Aqui es...no....Asi es...

This past weekend, I met up with a few SD foodbloggers, C of CAB Cooks, Dennis of Radiused Corner, and the duo known as Kirbie and her FH of Kirbie's Cravings.  We wanted to do a mini foodcrawl of Chula Vista.

Our first stop was Aqui es Texcoco. I wanted to try lamb for the first time without gagging.

Well, that will have to wait for another visit because the restaurant was packed  and it wasn't even 11 am yet. What kind of sucked was no one was checking the "list" where you write your name and # of your party. So....


Dammit. I really wanted to try that Rabbit Mixiote too! I'll have to eat Bugs Bunny and uh, who else is a popular lamb, uh Lambchop, another time!

As a "back up plan", I checked out the neighboring eatery literally just steps away. Same building but different parking lot. We didn't bother reparking our cars.

Well, adios to "Aqui es Texcoco" (Here is Texcoco) and hola to "Asi es Jalisco" (That's Jalisco)!!! Yeah, right next to the fruteria, the barber shop and tattoo parlor. Your one stop shop.

I spied empty tables and no one waiting in line. Plus we were hungry and weren't willing (at least I wasn't) to wait an undetermined amount of time at Texcoco.

They are known for their birria (a spicy stew made of either goat, beef, or lamb). Jalisco, one of the states in Mexico and is where birria originated from, so obviously, we had to order some birria.

We got one half order of birria de res (beef) and three (which later became five) tacos de chivo (goat).

Loved the 'El Cantarito' (a blown up Loteria game piece made into a painting) artwork! Where's "El Borracho" or "El Catrin"?

Those are some of my favorite cards which also include the El Corazon (an anotomical heart), La Sirena ( a topless mermaid), and La Calavera (a skull with crossbones).

You also know you're in the right place when all you hear is Spanish and you don't see anyone else non Mexican in the place (unless of course, you are Mexican). That's pretty much Chula Vista and I say that in a good way. As a second generation Filipino American who grew up in the South Bay, I'm accustomed to this type of cultural diversity.

This restaurant space used to belong to a now defunct mariscos place, Nuevo Vallarta Nayarit. How do I know? Look at the napkin holder. I guess they didn't want to get new ones! But also because I once had a buy one get one free coupon for the Nayarit place and when we went here a month or so ago, found out it no longer existed. It was the same day we ended up going to Fatte's Pizza instead.

There were two types of sauces, one for the goat and one for the beef. We were also given a small container of chopped cilantro, onions, and limes for the tacos. We were joking about tearing off the leaves from the cilantro centerpiece. One of the sauces had more tomato in it and smelled more 'vinegary'.

The birria de res - just look at how RED that is! The stew is made from a base of dried peppers. My Mexican co-workers each have their own recipe. They say it takes hours to make! It is served by putting the chopped meat into the broth. You can put the meat in tacos, then put your toppings, and if you want, dip the taco into the broth before eating it. Since there were five of us and we didn't want 'double dipping', we got separate small bowls to portion out our servings.

Our tacos de chivo - Now, I was the only goat newbie in the group. Everyone said that the goat was pretty mild. It didn't taste too gamy for me either. There was a slightly different odor where I knew it wasn't beef but it sure looked like beef. So here they are unadorned for the moment.

The birria de res also came with corn tortillas and a small side of beans.

I liked how fresh the tortillas tasted. So thick too!

There's beef under there...

This was the goat...which wasn't my favorite but I had to cross it off my 'things to eat' list.

I don't think I'll order it again, but hey, there's a first (and last) time for somethings in life, eh!

I'll have to go here again to get more of that birria de res!

Asi es Jaliso is a mighty fine alternative if you can't get into Aqui es Texcoco! The only thing that really sucked was they refused to serve tap water. That's pretty damn lame and stingy of them. A bottled water is $1.95. So next time I go (and there will be a next time), I will make sure to bring my own water.

Here's the yelp link but NO ONE's reviewed them yet! WTF?

Update - Here's Kirbie's review!.

Up next...more Mexican food less than a mile away!