Mike's Red Tacos expounds upon birria in Clairemont

Seems like only last year I was writing about a plucky birria food truck that drummed up all its business on a single afternoon each week. In fact, it was only ten months ago that I tracked down Mike’s Red Tacos at its regular, Saturday perch in Bay Park. Mike and company have gotten busier in the time since, as they recently opened a seven day a week taco counter, not far from the Clairmont DMV.

I’m always down to celebrate when a mobile kitchen graduates to something built on a concrete foundation, maybe moreso when it means daily access to tacos built on corn tortillas dipped in chili oil. Mike’s Red Tacos has taken a tiny, boxy storefront and given it a decidedly red makeover, like its tacos, practically dripping with murals drawing from interior design as well as street art concepts.

Aside from decking out interior space, another benefit to turning the Mike’s taco truck into a taco shop would be a fuller salsa bar. The six salsas range in color from yellow to bright red, and in heat level from “sweet/spicy” to “spicy AF.”

Of course the most important salsa to consider is the birria consomé, a must for dipping those tacos and thus contractually completing your birria taco experience. Along with chips and salsa, the consomé is included when you order a two-taco, birria ($12.79) or quesabirria ($13.99) combo.

But you’ll want to add it for $2.25 if you order anything else on the menu.

And that’s an expanded menu. There’s still birria ramen ($12.49), and so is the so-called Crunchstack, a crispy meets flour tortilla creation mimicking the Crunchwrap of Taco Bell ignominy ($13.99).

Newer menu items are less overtly experimental, but still testing a few boundaries. For example, the shop’s birria California burrito ($13.99) features not just French fries and guacamole, but also rice and beans. I love combo burritos, but have to admit this one may be too much.

More successful may be the nachos ($15.49), which see beef birria stacked atop and between tortilla chips with guac, sour cream, and a house version of that Tex-Mex staple, queso.

But I cast my vote for a more San Diego-centric variation: birria fries. Which are like carne-asada fries, except… well, you get the idea.

If you’re already the sort to order fries topped with the contents of a burrito, you’ll be satisfied, but here, again, I encourage liberal use of that consomé. The potatoes soak it up as well as anything, and as far as I’m concerned, pouring broth over the gluttonous pile of loaded fries provides proof of concept.

One of these days, I’ll show up that portobello mushroom and peppers veggie taco, but it won’t be today.