Charlottesville is famously late to the trend game (anyone remember the national cupcake craze of the early aughts…which hit the ’ville about 10 years later?), but we’re (almost) right on time with this one: Birria—a regional Mexican stew of goat, garlic, cumin, bay leaves, thyme, and chili peppers, slow-stewed—has taken Charlottesville by storm, with nine (and counting!) restaurants and taco trucks serving it on their menus to date. Throw in Mexican Taco at City Market, which serves it as a rare special, and Good Waffles & Co., which sometimes sells birria with its fries, and C’ville has birria loaded up with all the spins.
With roots in Jalisco, Birria was popularized in Tijuana through birrierias, after taquero Don Guadalupe Zárate opened a street stand in the 1950s. Los Angeles first got hip to birria in the early 2000s, when restaurants began serving it as tacos de birria, birria en caldo, and quesabirria, but recent articles from The New York Times and Eater (not to mention a “Taco Chronicles” episode on the spicy stew) has given it a resurgence.
Quesabirria is what’s really making mouths water in our area—birria and melted cheese in a corn tortilla, served with that riquisimo consommé, topped with white onions and cilantro, and finished with a squeeze of lime. Most spots serve birria with beef instead of goat, since the fat content, cost, and availability of it fares better in Charlottesville.
Wanna try them all? Let’s go, birria crawl-style. Start at 10am Tuesday through Saturday to make sure all the spots are open.
Let’s taco ’bout it!
Tacos Gomez (above)(1348 Long St.)
La Michoacana Taqueria & Restaurant
(1138 E. High St.)
Taqueria El Comalito
(905 E. Market St.)
The Bebedero
(201 W. Main St., Downtown Mall)
Remy’s La Mejor
(600 Preston Ave.)
El Tako Nako Food Truck
(2405 Hydraulic Rd.)
Plaza Azteca Mexican Restaurant
(101 Seminole Ct.)
Taqueria El Chavo
(1215 Seminole Trail)
Guadalajara Mexican Restaurant
(various locations)