Tacos Rudos in Budd Hall is one of Columbus’ finest taquerias
Occupying a secluded space equipped with its own entrance, seating and TV, Tacos Rudos almost seems like a separate and autonomous eatery inside the Budd Dairy Food Hall. And the pocket-sized Mexican restaurant is among the best taquerias to open in Columbus last year.
In addition to a couple tables and counter-style seating, Tacos Rudos features a busy little open kitchen, with black-and-white tiles, where servers press fresh corn tortillas into being, and then toast and puff them up on a griddle. Another telltale indicator that Tacos Rudos isn’t a run-of-the-mill establishment is a prominent vertical spit, aka “trompo,” where al pastor meat is slowly seared and later sliced.
Above the counter where orders are taken — beside elevated bottles of glimmering, tropical-colored Jarritos Mexican sodas ($3.25 each) — lies a link to this place’s name: masks of the type that might be worn by “rudos,” the predetermined bad guys of the sports-related spectacle called lucha libre, or freestyle professional Mexican wrestling.
As explained to me by a pleasantly chatty server at this family-operated eatery overseen by “chef partner” Ana Cruz of Oaxaca, Mexico, a member of the Cruz family was once a professional rudo in Mexico City.
I can safely report that I didn’t encounter a single bad guy at Tacos Rudos, professional or otherwise. Instead, I encountered consistently good food and service.
Big flavors came from its small menu. Only four proteins were available, but each arrived amply packed into a delicious taco worth its relatively hefty price.
The super-juicy, cinnamon-tinged al pastor meat lived up to its spit-roasted promise. In a taco ($4.50), it’s showcased with pineapple playing off spicy and vibrant salsa verde, onions, cilantro and a good house tortilla. The same accessories, minus pineapple, flattered the asada taco ($4.50), which starred diced, almost-tender beef with a persuasive steak-like flavor.
Fish taco fans will find a winner here (pescado taco, $5.50): crackly beer-battered red snapper outfitted with crisp red cabbage, pico de gallo plus a richyet-spicy “serrano cream sauce.” The same bold accoutrements, plus queso fresco and cilantro, added extra punch to the pollo taco ($4.50), a zippy and tomato-y standout that featured a tingastyle chicken stew. While rather salty, it induced several later cravings.
Meats and other core ingredients are reconfigured into various guises — a common practice in taquerias. So that same fine stewed chicken topped notably crisp and light, freshly fried tortilla chips in a moderate-sized but farabove-average
order of nachos ($11) garnished with rich queso sauce and pico de gallo.
The hearty tortas ($12) were distinguished as well. Expected fillings — chosen meats, mayo, guacamole and red cabbage — joined a surprising layer of crispy, frico-like fried cheese in a flavorful bun griddled to crunchy on its interior but, in my case, cool on the exterior.
A similar fried-to-brittle cheese treatment added distinction to quesadillas enveloped in floppy oversized house corn tortillas ($11). A crinkly sheet of toasted cheese likewise added textural pizzazz to the excellent gringa ($9) —
an open-faced quesadilla-like delight whose frico element was abundantly topped with the always-welcome components of Rudos’ al pastor tacos.
A great partner for such savory items is the refreshingly tart-sweet hibiscus drink ($3.75), a first-rate version of the punch-like iced beverage made with hibiscus flowers that elsewhere in town is called “agua de Jamaica” or just “Jamaica.”
If you’re having the tres leches cake ($6) — and you should — that heaving slab of dairy-saturated, yet structurally sound, light-and-airy cake with a bonus layer of strawberry jam pairs best with “coffeechata” ($5), another highly recommended
beverage. Word-wise, coffeechata is a portmanteau of its ingredients, coffee and horchata (milky, sweetened rice water); drink-wise, it’s a mood-elevating treat that conjured a cinnamon-scented, happy marriage between Thai iced coffee and iced chai latte.
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