Birrieria y Menuderia Guadalajara

I had a couple of days after Christmas off this year. So while the Missus slept, I headed down to Chula Vista. It had been quite a while since I'd really took time to just look around. Usually, I'd just turn on Broadway and H Street, but this time I kept driving North. And at the corner of G and Broadway I saw this place.

If I recall, this place was Mariana's or something like that. So it obviously had been a while since I'd been around here.

It had been quite a while since I'd had decent Birria of any kind, so I decided to stop and have breakfast.

The folks working were very friendly and I was quickly seated.

Always a sucker for a good consommé; I went with the Consomme de Chivo and two tacos, the birria de res (beef) and birria de chivo (goat). But this being breakfast, everything started with some café de olla.

Which was quite nice; not too sweet. The usual condiments were provided, including some decent chips. The salsa roja was quite spicy....a bit too much as it basically over powered everything. The other, fairly smoky, I'm thinking chipotle salsa was quite nice.

I ordered the straight up consommé, which was slightly gamey, but not too strong.

Quite a bit of black pepper in this; at least to me. It did well with a hefty squeeze of lime, plus cilantro and onions. Not super rich, but satisfying.

I also ordered my tacos with "tortilla hecha a mano", hand made tortillas, a buck more ($2.95) in price.

The tortillas were quite rustic; thick, full of corn flavor, hefty. The actual proteins were a mixed bag. The portions were generous; the birria de res was on the dry and stringy side, though it had a bit of beefiness to it. The birria de chivo had an interesting texture....chopped into small cubes, it was silken, almost buttery, but lacked that "taste of the pasture" I really enjoy.

Not perfect, but a decent meal. So I decided to go out on a limb. Do a search on Menudo and you'll find a paucity of posts....at least those written by me. When we first moved to San Diego, I tried at least a dozen places for menudo....and man, what I got was a mixed bag....on the negative side.....most of it was really bad. I tend to pick my "menudo battles" carefully these days.

However, we've just entered a New Year....time to turn the page....and I thought...why not have the menudo here.

So I returned, for a New Years breakfast.....

Not too hungry, I just went with the small bowl of menudo ($6.95).

So let's cut to the chase, shall we? I could actually smell the menudo as it was brought to he table. I call this "fragrance au cow patty". It reminds me of when we used to live in Hacienda Heights and when the winds blew west we could smell the cows in Ontario. It was quite funky. The flavor of the broth was quite neutral, very mild....but add a squeeze of lime, oregano, a few shakes of the salsa, cilantro and onions, and things were livened up a bit. The texture of the broth had that tongue coating, almost fatty richness. The tendon was very good, smooth and tender; the various pieces of tripe were also almost buttery. There was hominy in the broth, but it was way too soft to enjoy.

The flavor of the hand made tortillas was nice; but they were too brittle and not up to the task. Still, this was far from bad. The service, while not particularly quick was accommodating and friendly. Perhaps I'll return........

Birrieria Y Menuderia Guadalajara
396 Broadway
Chula Vista, CA 91910

San Diego Restaurants

Comments

[Caninecologne]

I've always wondered about this place. Maybe next time,you can try out the other location in Eastlake.

Fyi...this location was the former 3rd location of an older but now defunct CV favorite, Restaurante La Nena.

[kat]

hope they will continue to improve!

[[email protected]]

That's nice you get up early and go on adventures by yourself!

[Kirk]

This was not bad CC!

I hope so too Kat!

Hi Soo - I do find that relaxing.