Today we’d like to introduce you to John and Jonathan Zaragoza.
Birrieria Zaragoza is a small family-owned restaurant owned by the Zaragoza family. The patriarch/owner, John learned to make Birria from a master: Miguel Segura, who runs the famous Birrieria Miguel in his native home town of La Barca, Jalisco. Birria was traditionally set over a vessel to collect the drippings, and buried in an underground pit where it steamed for hours over hot wood-fired rocks. When finished, the meat was portioned and served either added to a consommé made with the drippings or seca (“dry”), with the consommé on the side. Now a day, Birria is made in ovens.
Zaragoza’s goes through approximately 43 young goats in a week, seasoning the meat with kosher salt before cooking it in a sealed steamer on a stovetop for up to six hours.
Unlike most Birrieros, Zaragoza’s consommé is a rich tomato-based vegan broth, without fat drippings from the meat. After steaming, the meat is coated with a red mole then transferred to an oven to roast, resulting in a wonderfully tasty oven-roasted birria.
The birria tatemada is accompanied with hand-made tortillas which are made on a wooden press, made by Juan’s father-in-law, Pablo Alvarez, a retired carpenter. Tortillas are a great accompaniment to the goat, lightly drizzled with the consommé and garnished with picante, onions, cilantro, and lime and roasted arbol chiles. Their son, Jonathan, serves as the Chef of this family establishment.
Has it been a smooth road?
There were struggles along the way. The first 5 years were tough, especially with the economy. John (Juan) often states that he was ready to “throw in the towel” but didn’t give up.
We’d love to hear more about your business.
Our business is a very small family-owned restaurant. We are a unique business as we specialize and only serve birria tatemada (oven-roasted goat). We strive to serve a high-quality dish with authentic Mexican home-made flavors and offer amazing service.
What sets us apart from other business is that we only serve one dish and on a daily basis, we want our customers to walk away with a positive culinary experience.
Is our city a good place to do what you do?
We feel Chicago is a great city for a business like ours because Chicago is a very diverse city with the most amazingly diverse foods and people.
Recommend that they start in Chicago because it’s a melting pot and also because of the popularity of the Mexican Cuisine. The Midwest has escalated the quality of Mexican cuisine over the last years.
Contact Info:
- Address: 4852 S. Pulaski Road,
Chicago, IL 60632 - Website: birrieriazaragoza.com
- Phone: (773) 523-3700
- Email: zaragozarestaurant@gmail.com
- Instagram: @birrieriazaragoza
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/birrieriazaragoza/
- Twitter: @zaragozachicago
- Yelp: https://www.yelp.com/biz/birrieria-zaragoza-chicago
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