoratown, Guisados, Guerilla Tacos, and Tacos 1986 are all within a 2 mile radius from one another.
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Personally would only put one of those in the upper echelon, and in that area I think one would be much better served popping East across the river to Boyle Heights or South across the 10 to South Central.
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PSA for anyone interested in trying them out, go there soon. They get crowded anyway and it’s usually best to get there by 10 at the latest to ensure not missing out. But I was there a couple of weekends ago and there was a film crew. Looks like they’ll be featured on a show which only make their lines more insane
So before they get “discovered” and overrun by cred chasing hipsters, go beat the lines. A good bang bang is to hit them, followed by going west on Olympic to los dos chingones for some some carnitas then walk across the street for mariscos jaliscos.
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They get crowded anyway and it’s usually best to get there by 10 at the latest to ensure not missing out.
they had a pretty good stream of customers already at 8:30
A good bang bang is to hit them, followed by going west on Olympic to los dos chingones for some some carnitas then walk across the street for mariscos jaliscos.
i did tacos y birria la unica for a couple quesotacos (no line in the morning), followed by tacos de canasta el abuelo for a few tacos de canasta and the limon pepino agua
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I’ve had good luck timing it for about 9, seem to catch it in between the first opening wave and before the second wave.
Nice back to back with Unica and El Abuelo! Yeah, if I can roust myself early enough on a Saturday, making the run early from Westside to that side of town to beat traffic and the lines is the way to go.
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Any photos? Ordering tips?
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i heard about them from la taco, which has great pictures: Oven-Roasted, Beautifully Charred Goat ‘Birria Tatemada’ Has Arrived in Boyle Heights ~ L.A. TACO
they also have an instagram where they update, and also post pictures of goat before/after roasting https://www.instagram.com/birriaeljaliciense/
the only decision to make are whether you want the consome separate or not, and the quantity of meat you want.
menu:
another bang bang option for a different but also fantastic take on birria consome would be birreria nochistlan at 3200 e. 4th st., maybe 5 minutes away by car.
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Here’s my photos from a previous post. If you’re ordering only for yourself and eating there. I’d recommend the number 2. You get a mix of the different cuts, tortillas, salsa, onions and cilantro on the side, and the cup of consome separate from the meat which is great to sip after a bite. Grab a seat and dig in.
If you’re taking it to go, the number 7 is a better deal, You get a pound of the meat, all the fixings and consome on the side, good for leftovers or splitting with someone.
Definitely pay attention to their IG account, they are there most Saturdays but not every one and with the holidays coming up, pretty sure they’ll take a few weeks off.
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Thank you! Gonna try to make this happen SOON!
Y’all are right. Definitely fallen off.
Tortillas are mushy/gummy, and the asada has no smoke whatsoever. Coasting on the quesataco cheese aspect, and they can’t seem to figure out the salsas.
*I should specify this refers to the Silver Lake location!
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apparently Walter has been manning the grill at the new location (4th and Seaton in the arts district), so maybe that one is currently hewing closer to the original standard?
I think Asadero Chikali is currently doing the best flour tortilla/asada taco.
Tacos y Birria La Unica now has a midcity location (5871 Venice Blvd)
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What time of day are you normally hitting them up for this? I love a couple of their guisados, but have never been impressed by the asada. Somehow always seems old and tired when I’ve been.
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How is the mid city location of La Unica?
Still the best birria quesatacos in the game with the salsa aceite and consommé. 10/10.
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