Five Reasons To Hit Ricos Tacos This Week, According to Chef Toby Wilson

Jonathan Zaragoza’s famous goat birria on Thursday

Birria originated in Jalisco, where JZ’s family is from, and has always traditionally been made with goat in a light, spiced tomato broth brightened with lime. The dish travelled north, where beef is more common, and then crossed the border into the States, where the cheesy, fatty, beefy version took off and gained global fame.

The original Jalisciense style is cleaner and more delicate in flavour, almost reminiscent of the Vietnamese profile of lime, coriander, onion, spice and a clear, fragrant stock. Jonathan will be cooking a regional variation from his family’s hometown of La Barca, Jalisco – a recipe his family has become famous for in Chicago.

We’re serving this on Thursday night only, and it will likely sell out! Booking is a good idea.

Jonathan Zaragoza’s meat pie at The Norfolk Hotel

Speaking of beefy birria, we’ll be transforming a Baja California-inspired birria de res (the cheese-less version) into meat pies that’ll be available Thursday through to Saturday. Maybe even Sunday if we can keep up with production.

We’ll be slowly roasting beef shin and short rib in a delightful dried chilli and spiced adobo marinade and loading it – together with its consommé – into some buttery shortcrust pastry shells with puff pastry lids. You beauty!

Friday’s al pastor party

Al pastor is the undisputed king of tacos. It’s my favourite and it pairs pork and pineapple in a way that would make any pizzaiolo jealous. From 5pm on Friday night we will wheel the upright spit out into the beer garden, and start shaving grilled strips of pork right from the trompo and on to plates with tortillas, two salsas, pineapple and frijoles charros.

I’m very excited about this one – it will be a great celebration of an iconic taco that we don’t see a whole lot of in this country. Again, a booking won’t hurt.

Cantaritos!

This is an iconic refreshing beverage from Jalisco – which is the home of tequila, as well as birria. It arrives in a clay cup and is loaded with icy cold, fresh mixed citrus and Patron Silver. It goes incredibly well with food and sunshine – I got temporarily lost in an agave field after drinking a few of these on my first trip to Jalisco, but that’s unlikely to be a risk in Redfern.

The ultimate Saturday Mexican barbie, as Jonathan and I lock eyes and grill meats over a charcoal grill for nine hours

We finish the week off with a charcoal-fuelled carne asada barbeque in the beer garden. We’ll be getting in nice and early to get the coals lit and the meat marinated before filling the venue up with the smells of grilled skirt steak, spring onions, chorizo verde (made in collaboration with Whole Beast Butchery) and steamy corn tortillas.

Truly my dream barbeque – come and share it with Jonathan and me. We’ll be there to cook and chat for the length of the event, so don’t be shy.

Dine Out hits Ricos Tacos from Thursday August 14 to Saturday August 16. Bookings are essential for all three events.