After paying his dues on the line at Atla, Ceviche Project, and a nine-month run as a chef of food truck La Hija del Marondo, chef Saúl Pérez García will finally open his own Hermosillo-style street cart in Silver Lake. Tacos Royale opens Friday, June 5, as a street stand in a parking lot on West Sunset Boulevard serving tacos and burritos filled with steak cooked over charcoal and wrapped in flour tortillas.
The project comes from Pérez and his cousin and partner, chef Eloy Aluri, a renowned chef, culinary researcher, and restaurant consultant based in Hermosillo who has appeared on many television shows, including Netflix’s Taco Chronicles. Born in Guadalajara, Pérez spent many family vacations in Hermosillo, a city in México’s northwestern
Sonoran state, and both he and Aluri have pooled their resources to engineer a carne asada stand unlike Los Angeles has ever seen.
Like Los Angeles’s other local keepers of the flame, Sonoratown, Tacos La Carreta, and Tacos Don Cuco, Tacos Royale will be cooking its asada with charcoal. For now, the taquería offers one cut, USDA Prime diezmillo (chuck roll), typically served by street stands in Hermosillo, that has a unique preparation. “We separate the seven [primary] muscles, trim the fat and nerves and only use the meat in the taco, which is why we say steak taco — this is how it’s done in Hermosillo,” says Pérez. Some of the trim is used to make beef cracklings, known as veneno (poison) in Hermosillo. The cracklings can come on Pérez’s asada taco and OG taco, a taco de frijol made from a recipe given to Aluri and Pérez by none other than notable cook Nereida Vejar, owner of Rincon de la Nere in Matape, Sonora. The party beans, or frijoles de fiesta, are refried peruanos colored orange by fried chile colorado, using a blend of melted Monterey Jack and cheddar cheese with a kick from pickled jalapeños.
Pérez will use traditional methods to tend his grill. “I cook over a low flame, simply season three-fourths to one-inch thick cut of steak with salt, then rest the meat in a pan, and slice it into cubes,” says Pérez. For the flour tortillas, Pérez created Sonorancali, his own “ancestral and original” flour tortilla recipe and brand made with Yosemite Organics flour (the same grain used in Sonora) from Arizona, beef tallow, water and salt produced by Graciana Tortilla Factory in Sylmar. Every ingredient at Tacos Royale honors the culture of Hermosillo, including the impressive salsa bar using only recipes from Aluri’s hometown.
The 10 components of the salsa bar come standard at many of Hermosillo’s asaderos, or grill stands. (“You need a guacamole and salsa tatemada,” Hermosillo born TikTok star Robert Morales (aka Robe Grill) told Eater Los Angeles in 2024.) These two essential toppings can be found at Tacos Royale, as will salsa bandera (commonly known as pico de gallo), shredded cabbage, salsa habanera with tomato, and chile toreados, among others to build a taste of Hermosillo on a flour tortilla.
Tacos Royale will start with only tacos this week and begin offering burritos next week. On the horizon is something unprecedented in Los Angeles: carne asada tacos made with a variety of cuts butchered in house from whole Akaushi steers raised in Minneapolis. “In two months, we will bring a whole Akaushi (American wagyu) steer and butcher it ourselves,” says Pérez, “Then, we will make tacos with rib-eye, beef ribs, sirloin, and other grilling cuts.”
The rest of the animal will be used in regional dishes featuring different cooking techniques at the stand as well as for additional pop-ups with Aluri at local ranches where the two chefs will hold Sonoran cookouts. “In Hermosillo, you can find great steak tacos, true steak tacos anywhere just five minutes away from you, so our goal is to do that here,” Pérez says. “You don’t have to get on a plane to experience Hermosillo carne asada.”
Tacos Royale is open Thursday through Sunday from 6 p.m. to 12 a.m., 2511 W. Sunset Boulevard, Silver Lake, Los Angeles.
