El Taurino Calls All Carnivores

Drop by El Taurino on a Sunday morning and you’ll run into one of the wildest scenes in town. Long before noon, tables are jammed with guys in work clothes with pitchers of beer and huge plates of food. Families edge through the crowd lugging trays stacked with dishes. Lines snake across the room to the order windows.

People don’t come to this place near downtown for pancakes or ham and eggs. That’s wimpy breakfast food compared with the weekend special here-- barbacoa estilo Texcoco , lamb that has been steamed in an oven, as if in the traditional baking pit in the ground, until tender and juicy. A man with a huge knife hacks the meat apart, raising his arm high, then crashing it down with a resounding bang.

A fast-moving squad of workers packs orders to go, tucking in cups of searingly hot green chile or chipotle salsa, lime wedges and lots of chopped onion and cilantro. Almost everyone also orders big bowls of consome, a hearty lamb broth with garbanzo beans and bits of vegetable. Weekends are so busy that the restaurant puts a catering truck in the parking lot to take care of tacos and other short orders.

“A nice place to eat,” promises a slogan painted on the wall. This is scarcely a sufficient description of one of the town’s most colorful Mexican restaurants. Four bulls’ heads are mounted high on the walls, which are covered with bullfight posters and matador photos.

Sure, there’s beef on the menu. Carne asada , of course, carne deshebrada (shredded beef) and suadero --”That’s beef rib meat,” the woman behind the counter said; its flavor comes partly from a marinade that I was told contained orange juice. Steak smothered in melted cheese is another option.

But the dish that tops them all is costillas rancheras , which has as devoted a following during the week as the barbacoa has on weekends. The costillas are thin-cut beef ribs with large flaps of meat attached. The only way to pull the meat off the bones and strip away the fat is with your hands. It’s a greasy job, but the restaurant hands out stacks of paper napkins, and you’ll need every one.

Grilled onion slices, nicely singed at the edges, top the costillas . The sides are frijoles a la charra (boiled whole beans), lemony guacamole, a couple of hot salsas and corn tortillas for making your own tacos. A drink is included in the price of the meal. Choices include tamarindo, horchata, jamaica, pina colada and sodas.

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Nothing costs very much. The big, meaty combinations are $6.50 to $7. Tacos, at 99 cents each, sell briskly. Taco toppings include tongue, brains and cabeza (beef head meat) as well as suadero, carnitas , carne asada and carne al pastor (pork roasted on a vertical spit). The last is mildly seasoned, as carne al pastor goes.

El Taurino is proud enough of its tortas to advertise two of them on its plastic takeout bags. The star tortas are milanesa , with a breaded thin slice of meat, and pierna adobada , baked pork leg with a chile marinade. The pork is tender and mild enough for any taste. All the tortas are assembled in the same fashion. The top of the bun is spread with crema , the bottom with beans. Then on go the meat, tomato, onion and avocado slices.

Tostadas are assembled the same way, except they’re on tortillas with crumbled cheese on top. M y carne deshebrada was OK, though some of the meat was too tough to chew, but the chicken in chipotle sauce that the menu advertises seems to be nonexistent. I got steam table chicken with tomatoes, onion and jalapenos instead, very ordinary stuff. The tacos and tortas are better choices.

El Taurino is set up fast-food-style. The menu consists of boards attached to the walls. Dishes are listed in both Spanish and English. Customers order and pay at one window, pick up the order at another and get a drink at yet another. It’s a busy place, open 24 hours a day on weekends. Fortunately, order-taking is well organized, so that even on those jammed Sunday mornings, the food is served in a reasonably short time.

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El Taurino, 1104 S. Hoover St., Los Angeles, (213) 738-9197. Open 8:30 a.m. to 2 a.m. Mondays through Thursdays; 8:30 a.m. Fridays through 2 a.m. Mondays. Beer served only with orders of food. Lot and street parking. Cash only. Food from 99 cents (tacos) to $7 (combination plates); barbacoa estilo Texcoco (Saturday and Sunday only), $8.50 a pound. What to get: barbacoa estilo Texcoco, consome, costillas rancheras, torta de pierna adobada , tacos.