Food & Wine USA - (07)July 2020

JULY 2020 59

why we love them

Under a tent in Los Angeles’ Boyle Heights

neighborhood, Julia Silva makes tortillas

so supple they’ll ruin any other version for

you. At her side is taquero Walter Soto, who

cooks up equally glorious fillings like sumptu-

ous birria de res, made from beef stewed in

Tecate beer, and creamy pinto beans.

El Ruso was just hitting its stride when

the pandemic shut down Los Angeles:

Soto was whipping up tacos six days a

week for a steady crowd that included a

few Hollywood celebrities, and they’d

recently finished a new seating area

across from the grill and comal. El Ruso

may not be able to extend the same hos-

pitality to customers as it did before, but

Soto and Silva are still serving up tacos

and tortillas. For safety reasons, they no

longer have their popular salsa bar, so

Soto has taken instead to giving indi-

vidual bottles of salsa to regulars. Even

though the stand is open a fraction of

the time it was before (these days it’s

Friday to Sunday and for takeout only),

it remains as popular as ever. Hungry

customers flood Soto’s phone with pre-

orders, and people drive from all over

Los Angeles to stand in lines—six feet

apart—that are often nearly an hour long.

Soto says he sells out pretty much every

day, and he feels optimistic about the

future of the restaurant. When he’s not

at the grill, he’s working on a new taco

truck that will transport El Ruso’s tran-

scendent tacos to more parts of the city.

their pivot

Taquero Walter Soto mans

the grill at El Ruso, prepar-

ing and chopping beef for

tacos made with freshly

griddled flour tortillas.

los angeles

TACO STAND SERVING UP

LIFE-ALTERING TORTILLAS

VIA SONORA AND BAJA

CALIFORNIA

EL

RUSO

photography by AUBRIE PICK