In my opinion, being the first taquero to unleash a new regional style of burrito into Southern California’s expansive taco universe is almost worthy of a Nobel Peace Prize, especially when the results are as delicious as they are at Los De Juárez Burritos in Anaheim.
Not even a month after debuting, the strip mall taco shop has received tens of thousands of loyal followers and customers, and is known to sell out their chile relleno burrito in less than an hour after opening the doors.
“We understood that our Juárez-style burritos weren’t going to be for everybody because they are so different than the super-extra burritos everyone is used to here, but we had no idea of how much people would love them so fast,” Omar de La Vega tells L.A. TACO.
De La Vega was born and raised in Ciudad Juárez, Chihuahua, Mexico, and moved to Southern California when he was 10. He opened Los De Juárez Burritos with his business partner, Juan Del Rio, whose family is from Zacatecas.
These Mexican entrepreneurs also own the brunch specialist spot Jardin Auténtica Cocina in Orange, which has a big following itself, as well as Santo Remedio RestoBar.
A Juárez-style burrito is immediately recognizable by its thin and elongated, tube-like shape—it resembles a flauta but in burrito form. It is traditionally stuffed with a whisper of frijoles guisados (refried beans) and a reserved amount of stewed meat or vegetable-based guisado, so it’s never too messy.
The flour tortillas are also a bit thicker than the paper-thin Sonoran style, which have been trending in Los Angeles over the last two years, while still not as thick as packaged flour tortillas.
The salsas are also on the thinner side and always served with a whole fresh chile serrano, jokingly referred to as “chile amor,” a play on their other moniker: “chiles a mordidas” (meaning, to eat it by biting right into the chile).
Los de Juárez Burritos makes its flour tortillas by hand, each measuring roughly ten inches in diameter. Every tortilla is cooked to order when you order a burrito, resulting in an extremely tender vehicle for their guisados. They are browned on each side after the burrito has been rolled up to give them extra flavor with all the golden brown euphorics.
The tortilla and technique almost make these tortillas the stars of the show, if it weren’t for the sazón-filled guisados, which are full-flavored and juicy on their own. All of the recipes, including the flour tortillas, were created with the help of Juárez chef Jessica Francesca Correa Platas. The owners met her when she showed up on a motorcycle, selling her burritos as they were doing taco research around the border city in Chihuahua, known for femicides and burritos.
While De La Vega was hesitant to share all the ingredients that go into their tender, chewy flour tortillas, L.A. TACO could taste a unique hybrid of lard and butter in their specimens. De La Vega confirmed our suspicions.
“A lot of people forget that burritos are 60% tortilla, so you’ve got to make them also worth eating. We make ours fresh every day, after we close the restaurant, for the next day.”
De La Vega says that many people are initially hesitant about their slender burritos, assuming they aren’t going to fill them up. Then people end up buying even more burritos to take home because they end up loving them so much and want to share them with everyone.
“Our burritos are deceivingly filling,” he jokes.
The menu is tiny, with only six to seven guisados offered each day, such as carne en su jugo, carne deshebrada, chile colorado, birria, and chicharrón. There are also plenty of veggie options including rajas or that popular chile relleno. Los de Juárez also serves their decadent flour tortillas in quesadilla form, oozing with melted Monterey Jack.
“It’s been a crazy burrito journey,” says De La Vega. “Our other two restaurants are also really busy. I had surgery, my son had surgery, we had staffing issues, but we’ve been envisioning this restaurant for years. It almost didn’t even happen, but we just set a date and told ourselves to do it no matter what happened, and we did.”
De La Vega has been overwhelmed by the instant support his passion project of sharing Juárez-style burritos with the region is receiving. He shares that, on average, his restaurants take three months to develop a loyal customer base, in which more than 60% of customers return. Los De Juárez accomplished that in less than a month.
The taquería is also located approximately 2.3 miles from Disneyland and their burritos happen to carry well for those who wish to eat them later in the day. Perhaps while waiting in line to take on the evil empire or somewhere lost on Tom Sawyer’s island. Hint, hint.
Over time, they enter a new dimension of flavor, transforming into what are known as “burritos sudados,” the burrito equivalent of eating a sandwich that you packed in the morning, which then get a little smushed up and strangely more delectable when enjoyed later in the day.
Burritos Los De Juárez ~ 1101 W. Lincoln Ave. Anaheim CA 92805. Closest transit lines and stop: OC Bus Lines 42 and 42A - "Lincoln/West" or OC Bus Lines 43 and 543 - "Harbor/Lincoln."
