On one of my "taking the long way to work" weekends; I took a really long way; University City via Chula Vista. I decided to stop by Hogetsu and noticed this birria shop had opened in the old Utage location.
So I decided to grab some breakfast and birria sounded just great. This is purely a birria de res shop; so no goat here.
The dining room is broken into two portions, one side was really busy, the other empty. Since I was eating solo, I had a seat at what was Utage's former sushi bar. For some reason, the counter here is very high.
Since this is a Birrieria, ordering was quite easy. The young lady working here was very friendly, with a nice, bright smile.
In a somewhat humorous moment, the young lady approached the counter and placed some chips in front of me while at the same time a hand appeared over the counter handing me the consommé.
The ships were crisp and still warm.
The soup already had onions and cilantro in it and was hot enough to melt steel. It was slightly beefy with what seemed like the distinct flavor of ginger coming through. I've had jugo de res with rather assertive onion or garlic, but a strong ginger flavor was a new one for me. The broth was also on the lighter side.
The pickled onions had quite a kick to them and went well on my tacos dorados.
Which, like the consommé came already dressed with onions and cilantro. The tortilla, while a bit on the "thinner" side, had a nice texture; slightly pliable, but still crisp. The birria de res was very tender and moist, though the flavor was on the milder side. I do prefer the richer, heartier, version of birria de res at Fernandez Restaurant and Catering and could have done with a more beefy flavor. Still, not bad overall.
The café de olla cleaned things up nicely for me.
I'd eat here again. Nice service and decent prices.
I really need to check out some of the other Birrierias in the area.
Birrieria El Primo
1200 3rd Ave
Chula Vista, CA 91911