Best Weekend Birria

There are birrias so thick they could be mistaken for moles, but at this 51-year-old Mission restaurant whose tables still fill with diners every Saturday and Sunday, the lamb stew, estilo San Juan de Lagos, is an elegant, near-transparent carmine. The brilliant color comes naturally, roasted tomatoes simmered with fistfuls of dried chiles — guajillos for fruitiness, New Mexicos for heat. Before you cover the surface of the soup with chopped onions and cilantro and squeeze in a bit of lime, stop and sip the broth as it is: The chiles, blackened on the comal first, give it a supple smokiness, and while the soup is clear, its flavors coalesce and throb on the palate, backed by the meat and musk of lamb. Pluck out a few hunks of the shredded meat and roll them into a handmade tortilla, sprinkling on onions and a few drops of the chile de arbol salsa, just because it's there.

Source: SF Weekly

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