The Indy Endorsement: The Birria Taco at Elvira’s Taqueria

What: Birria taco

Where: Elvira’s Taqueria, 69115 Ramon Road, #F3, Cathedral City

How much: $2.50

Contact: instagram.com/elviras_taqueria; 760-321-0030

Why: It’s so satisfying.

Before I visit new-to-me restaurants, I often do some research. I check the restaurant’s website; I peruse review websites (ignoring the ratings and looking for helpful comments); and so on.

Elvira’s Taqueria doesn’t have a website (at least that I could find), but I did learn some things from the restaurant’s social media, and I noticed something interesting on the review sites: A whole lot of people raved about the birria.

Birria is meat that’s marinated and then stewed. If it’s done right, the meat is tender, juicy and packed with flavor—and I can confirm that Elvira’s Taqueria does beef birria right.

We ordered a fair amount of food at Elvira’s in addition to the birria taco—including a shrimp cocktail ($12.50), a shrimp burrito ($11.99) and a “burrito-quesa” (a cheese-topped burrito, $12.50)—and it was all enjoyable, especially the shrimp burrito. They use fried shrimp in the burrito; at first, this surprised me, but the more I ate, the more I liked it.

But the reason I’ll be returning to Elvira’s is that messy, juicy little taco. It was the first thing I ate, and it’s the item my mind keeps returning to whenever I think of that meal. The meat was so flavorful—you can tell a lot of love and care went into preparing it—and as much as I liked the rest of our food, I wish I’d have ordered less of it, and more of those birria tacos.

We really enjoyed our meal at Elvira’s. The atmosphere is bright and vibrant; the fast-casual service is quick and friendly. I’ll be back soon … and I’ll be ordering a whole bunch of birria tacos.