Type: Classic Mexican
Price: $4.45, $7.45 with consome
Juan Vergara, owner of Hola Tacos, can tell you exactly what makes a birria taco extraordinary. It’s the final golden color, the crispness, the melty, oozy cheese, the tender meat and, of course, the mess.
With its origins in Jalisco, Mexico, where the traditional spicy goat or mutton stew dish gained popularity among locals, it is a staple often served at weddings, baptisms and holidays such as Christmas and Easter.
Through iterations of unique styles, flavors and recipes, the classic dish transformed into a version of what Vergara’s customers know and eat today: the Tijuana-style beef birria tacos.
At Hola Tacos, the birria beef is rubbed and marinated with adobo spices and Mexican chiles and slow-roasted for hours in a large pot, creating a beefy stock. The braised birria is then stuffed inside a corn tortilla with red onions, cilantro and Oaxaca cheese, where it’s griddled and pan-fried in the fat and oils of the meat.
Once fried and crisped to perfection, the melty goodness makes it a rich and savory meal for any occasion — even more so when served with a small bowl of consome, the stew from the cooked birria that’s used as a dip for the tacos.
“These tacos are everything you ever wanted in a taco,” Vergara says, “full of flavor, culture and tradition.” Various locations, hola-tacos.com
