Ruben Leal’s tortillas have been sought out by Michelin star chefs. Now, he wants to offer you a taste.

Photography by Laura Morseman.

It’s likely you’ve already heard of Caramelo tortillas. Ruben Leal’s Lawrence-based tortilleria (841 Pennsylvania St., Lawrence, KS) has been featured in Bon Appétit, Saveur and the Wall Street Journal. Chef David Chang even used Leal’s corn tortillas in his Netflix show Dinner Time Live to make chilaquiles for Aziz Ansari and Cord Jefferson. But if you live in the KC area, it’s less likely that you’ve tried them yourself—and that’s what Leal wants to change. He’s already broken onto the scene nationally. Now, he wants to get in with the locals. 

“We miss the sense of community and face-to-face communication with our customers,” Leal says. 

Sonoran-style flour tortillas are Leal’s bread and butter, as he puts it, and it’s not hard to see why. Thinner than the grocery store brands and certainly more flavorful, Leal’s tortillas have a delightful chewiness that’s reminiscent of those found in his hometown of Hermosillo, Mexico. 

Granted, Leal has been selling them to a few local restaurants, like Red Kitchen (now known as Cien por Ciento Mexicana) and Fox and Pearl, since he started his journey in 2016. And yet, 90 percent of his tortillas are sold to out-of-state proprietors like a farm store in Hudson, New York, and a cheesemonger’s specialty market in Massachusetts (Whole Foods has been reaching out to Leal, too, but he enjoys indulging in the little guys). Up until now, if you wanted to snag a bag of Caramelo tortillas for your taco Tuesday, your best bet was to place an order online and wait several weeks to a month before they arrived. 

But now, Leal is looking to get into more of KC’s specialty shops. With the recent addition of several new products, the timing couldn’t be better. 

A little over a year ago, he began trying his hand at making corn tortillas after watching renowned chef Enrique Olvera make them for his Mexico City restaurant Pujol on an episode of Netflix’s Tasting Table. In a full-circle moment, Olvera, who received two Michelin stars for Pujol in May, reached out and is now using Caramelo’s Sonoran-style tortillas in his New York restaurants Atla and Esse Taco.

“I saw his episode and became fascinated by corn tortillas,” says Leal. “Now, here I am selling him my flour tortillas. How cool is that?”

Caramelo recently released bags of totopos, or corn chips, made with multiple varieties of corn and perfectly sized to fit in any jar of dip.

Currently, you can buy Caramelo’s products at Broadway Butcher Shop or head to the company’s Lawrence headquarters—if you don’t see them in the storefront’s fridge, they’ll snag you a bag from the back. And every Saturday at 6 pm, you can hit up the tortilleria for its taco pop-up, which strictly serves caramelos, the Sonoran taco that inspired the brand’s name. The ingredients are simple: carne asada-style beef grilled over mesquite wood with salt and a flour tortilla. 

Rruben leal’s Perfect Day in KC

Breakfast Pastries: Saturdays are my KC delivery days, which usually start with a trip to 1900 Barker for their iced matcha latte and a seasonal Danish. This bakery/coffee shop is a true Lawrence gem.

Mexican Breakfast: Cien por Ciento Mexicana is easily my favorite place to eat breakfast in the KC area—probably the whole country. Owner Alejandra was one of Caramelo’s very first customers and her chicken tamales platter is nostalgic. It brings back memories of growing up in Mexico. 

Tacos: I could devour five or six Tacos Valentina KC-style tacos. Seasoned ground beef, aioli and parm cheese all in a fresh hand-pressed tortilla, which then gets fried for a perfect crunch.

Cocktail & ’Cue: Fox and Pearl has an old fashioned best enjoyed in their basement that feels like a speakeasy. I recently had an excellent pork belly taco from chef Vaughn Good’s Night Goat concept. If I visit Barbacoa, the carnitas shot is a must. It’s like drinking a taco with smoked, fat-washed tequila and mezcal. Most people don’t think of Barbacoa as a traditional barbecue establishment, but I think they have some of the best smoked meats in KC.

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