Tacos Royale serves Sonoran-style carne asada made with USDA Prime beef over mesquite charcoal on Sunset Boulevard, and its founder dreams of 80 family-owned drive-thru locations
Animal Style, Sonoran Style
SILVER LAKE. A taco stand on Sunset Boulevard wants to become the next In-N-Out, according to LAist’s report on LA’s best new taco wanting to be the next In-N-Out. Tacos Royale, at 2511 West Sunset Boulevard on the border of Silver Lake and Echo Park, serves Sonoran-style carne asada cooked over mesquite charcoal using USDA Prime beef. It opened in mid-June and operates Thursday through Sunday from 6 p.m. to midnight. Founder Saul Perez Garcia, a self-taught cook who also runs a furniture and interior design business, describes the concept as a fine dining or steakhouse experience in a taco. For 7 dollars.
His long-term goal is a family-owned, never-franchised chain of about 80 locations, roughly 10 percent of In-N-Out’s footprint, complete with drive-thrus. In a city where every waiter has a screenplay and every barista has a band, a taco stand with a business plan modelled on California’s most beloved burger chain is, observers agree, an extremely Los Angeles ambition.
The Numbers
According to LAist, tacos cost 7.49 dollars, burritos 15.75 and combos 24.75. For comparison, LAist noted, an In-N-Out Double-Double costs about 6 dollars and a combo about 11. Perez says his tortillas cost about 60 cents each, compared with about a nickel for a standard tortilla, and his Prime beef costs roughly three times as much as regular taqueria beef. Angelenos who have tried the tacos say the difference is noticeable. Angelenos who have looked at the receipt say the difference is also noticeable.
An Echo Park bartender who visits every weekend said he had done the maths. One taco costs more than a Double-Double, he said. That is a bold position. In this city, you do not mess with In-N-Out. People have tattoos of it. People have proposed marriage in the drive-thru. But I ate the taco. And I understood. It is a steak dinner that fits in my hand. I would pay seven dollars for that. I would pay eight. Do not tell him I said eight.
The Pedigree
Perez’s past work includes The Butcher’s Daughter, Ceviche Project, chef Enrique Olvera’s ATLA and the mariscos truck La Hija del Marondo. His tortillas are made by a Sylmar tortilleria with his cousin, chef Eloy Aluri from Hermosillo, the capital of Sonora and spiritual home of the region’s famous carne asada and flour tortillas. Add-ons include veneno, a beef chicharron, and Signature Party Beans made with beef tallow and cheese. Drinks include house-made coconut horchata and jasmine tea, and the tacos are finished with Colima sea salt.
A food writer in Highland Park said the menu read like a love letter to Sonora written by someone who also understands Los Angeles. Prime beef, mesquite, Sonoran flour tortillas, he said. Then party beans with tallow and cheese. That is the LA part. In LA, even the beans have to be a party. Nothing here is allowed to be just beans.
The In-N-Out Challenge
In-N-Out occupies an almost sacred place in California culture. Founded in Baldwin Park in 1948, the chain is famous for its short menu, its secret menu, its refusal to franchise, its family ownership and its fiercely loyal fans. To announce that you want to become the next In-N-Out is, in Southern California terms, comparable to a garage band announcing it wants to become the next Beatles. It is not impossible. It is just a very big sentence.
A Baldwin Park resident whose grandfather ate at the original In-N-Out said he respected the ambition. Everybody wants to be In-N-Out, he said. Very few understand how hard it is. You have to keep the menu short, the quality high and the family in charge for seventy years. Most people cannot keep a houseplant alive for seventy years. But I wish him luck. California has room for a great burger and a great taco. We have room for everything except parking.
The Drive-Thru Dream
The mention of drive-thrus has captured imaginations across Los Angeles. A drive-thru serving Prime beef carne asada tacos at midnight would, many residents agree, fundamentally improve life in the city. A Glendale nurse who works night shifts said she would drive across town for one. At midnight, my options are gas station snacks or a burger I have eaten eight thousand times, she said. A Prime beef taco through a car window at midnight would change my life. I would use the drive-thru on my way to work, and on the way home, and probably on my day off. I would need to work more shifts to pay for it. It would be worth it.
The Furniture Connection
Perez also runs a furniture and interior design business, a combination of careers that may be unique among taco entrepreneurs. Los Angeles diners have speculated about what this might mean for the eventual chain. Will Tacos Royale drive-thrus feature exceptional seating? Will the condiment station be a design statement? A Silver Lake interior designer said she hoped so. Fast food has terrible design, she said. Plastic seats, harsh lights, beige everything. If a taco chain brought real design to fast food, it would be revolutionary. Also, if he sells chairs at the counter, I am buying.
Late-Night Los Angeles
The stand’s 6 p.m. to midnight hours tap into a long Los Angeles tradition of late-night tacos, from the trucks of East LA to the stands of Hollywood. For generations of Angelenos, a taco eaten on a sidewalk after a long night has been one of the city’s great pleasures. Tacos Royale’s premium approach adds a new chapter to that tradition, suggesting that late-night street food can be both affordable to most and extraordinary.
The Last Word
At 11:30 on a Saturday night, the line at Tacos Royale stretched down Sunset Boulevard. A man in a suit stood behind two teenagers in skateboarding gear, who stood behind a couple who had just left a wedding, still in formal clothes. The bride, holding a carne asada taco, turned to her new husband. You know, she said, we spent forty thousand dollars on dinner tonight. And this is the best thing I have eaten all day. He nodded, taking a bite. Seven forty-nine, he said. Should have had the wedding here. She laughed. Next time, she said. He looked at her. Next time? She grinned. For the anniversary, she said. At location number eighty.