Gerardo Jerry Guerrero, owner of La Tunita 512 (Photo by John Anderson)
Social media is responsible for spreading countless food trends across the globe, for better or worse. An insatiable obsession with food porn is what helped launch Tijuana-born birria de res (and its cheese-laden cousin quesabirria) into a food sensation that is rippling across Austin, and the whole country.
Birria, a dish from Jalisco, is traditionally made from goat or lamb and slow-roasted in a chile-based adobo for hours. The Tijuana version is said to have started in the 1950s when Don Guadalupe Zárate opened a street stand selling birria de chivo (baby goat) but switched to beef to achieve greater yield, using a cut similar to brisket.