Del Pueblo Birrieria – Yuma

Tomorrow Kirk or Cathy will be posting, but today Ed (from Yuma) is talking about a restaurant he found (in Yuma).

Someone told me that there was a Birrieria on 8th Street. Thinking that it would be easy to find, I didn't ask for – or perhaps remember – any more details. But the place seemed to be hiding. It was a couple months later when I finally spotted it, and then it was closed. But I read a sign on the window that said it was open Friday through Sunday, so the next Friday I showed up:

As you can see, Del Pueblo has no bright signage and it presents an inconspicuous storefront wedged between a smoke shop and a $.99 store across from Food City. Inside, however, there are two large tables and at least eight smaller tables arranged on the sides of the dining area:

The room is clean and brightly painted, and a couple nice decorations make up for the folding chairs:

Love these boots:

The small menus are on the sides of the napkin dispensers:

First visit, I ordered a torta:

It was generously sized, the roll had been nicely grilled, and I wanted to eat it immediately. However, I knew I had to open it up and show you, dear reader, what the insides looked like:

All the basics: avocado slices, crunchy lettuce, tomato chunks, and of course meat. I had been offered the four standard carne options – res, chivo, lengua, or cabeza – and had chosen the beef cheeks:

The meat was tender, rich, and flavorful. I also was impressed the meat had been properly drained before it was loaded onto the sandwich, so the bolillo roll did not become soggy and fall apart, and the sandwich went into my stomach instead of onto my shirt.

So of course Tina and I had to visit Del Pueblo that weekend. And on weekends they serve menudo and birria de chivo. She ordered one and I the other.

First we got our beverages (Mexican Coke), a bottle of the fiery house salsa, and the wheel of condiments:

While we were waiting, I went back and watched the cook prepare corn tortillas:

Taking balls of masa dough from the bowl, she flattened them in the tortilla press, then grilled them on the little flat tops.

The tortillas arrived tasting fresh and warm:

The menudo was rich and mild flavored, filled with tripe and hominy:

Maybe not the best in town, but pretty darned good.

The birria de chivo was outstanding, deeply flavored by the extra savory broth: And packed with tender tasty goat flesh.

A couple of weeks later, I joined Deb W and Lauryn at Del Pueblo for a Friday lunch.

Remembering those homemade tortillas, I ordered tacos, which came with the same wheel of condiments:

The taco de res was filled with a lot of well-drained shredded stew beef:

The cabeza was as rich and meaty as on the torta:

And the lengua had perfect texture and mild flavor:

The girls ordered beef burritos. Our server returned a minute later and explained that they were out of the large burrito sized flour tortillas and asked if it would be okay if the burritos were made with more than one tortilla. "No problem," they said, so the nicely grilled burritos were a little unusual looking:

Having eaten with me and my camera before, Lauryn cut open her burrito so that I could get a picture of its insides. And then she photo bombed the pic:

If you ignore the hungry mouth, you can see the steaming burrito filled with res, frijoles, arroz, and queso. Both Lauren and Deb approved.

I'm glad I finally found Del Pueblo. The menu may be limited, but they are good at what they do. And the prices are cheap. The friendly young server (I think it’s a family operation) tells me that the restaurant will open weekdays once the weather cools down and business heats up.

Del Pueblo Birrieria, 1225 W. 8^th St, Yuma 85364, (928) 750-8678.

Comments

[janfrederick]

Oh God that all looks good!

The former D'Sotos, now Sayulita's, in Mira Mesa near Target now offers cabeza tacos for their $.99 taco Tuesday special. They go well with a condiment I've never seen in a San Diego taco shop before: chili oil. Also, they are offering some new "interesting" burritos (think spam, longaniza, gyros, flaming cheetos).

[Ed (from Yuma)]

I haven't seen chili oil at taquerias here yet, but in a world with kim chi tacos, bisquits'n'gravy flavored potato chips and Hawaiian pizzas, no fusion surprises me anymore.

[Soo@hungryones.com]

That's some good looking meat!

[nhb]

Definitely good looking eats.

[Ed (from Yuma)]

Yeh, billy, Soo, good looking carne. For me a real niche place - a haven of birria in Yuma's sea of asada.