Birrieria Reyes de Ocotlan
Goat cheese is a favorite among local restaurateurs, with the likes of pear goat-cheese bruschetta, goat-cheese croquettes, sautéed truffles drizzled with goat-cheese, and so on. But what about goat meat? For the price of about half of one goat-cheese croquette, you can travel to Pilsen and get a gigantic plate of tender, exotic goat meat (known as birria) steamed for six hours in clay pots, then served in its own consommé, smothered with onion and cilantro with a side of tortillas. While Birria has yet to catch on with the “Check, Please!” crowd, it has taken a greater hold in the Mexican community. Signs advertising birria, and especially birria en fin de semanas (goat meat on weekends) have sprung up in the windows of taco joints and family restaurants in the dozens of Mexican neighborhoods throughout the city. Yet just as hucksters like the great Billy Mays, seller of such products as “Oxiclean” and “The Hercules Hook” would say—”Don’t be fooled by cheap imitations!” An unscientific sampling of many of these newer birria offerings yielded dry meat that lacked the juicy, flavorful consommé; meat that was not as tender; birria in a tomato-based sauce; and even a Salvadoran restaurant that featured birria with very small pieces of bone. The Birrieria Reyes De Ocotlan is named after a region in the state of Jalisco, Mexico which, like Maine is to lobster, is known for its birria. Reyes de Ocotlan does not serve enchiladas, refried beans, tamales and especially not nachos. It sells goat, goat and only goat, served as birria, as well as goat’s head (cabeza) and goat’s tongue (lengua).
1322 W. 18th
(312)733-2613
Best of Chicago 2008
