Birrieria México

🇲🇽 DURANGO, MÉXICO / A name picked even before the height of the birria boom in Southern California hides a menu of Durango-style gorditas and specialties.

🇲🇽 MÉXICO (Durango)
📍 14552 Vanowen Street, Van Nuys, San Fernando Valley
🅿️ Very small parking lot
🥤 No Alcohol

EDITOR’S NOTE: 🎩 H/t Memo Torres at LA Taco for noting this place on his Van Nuys taco roundup.

📋 For more Durango gorditas and guisados recommendations, please see the bottom of the article.

It may seem like a stereotype, but seeing two men in cowboy hats scooping guisados into cradled tortillas at one of the restaurant's booths certainly made the expectations of the kitchen rise on the first visit to Birrieria México. The food coming from the back serves some particular guisados and specialties from the state of Durango in Northern México, a place that has one of the highest cowboy hat wearing populations in the world.

If you were not aware of the kitchen’s link to the Mexican state of Durango before entering, you will quickly catch on when you see the hanging menu above the counter with a long list of “Las Gorditas Duranguenses.” Less obvious but just as important maybe is the large scorpion medallion hanging from the ceiling, possibly the most recognizable symbol of Durango.

Between the menu of gorditas and the scorpion medallion, a bright hand-written note also advertises the availability of “asado estilo Durango.” In this northern state, a couple asado dishes exist for special occasions, and Birrieria México is churning out one of these daily. Known as asado rojo, this pork stew can be enjoyed with an order of that asado estilo durango ($16.99, above), which comes with rice and beans and three of their thick, freshly made tortillas to pile it all into.