Birrieria’s la Guadalajara

*** Birrieria's la Guadalajara has closed.

A couple of weeks ago we noticed a Birria place had opened on Third avenue. I always glance at that new strip mall since there seems to be a location of Tacos el Gordo that is taking forever to open. A couple of days later, I was chatting with one of  my co-workers, Karina, about, well what else…food! Both her and her husband's family are from the Guadalajara area, so I happened to mention how much I enjoy Birria. She told me that their current favorite place for birria in the South Bay area was Birrieria's la Guadalajara…….which send that light bulb blinking. I knew exactly the shop she was talking about. So on that very weekend, we headed off for some birria….

The place had only one table going when we arrived and we were qiuckly seated by a really nice young man.

First thing I noticed was the wide open look, making it really seem like birrieria ……. second thing was the fragrance of the consomme dancing in the air, a mixture of herbs and chilies that really get your stomach going…even at 9 in the morning. Yes, birria is breakfast food for many. Third, there was a woman behind the glass partition making fresh tortillas.

The menu is a single sheet and focused, on birria of course. I'd be somewhat worried if the place started serving up California Burritos……though there is Carne Asada and Arrachera on the menu.

As soon as we were seated salsas and the typical accompaniments arrived at the table.

The gentleman who delivered this and took our order was tall and quite dignified, happy to answer any questions. Though there was no question as what we were ordering…..birria de chivo ($9.60 – 1 order) and birria de borrego of course….goat and lamb.

Both arrived steam rising in a plume over the bowls, looking just about the same. The protein looked nicely roasted and tender. We really could not tell what was what at first glance. But after quick tastes we could easily make out the two.

The birria de chivo was more stringy, but to our surprise more mellow in flavor than the lamb.

The broth was just mildly spicy, but not too oily, and there was a bit of flavors form various herbs, but so much that we couldn't tell which type of meat we were eating. There was much more goat than lamb and I ended up taking leftovers of this home where I poured it over rice and reheated after the rice had soaked up all the juices……..add onions, cilantro, and a squeeze of lime….

The lamb (borrego) was the better of the two, more tender, stronger in flavor, and fattier as well.

What was really good, were the freshly made tortillas…..

 A bit thicker than I'm used to and so hot you barely hold one in your hand for more than second or two, these stood up to the birria real well. I caught the Missus just eating tortillas straight a couple of times…… These really had some heft to them.

We had enjoyed our meal so much that we returned the following week. There were a couple of menu items we wanted to check out. The same young man greeted us at the door with a "welcome back". I guess there aren't too many Asian customers…… I found out his name is Jorge and that this restaurant used to be located on Main Street, but they moved to this location about seven months ago. As we were seated, the same older gentleman brought over the salsas and our menus….

I was surprised to see two salsas and radishes this time around. Jorge came around to explain; "we are a work in progress, trying to make everything better…..in fact, in February we can start serving cervezas."

The Missus and I ordered one each of the Taco Rojo, one goat and one lamb ($2.90 each). A freshly made tortilla was dunked into the consomme, then placed on the flat top for a short while to let some carmelization take place, but still keeping it pliable and moist. It was then filled with meat and arrived looking quite beautiful in my opinion.

There was a slight crispness to the tortilla, but man this was good, perhaps a bit on the salty side, but adding some lime really cut the saltiness. The onions and cilantro went together so well with the rich meat.

Even though they serve the taco with a fork, we went at it with our hands………making a lovely, delicious mess.

I had also wanted to try the Borrego a la Plancha ($10.20), roasted lamb that is then placed on the flat-top. Creating wonderful crisp edges adding some wonderful flavor and texture to the lamb.

Served with consomme and rice on the side, I added a touch of consomme to the meat, then put the meat (later I started adding rice), onions, cilantro, lime, and a touch of the more spicy of the salsas into the tortillas. Another brief dunk (which later I just plain stopped doing because this was so good) and I was good to go…..

This was a nice Sunday Brunch for us…..for under twenty bucks. It was also nice to go home and take that Sunday nap after.

We'll be back again soon….I want to try the Cabeza de Res En Su Jugo….beef head cooked in its own juices, man does that sound good.

Birrieria's la Guadalajara
1310 Third Ave
Chula Vista, CA 91911

Open Daily 8am – 7pm