El Fuego Food Truck Quesabirria Taco

Food trends come and go, especially in the Bay Area. While I will admit to diving in and trying such creations, I usually like to wait until the ardent fervor (and lines) dissipate somewhat before giving them a try. Part of it is to see if it will really stick around and also to give whoever is doing it time to settle into their new found popularity to either perfect, refine or get lazy with what they are doing which can give a better sense of whether it is really worth all the hype.

Such is the case with the quesabirria taco. Something that came onto the food scene with a blast around the end of last year by way of LA and Tijuana evidently and then really blasted off through Instagram as the first lockdown happened since it is a food that easily segues into take-out and delivery options. Talk about positioning! Or more likely coincidence, timing and luck—uncontrollable things that can combine to create a craze.

To me, as I looked at pictures, it just seemed like a tiny quesadilla and really, why get a small one when you can go all in and get the larger, you know, like a pizza where the better deal is the bigger size. I figured I might give it a try someday, but I wasn’t going to go out in search of it specifically. Of course, it is when you aren’t looking for it that things suddenly just happen. In this instance, I was on my walk back home from the grocery store when the wonderfully enticing waft of cooking meat compelled my senses to track down the source. It is how I came across El Fuego, randomly stationed near a park and serving up this new fangled specialty.

But what is a quesabirria taco exactly? Seems it all starts with birria, which is a meaty stew originating out of Jalisco. Originally goat or lamb is slathered in peppers and spices then sealed in a pressure cooker like pot where is slow cooks in its own juices creating tender fall apart meat. Somewhere along the line the stewed meat became beef and someone got the idea to put it in a corn tortilla that was grilled then add a generous portion of cheese, like a quesadilla, and continue to grill it till the shell is crispy and the cheese is oozing out and gets its own little crustiness. Seriously, how could this not be appealing?

That knowledge notwithstanding, I only looked into this after the fact and kind went in blindly when looking at their handful of choices. In the end I decided to just keep it simple and go with the classic crispy quesabirria with beef. And since they were only $4.50 a pop, of course I am getting two.

Each is two griddled corn tortillas stuffed with stewed beef, cilantro, onions and mozzarella cheese? Yep, Mexican food meets Italian cheese to make this little beauty. One bite of this tells you right off why people love it. Tender smoky beef melds with rich melty cheese and sweet hints of onion and corn tortilla to give one a perfect taste of everything you crave when you want something satisfying. While my tortillas didn’t seem to be as crispy as some others I’ve seen, they were good enough not to really detract from the eating pleasure of these overstuffed delights.

As you can see, they don’t skimp on the meat or the cheese and I guess that is the point. It comes with a side of green and red sauce for dipping but it also comes with something that I think really sends these over the top in tastiness.

I’m gonna call this birria broth. Basically the juices left over from the stewed meat with added onion and cilantro. And let me tell ya’ folks this is some serious stuff for dipping. It has a full on beefy depth of flavor with hints of spices that make it like a rich, smooth consommé. Dipping the taco in it is what you are supposed to do and should absolutely do. It is like taco meets French dip but with much complexity in taste. Honestly, I could almost just have the dipping sauce as a warm comforting soup on a cool, drizzly day (if those ever happen again in SF!).

One, two, three bites in and suddenly the tastes and smell of it all came into focus and I could see what the appeal and clamor for these things was all about. And at least in the case of these I had from El Fuego, I am all aboard the bandwagon for a quesabirria taco and its broth.

As far as food fads go, I’m totally down for this one if this is what they are all like. Beyond the tender meat and excess of gooey cheese, adding in that side of broth really takes it to another level of taste interestingness. While El Fuego had a chicken, fish and veggie (really, why?) of this, I think sticking with the beef is truly the way to go to get the full on flavor burst in your mouth you crave and will enjoy. I can even see this usurping the bacon wrapped hot dog on the late night bar hopping streets of Valencia as the go to I’m drunk food. Though I think these will transcend even that ubiquitousness and find their way onto may a menu in the Bay Area. Let’s just hope they can continue to do them as good as this one was and not fall into the mass produced problem like the cronut. Remember that food fad? One we all knew was over the minute Lee’s Deli started selling them. Let’s hope that doesn’t happen. No, really, please don’t happen.