Odessa – Over the years of checking things off the list on The Texas Bucket List, we could never find much to eat in Odessa but boy has that changed! Between Curbside Bistro and Brantly Creek BBQ, this part of the Petroplex has come a long way, and now you can include El Taco Loco Birrieria on the list! “It’s good stuff, man,” said David Ibarra. “People love it, dude.”
David Ibarra and his sister Lupe started this taco truck after moving to the area with their whole family from California. “We heard about Odessa, Midland, how they had work out here, and then we literally just picked up and left and we came over here and just started fresh,” said David.
Working in the oil fields was David’s original plan but when he got to west Texas, he noticed something. “Well, there’s not that much food anywhere over here in West Texas that’s like Cali so I’m like, ‘We need to bring in more to Odessa and Midland,’” said David.
Birria became their specialty. “We’ve been cooking birria probably my whole life,” said David. “Originally, it was my mom’s recipe that she used to cook for us. And then my sister, well, she kind of modified it, got it down to a… Even my mom’s like, ‘A dash of this and a sprinkle of that,’ and it wasn’t refined. My sister refined it. And yeah, so it’s been in our family for years.”
Now birria tacos and burritos are nothing new, but at El Taco Loco they get crazy with it by putting birria in a preposterously sized portion of food they like to call the pizzadilla. “It’s like a really big quesadilla,” said David. “It’s three flour tortillas, it’s loaded with cheese in each layer, birria meat, cilantro, onion, and then it’s topped off with sour cream, salsa verde, and a little bit more cilantro and onion just to garnish it. And then you get your consommé, you dip it and we slice it up in a pizza. It’s just really good. People love it.”
Talking about El Taco Loco’s crazy creations is one thing, but now it’s time to step into the truck and see what makes their birria better than the rest. Idalia’s inside working the grill, and she got started on the tacos by dipping some corn tortillas in consume and getting them grilled up. “She’s doing the birria taco,” said David. “So this is our number one bestseller.”
While she grills up the classic birria tacos, Idalia gets started on the pizzadilla by giving some extra large flour tortillas the same consome treatment and tossing them on the grill. She lays the three tortillas required for a pizzadilla on the grill and loads them up with a pile of monterey cheese and a healthy heap of birria. “It’s a good amount, man. It feeds like four people, depending how hungry they are,” said David. “If they’re really hungry, two people maybe. I know people who come and get it just for themselves.”
The tortillas get loaded up with onions and cilantro, then stacked on top of each other into a pizza box before getting sliced like a pie. Once the pizzadilla is constructed, Idalia adds the finishing touches. “Then she tops it up with some more cilantro, more onion, garnish it,” said David. “And then you get your consommé, you dip it and we slice it up in a pizza.”
All the food comes out hot and fresh off the grill, and it’s hard to resist digging in right in the parking lot. Up first are the classic birria tacos, served with a cup of consome. The birria is beyond awesome, and the fresh onions and cilantro help this rich dish to really shine. “The flavor and just the kind of juices and just the mixture of everything makes it amazing,” said customer Eric Valdez. “It’s amazing. I mean, it’s something that I think Odessa’s needed for a really long time.”
Up next is the pizzadilla, which almost has a gravitational pull drawing customers to dig right in. It puts other Mexican-inspired pizzas to shame, and picking up a slice exposes just how loaded the thing is with birria and cheese. There’s so much beef and cheese that every bite is a perfect bite, and it suddenly becomes apparent why someone would want to try and tackle this beast solo.
Well, if you happen to be in the Petroplex looking for a pizzadilla, coming to El Taco Loco Birrieria is definitely well worth a stop on The Texas Bucket List. “Recently, I started thanking God a lot,” said David. “I’m like, ‘Man, He blessed me.’ So I’m like, ‘He blessed my family.’ We’re doing so good. My parents worked so hard their whole lives. We weren’t rich, we weren’t well-off so we’d have to work for everything we had. And to finally get to somewhere where we have something and it’s growing? It’s like I’m proud, you know?”