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    Taco News

    Crunchy cheesy tacos are the hot new foodie trend in Dallas-Fort Worth

    Teresa Gubbins
    Jun 22, 2020 | 1:42 pm
    birria tacos
    Crunchy on the edges, a little chewy in the center.
    Paco's Mexican Cuisine

    One day, no one in Dallas-Fort Worth had ever heard of a birria taco. The next day, everyone in town is doing them.

     

    Crispy, cheesy, and meaty, this special twist on a taco has become a sought-after item at a host of eateries across DFW, from Chalio's in FW to 225 BBQ in Arlington to Maskaras Mexican Grill in Dallas' Oak Cliff.

     

    More than a dozen restaurants, food trucks, and taco stands have added birria tacos aka birria de res, served with a consomme broth for dipping.

     

    Two new Fort Worth eateries — Calisience and Birrieria y Taqueria Cortez — have seen mobs of customers lining up, all for birria tacos.

     

     Birria is a stewed meat dish with roots in Jalisco, a state on the west coast of Mexico, where it's often served at celebrations such as weddings and holidays. The meat can be beef, goat, or lamb, says Jose Meza, executive chef at Jalisco Norte, the Mexican restaurant on Oak Lawn Avenue in Dallas. Meza is from Mexico City; his wife is a native of Jalisco.

     

    At his restaurant, he's doing birria tacos with braised short rib in maguey leaf, with birria sauce, pickled onion, and cilantro.

     

    "Most of the time, birria is made with lamb and a mix of dried chiles," he says. "It becomes this rich soup with shredded meat, which you can eat as soup, garnished with onion and cilantro, or with tortillas on the side, with the option of making your own tacos."

     

    But placing the meat inside a taco, adding cheese, then cooking it on a flat-top grill until the whole turns crispy and oozy — that's another thing entirely.

     

    Like so many buzzy things, the birria taco trend started in California. Eater tracks it to Los Angeles, but with roots in Tijuana, Mexico, the first place they started putting birria in a taco, adding melted cheese, and cooking it on a grill.

     

    A key component of a proper birria taco is the consommé, says Rene Ramirez, who owns 225 BBQ, a catering and food truck operation in Arlington, with his wife Joyce.

     

    "The consomme is a flavorful broth with spices," Ramirez says. "You dip the taco into the consomme, which gives it a reddish flavor, then slap it on the grill with oil and a good amount of cheese. It's a great crunchy, cheesy taco. From the first week we did it as a special, people have been demanding it, so we're making it a permanent menu item."

     

    Rogelio Cortez, who owns Birrieria y Taqueria Cortez, helped usher in the trend when he started selling his "quesatacos" in February.

     

    "We don't do them too crunchy," he says. "We use two tortillas, that's the way they do back where I come from in Guadalajara. We have our own style — not soggy in the middle but not too crunchy. If they get too crunchy, they start losing flavor."

     

    Meza says that it's great when trends gather steam, but important not to lose sight of the value of the original dish.

     

    "Dallas is very trendy, it's funny when everybody starts picking these things up, I remember the same thing happened with hoja santa, the Mexican herb, a few years ago," he says. "These things pop up, but birria is not something that's easy. It can be very tricky. There are secrets behind it to make sure the flavors remain authentic. It's easy to do a soup — but there's more to it than that, to develop the layers of flavors that a good birria should have."

     

    In good news for trend watchers, there's a new dish from north Fort Worth taqueria Tres Betos waiting in the wings: birria ramen.

     

    Here are some of the DFW restaurants selling birria tacos right now:

     

     Birrieria Los Chivos de Oro - family restaurant in south Fort Worth.

     

     Birrieria y Taqueria Cortez - truck in south Fort Worth.

     

     Caliscience - Fort Worth food truck with California roots.

     

     Chalio's Mexican Restaurant - serving lamb and goat stew, plus a birria tacos plate with two tacos plus rice and beans.

     

     Jalisco Norte - Oak Lawn restaurant uses braised short rib in maguey leaf, with birria sauce, pickled onion, and cilantro.

     

     La Antojeria Jalisco. Stall inside Long Street Bazaar is from husband and wife Jalil and Yessica Saldana, natives of Jalisco.

     

     Maskaras Mexican Grill - owners of this Oak Cliff spot are from Jalisco, birthplace of birria.

     

     Paco's Mexican Cuisine - Restaurant on Magnolia has been doing them as special on Fridays and Saturdays.

     

     Taqueria y Birrieria 3 Coronas - Mexican restaurant in southeast Fort Worth.

     

     Tres Betos Taqueria - doing them crunchy on the north side of Fort Worth.

     

     225 BBQ - Arlington food truck started doing them as a special and are now adding them to the permanent menu.

     
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    Skewer News

    Vila Brazil to bring affordable Brazilian steakhouse to Cedar Hill

    Raven Jordan
    Jul 11, 2025 | 6:10 pm
    Side of meat
    Photo courtesy of Vila Brazil
    undefined

    A Brazilian steakhouse known for its low-for-steak prices is coming to Garland: Called Vila Brazil, it's part of a small local chain and will open in Cedar Hill, at 305 W. RM Rd. 1382 #316, in the former Crab & Bar space, in late 2025.

    Vila Brazil was founded by restaurateur Roberto de Sa, who opened the first location in Irving in 2011, as a home-grown rendition of churrascaria-type restaurants such as Fogo de Chao. A second location opened in Garland in 2024.

    According to co-owner Gabriel de Sa, the Cedar Hill location will feature the same menu, including rotating chef specials at the buffet.

    Vila Brazil features a lower-cost version of churrascaria, a Brazilian style of serving cuts of grilled meat from giant skewers onto diners’ plates. They offer eight cuts of meat including picanha steak, sirloin, chicken, lamb, and pork.

    There’s also a salad bar buffet featuring rice, salads, vegetables, and Brazilian-inspired dishes such as cheese bread rolls and cinnamon-grilled pineapple.

    Weekday lunch is $25 and dinner is $40 daily. For the buffet only, it’s $18-$21.

    They own other restaurants including VB's steakhouse in Arlington and Casa Pollastro, a Brazilian-Italian concept in North Dallas. But Gabriel says they take a different approach with Vila Brazil than some of the other more expensive churrascaria restaurants in town.

    "Instead we offer homemade food at an affordable price with great quality and flavor,” he says. "Our guests on average visit our store three times a month — much more frequently than your typical churrascaria."

    The Cedar Hill location will be fairly large, in a 6,528 square-foot space, with an approachable casual dining atmosphere.

    “We choose the Cedar Hill community for the same reason we opened in Garland, to serve an underserved community,” Gabriel says. “A fusion between a fast casual buffet and a Brazilian Churrascaria Vila Brazil is accessible to all members of the community with high value.”

    openings
    news/restaurants-bars

    most read posts

    Dallas Arts Tower downtown to get a re-do and new all-day cafe

    Buzzy burger joint with Michelin ties to open in Uptown Dallas

    Italian restaurant Sicilian Butcher preps meatballs for North Dallas

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