El Ruso #1

I Will Always Have Room for El Ruso’s Extremely Dialed-In Tacos | Bon Appétit

"A tiny taco truck in a small parking lot in Boyle Heights that turns humble tacos into a revelatory meal: the tortillas, made by Julia Silva who drives to Mexicali for a softer Mexican flour and hand-flattens them the same way she has for 40 years, are thin, pliable, and fat-laced; chef Walter Soto, who honed his craft over 17 years in Sinaloa and L.A., builds costra-style tacos by placing Monterrey cheese under the tortilla and griddling it until the cheese fuses, scorches, and becomes crunchy-melty. The carne asada is simply seasoned with sea salt and expertly grilled to a juicy medium, topped with a ladleful of plump, velvety red beans simmered for hours with a touch of chile and sea salt. A choose-your-condiment spread—salsa roja, guacamole, cilantro-laced raw onions, pickled onions, and lime—finishes the tacos, and eating at the plastic tables in the sun makes for a blissful, restorative second-lunch experience." - ByElyse Inamine