If you’ve noticed an increase in the number of recent visits on this blog to Mexican restaurants, credit much of that to Pati Jinich, ebullient host of the James Beard Award-winning and Emmy nominated PBS series Pati’s Mexican Table Although we record the Saturday airing of Pati’s Mexican Table, we don’t usually watch it until Sunday…right before lunchtime. It’s no wonder, therefore, that what we’ve been craving for lunch is Mexican food.
It’s nigh impossible not to be utterly charmed (if not outright besotted) by the lovely Pati Jinich. Her huge likeability quotient is the byproduct of a genuine warmth and self-effacing humor which come across with her every thickly-accented utterance. She’s down-to-Earth and genuine, taking absolute joy in broadening and sharing her expansive knowledge about the colorful tapestry known as Mexican cuisine. In every episode, Pati embarks on an educational and entertaining journey. Each dish she encounters serves as a launching point into explorations of the rich and diverse history and culture of her country of birth.
In season eight (episode 811), which aired in January, 2019, Pati explored Sinaloa, “Mexico’s Bread Basket,” which produces about 40% of the meat and produce consumed in all of Mexico. Inspired by Sinaloa’s bounty and culinary traditions, she then prepared birria in her kitchen at home, sharing her recipe with the 65.5-million viewers who tune in to watch her every week. Her teaching style is not the professorial preciseness of an academic, but the loving patience of a best friend sharing a recipe which makes her happy. As always, this episode had us clamoring for the foods she so richly described–especially the birria.
At the time birria was just starting to make significant inroads into the Albuquerque metropolitan area. A KRQE News segment airing on 25 August 2020 apprised viewers that “The latest taco craze has hit the Albuquerque metro. Restaurant owners say many of their customers have never heard of birria tacos but they’ve quickly become a best-selling item.” The segment listed several purveyors of Mexican food who offer birria, including Changos and Birrieria Y Tacos Alex Tijuana Style.
By sheer coincidence, we had visited Birrieria Y Tacos Alex Tijuana Style (fittingly, it’s not only the food truck’s name that’s a mouthful) just three days before the KRQE feature. As the blazing noon sun beat down on a long queue of mostly socially distanced, mask wearing, hungry diners, the enticing aroma of birria answered the question for us as to why anyone in their right mind would stand in line–no shade in sight–for food that’s even hotter than the 96-degree day.
Before prowling the mean streets of Albuquerque as a food truck, Birrieria Alex was a small brick-and-mortar restaurant on 4th Street. Some of you might recall that the great Ari LeVaux, erstwhile food critic for the Alibi waxed poetic about its birria, calling it “the one thing you must order.” Since its launch as a food truck, Birierria Alex has been stationed mostly on 4th Street. In 2022, Birrieria Alex launched a brick and mortar restaurant on 604 Coors SW. Two years later, a second Birrieria Alex opened its doors on 4th Street. Both brick-and-mortar restaurants have more items on its menu, including breakfast. On 1, 2023, the familiar red hued food truck parked in Rio Rancho at the corner of Southern and Nicklaus.
Let’s not go any further before discussing what exactly birria is. Texas Monthly’s taco editor (the job I’d kill to have) José R. Ralat describes birria as “a stew” which “can be made with goat, it can be made with beef, it can be made with lamb. You can’t really say that one is more authentic than the other. Barbacoa can be made with anything. It’s a process, a method—not an item. Everyone adds something a little differently.” Hmm, birria made with tofu…it just doesn’t sound as appealing as goat, beef or lamb.
23 August 2020 (Albuquerque): Angelo Orona, who runs the popular Facebook group, Tacos of New Mexico told KRQE that birria is “very photogenic. When you see people consuming and eating birria, they’re typically dipping it in this really savory sauce and it just looks great.” Indeed, that “really savory sauce,” birria de consomé is one of the first items listed on a rather abbreviated menu. Many diners use it as a dip for their birria tacos even though it’s not really a dipping sauce. We had the consomé sans tacos de birria. The lava-red consomé broth, flecked with onion and floating cilantro steams with the promise of spice and piquancy. Thin strands of finely shredded beef aren’t as plentiful as we would have liked, but that didn’t make the consomé any less satisfying, even on a sweltering late summer day.
