Quesabirria, a combination of braised beef and cheese with roots in Tijuana, is a culinary craze that’s swept the nation, from Los Angeles to New York and everywhere in between —including the Portland area. Its foundation is birria, a braised red meat stew with origins in Jalisco, reliant on the grounding spice of dried chiles. Birria — made with goat, lamb, or beef — is a longstanding celebration dish, but the buzzy quesabirria strays from the traditional birria en caldo in favor of beef tacos grilled with melted cheese and served with consomé, the dish’s flavorful braising liquid. At food carts, stands, and restaurants, people will wait in line for hours to dunk cheesy quesadilla-taco hybrids in consomé like a French dip. The phenomenon has stretched beyond this specific dish, however; birria chefs have branched out into other, new vehicles for the dish, including birria ramen, birria lumpia, and even vegan birria.
This map includes a wide range of birria specialists from Beaverton to Gresham, from those small mom-and-pop restaurants serving bowls of birria de chivo with stacks of tortillas to the food carts slinging cheesy quesabirria and to-go cups of consomé. For more tacos, try this map.
Note: On November 18, Oregon Gov. Kate Brown initiated a two-week pause on Oregon indoor and outdoor dining. The level of service offered is indicated on each map point, however, the status of these restaurants may change soon; it’s best to call or check social media accounts for recent information. For updates on coronavirus cases in this area, please visit the Oregon Health Authority’s COVID update page. The points on this map guide are not ranked; rather, they’re organized geographically. For all the latest Portland dining intel, subscribe to Eater Portland’s newsletter.
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