Chuy’s Tacos Dorados – LA

At the same time as elevated Mexican restaurants including Puesto and Playa Mesa have upleveled tacos with premium ingredients (and commensurate prices), grass roots Mexican taquerias such as Tacos Los Cholos and Taco Nazo have expanded their chains on the strength of affordable tacos – unfancy but delicious options that either focus on specific ingredients or harken back to earlier, simpler times. Located in LA’s Arts District near the SCI-Arc Gallery and numerous eating establishments such as the Sunday food fair Smorgasburg LA and Van Leeuwen Ice Cream, Chuy’s Tacos Dorados has established itself as a small, hyper-focused specialist in dorado-style tacos: soft tortilla shells that are crispy-fried immediately before serving.

Chuy’s uses several tablet screens to let visitors place orders – the restaurant’s only bottleneck, as guests may flow out the front doors while people struggle with shaky credit card readers or the (relatively simple) touchscreen menu. Standard taco choices ($3.75 to $4.35 each) are limited to shredded beef, potato, or a combination of chipotle-marinated ground beef with potato, all paired with lettuce, cheese, and lime-pickled onions; “idol” style tacos ($3.75 to $4) pair either shredded beer or potato with pork chorizo, refried beans, and cheese. Burritos ($8.50 to $11) and quesadillas ($10 to $10.50) with the same ingredients are also available; a cheese-only quesadilla is $6, with chips and salsa ($3.50), beans ($3.50), and Mexican rice ($3.25) as the only sides. Mexican Coke bottles and fountain drinks are also available.

We really enjoyed each of the tacos dorados we ordered: one standard shredded beef (carne deshebrada) with all the normal fillings arrived overflowing with grated cheese and loaded with similarly thin-sliced onions and lettuce. Between the ingredients and the perfectly crisped shell, which was crunchy but not oily outside, slightly softer inside, it was a healthier yet still strongly flavored throwback to the era when American tacos were predominantly hard-shelled and over-the-top in basic but tasty ingredients.