23 August 2020 (Albuquerque): Let’s ruminate (or is that ramenate) about ramen, the Japanese noodle dish that swept the fruited plain a few years ago. Birrieria Alex blows away every paradigm of what ramen should be with its fusion of ramen noodles and tender tendrils of birria. It’s a blend which works very well as the noodles absorb the condiment-rich consomé, forming a melt-in-your-mouth marriage of Japan meets Mexico concepts and ingredients. Biria Ramen proportions aren’t exactly half ramen, half birria, but the results are fully satisfying and surprisingly delicious.
The Taco Trail website, online home of José R. Ralat, Texas Monthly‘s taco editor, posits that “if Mexico, were to have an iconic taco, it would be the taco al pastor” and goes on to describe them as a “bantam assembly of marinated pork shaved from a trompo (a vertical rotisserie) on a corn tortilla with pineapple, cilantro, onions and salsa is the object of lust for many taco enthusiasts.” While tacos al pastor have become pretty commonplace in New Mexico, not all of them are constructed from pork sheared from a trompo. Birrieria Alex’s tacos al pastor are! They’re served with an excellent guacamole instead of salsa, grilled onions instead of chopped, cilantro and the ubiquitous lime. Very few tacos al pastor in New Mexico are even in the same league with these.
Two of the most popular meats in Mexico are birria and barbacoa. In addition to their reputed ability to cure a hangover, the two actually have quite a bit in common. The website Eat Mex City explains “The primary reason for the common confusion between birria vs barbacoa is because of birria is a product of barbacoa. Birria is made by submerging barbacoa in a sauce.” Other culinary experts will argue it’s not that simple.
23 August 2020 (Albuquerque): For years, my preference has been barbacoa, especially when served on a torta just as it’s done in the Mexican state of Chihuahua. My very favorite torta in the known world is the torta de barbacoa from No Te Rajas but I certainly wouldn’t kick the torta de barbacoa from Birrieria Alex off my table. The biggest difference between the two is the bread. Both versions use a soft telera bread, but while Birrieria Alex’s telera is merely wonderful, Elotes’ telera is otherworldly. Elotes’ also gets the nod for superior salsa, but Birrieria Alex uses a better melted cheese. Both are life-altering.
3 March 2023 (Rio Rancho): Birrieria Y Tacos Alex launched its Rio Rancho location to little fanfare. Sadly, just seven months later (Wednesday, October 26th) the following note was posted on its Facebook page: “So we want to say thank you to Rio Rancho but we try it hard to stay there but doesn’t work anymore, so we move from there permanently, today you will find us in Alameda and 2nd street< (191 Alameda Blvd NW, Albuquerque NM 87114)”
Stationed at the corner of Southern and Nicklaus on a patch of dirt, the Rio Rancho version of Birrieria Alex had already drawn a sizable crowd by the time we got there at 1:30PM. We were quickly reminded why we love living in Rio Rancho so much. Hungry hordes in line ahead of us and behind us were all very friendly (of course, it helps to have The Dude with us) and helpful. Amanda, who works at the Washington Federal Bank, in particular, waxed poetic about the birria and salsas. Like us, she was beyond ecstatic to have Birrieria Alex in the City of Vision, especially considering No Te Rajes also parks in the vicinity. We briefly considered moving to the area.
It surprised the queue when I ordered the pizzabirria which the guy at the counter told us was “huge.” And you thought there was nothing more that could possibly be put onto a pizza. Birria is a game-changer. Now picture slowly stewed, seasoned chuck roast and Chihuahua cheese between two skillet-crisped tortillas stained red by the stew marinade sliced pizza style and accompanied by consommé for easy dipping. I don’t know what genius invented pizzabirria, but Birrieria Alex has perfected it. Translucent sweet white onions are the only thing that can top it and plenty were provided. Pizzabirria is indeed “huge” but that’s why left-overs were invented. It turns out pizzabirria is even better the following day when flavors have penetrated even more deeply. It won’t surprise me if at year’s end, my favorite pizza of the year is a Mexican pizza from Birrieria Alex.
