Hugo’s Tacos in Studio City is a wonderful little oasis of taco stand goodness right in the middle of the valley, smack dab between a gas station and the 101 freeway, with a number of satisfying vegan options. You’ll find them across the street from Whole Foods Market and catty-corner to the Hugo’s main restaurant (yup, same owners).
Hugo’s Tacos offers a number of basic and classic Mexican dishes such as tacos of course, as well as burritos, taquitos, tostadas, tortas, salads and bowls… most of which also involve rice and beans in some form or another. You get your choice of filling which would be either one of the meat options or one of the two vegan options, which are either the soy chorizo/potato/zucchini mix, or the grilled veggie combo of corn, zucchini and string beans. Or if you wanna be extra piggy, get both (this works particularly well on the salad or in a bowl). You also get your choice of salsa, all of which they make there and are genuinely fantastic.

On a recent visit I got the Salad: “Romaine lettuce, green beans, corn, zucchini, pico de gallo, cotija cheese and vegan spicy caesar dressing.” I had them leave off the cheese and bring on the soy chorizo, which is vegan and made from Soyrizo. This stuff is so good… if crack were made from soy, this would be it. It’s very rich and meaty tasting, so if you don’t like mock meats I’d stay away from it. However if you do still enjoy all the flavor and feel of the stuff without the guilt, dig in. Their vegan caesar salad dressing is excellent too. As you can see the salad is huge and could easily feed two people.

On another occasion of particularly reckless abandon, I opted to try the taquitos in all of their deep fried, vegan glory. These also involved the soy chorizo & potato filling and they come served with delicious (and you guessed it, vegan) organic white beans, lettuce, guacamole, pico de gallo, tomatillo sauce and cotija cheese (which you’ll want to remember to ask them to leave off for full veganization optimization). These taquitos are perfectly crispy and frighteningly good… well worth the occasional naughty indulgence of greasy goodness. Just do it and don’t look back.

Last but not least, yet another way to enjoy Hugo’s yummy soy chorizo… stuffed inside of a burrito. Flour tortilla with organic spanish rice, organic white beans, choice of filling (soyrizo please!), choice of salsa, onion & cilantro. Ok, so I asked for them to leave off the onions and give me the honey chipotle salsa and it’s like heaven has suddenly exploded in my mouth. If you no longer consume honey, obviously the honey chipotle isn’t for you, but if that is an ingredient you do still allow… oh mama, it’s to die for… sweet & spicy in all the right places. But as mentioned above, all of their salsa rock.
From their website: “Our Jalapeno Tomatillo salsa, for instance, is a descendant of a salsa served at a small taco stand in Tijuana. The Salsa Negra traces its lineage to Michoacan where dark red guajillo chilies are given a special roasting on open fires.”
Sounds good, right? What’s cool about Hugo’s Tacos too is that it’s another great spot to have in your arsenal for when you’re eating with folks who aren’t vegetarians… because all of the food here is delicious, so everyone in your group will leave very pleased… and very full.
And check out what I just learned: their rice pudding is vegan too! I’ve never ordered it because I always thought it was made with cows milk, but I just found this on their website: “Organic basmati rice, saigon cinnamon, tahitian vanilla, organic cane sugar, organic rice and soy milks. A sweet vegan option.” Fancy that!