3 March 2023 (Rio Rancho): One of the reasons our server was surprised that I would order a pizzabirria for myself is because my Kim had already made it clear she doesn’t do spice. Curse that medication that over-sensitized her taste buds and made it impossible for her to enjoy her piquant favorites. She asked for a dish that had “absolutely no heat.” Our server immediately recommended a carne asada burrito with guacamole and lots of onions. That was a perfect choice! Nestled in a thick flour tortilla, small bite-sized pieces of steak did the trick for my Kim who calls steak one of her essential food groups. Me, I would have smothered it with salsa picante, but have to admit this burrito was pretty good sans salsa.
15 May 2024: Our friends Lynn Garner and John Martin have made it their quest to find Albuquerque’s best birria. To this point the birria at La Sirenita rates highest in their estimation. I suspected their affections and loyalties might change when they experienced Birrieria Y Tacos Carlos. I also assumed the birria and everything else on the menu would be improved now that the restaurant has a brick-and-mortar place on 4th Street. Well, you know what “they” say about assuming. Lynn found the birria and the accompanying consommé on the boring side, sporting none of the spices with which they had fallen in love. We didn’t see cilantro, onions or shards of beef on the consommé. That consomme did nothing to improve the flavor of the birria.
My chosen vessel for birria was the mulita plate. Mulitas (or mulas) are similar to a quesadilla. They’re constructed with cheese, your choice of meat, onions, and cilantro layered in between two hearty corn tortillas. that hold everything together. The term mulita literally means “little mule”, referring to the fact that the food is wrapped and transferred from a vendor to the consumer. As with Lynn’s quesabirria tacos, the mulitas lacked the killer flavors we used to find at Birrieria Carlos. Fortunately my side of frijoles were quite good.
In season 8 (episode 813) of Pati’s Mexican Kitchen, Pati visited the city of Tucson, “a city that claims to have the best 23 miles of Mexican food anywhere in the world.” As an unabashedly proud New Mexican, I’d love to invite her to Albuquerque for “better than the best” Mexican food she found in Tucson. I wouldn’t be taking her to Birrieria Y Tacos Alex at its 4th Street brick-and-mortar location.
Birrieria Y Tacos Alex Tijuana Style
6136 4th Street, N.W.
Los Ranchos De Albuquerque, New Mexico
(505) 319-8308
Facebook Page
LATEST VISIT: 15 May 2024
1st VISIT: 23 August 2020
# OF VISITS: 3
RATING: 17
COST: $$
BEST BET: Torta De Barbacoa, Al Pastor Tacos, Consome de Birria, Birria Ramen, Cucumber-Lime Agua Fresca, Pineapple Agua Fresca, Pizzabirria, Carne Asada Burrito
REVIEW #1178
I ate at Birrieria Y Tacos Alex Tijuana Style today and had the quesabirria taco plate. Man, it was good!
BTW – they accept Cash only. Maybe checks?
Hmm. You state the al pastor tacos are from a trompo. However, the picture of the al pastor tacos really looks like they aren’t– trompo meat is usually sliced and can be similar to thin gyro slices, while the meat in the photo is chunky. Did you see the trompo in person?
Thank you, Carrie. I did not see a trompo at Duke City Taco. To make the sentence more accurate, I changed it to read “Traditionally, tacos al pastor are made…” Of the dozen or so restaurants in Albuquerque which offer tacos al pastor on their menus, only a handful (El Cottoro and Birrieria Y Tacos Alex Tijuana Style come to mind) proudly display a trompo. That doesn’t mean other restaurants (and even Duke City Taco) don’t spit-roast their meat.
I guess you picked up the typo in “it’s not that sample” three paragraphs from the bottom.
I loved the story and will go looking for this in Las Cruces.
Thank you, Michael. I had not caught that typo.
I also missed the reference to Las Cruces. Can you shed some light?