After two years of delays, L.A. TACO's first-ever BirriaManía food event took place last Saturday afternoon and welcomed over one thousand attendees. Everyone came hungry for one thing only: juicy, spicy, and savory birria. Over 3,000 tacos de birria of both the chivo and beef varieties were served and they were all washed down by pints of ice-cold craft beer. After a long day of deliberations between the judges and attendees, two champions were crowned. The People's Champion was none other than Teddy's Red Tacos! With an overwhelmingly large amount of votes, Teddy's flavor bomb quesatacos de birria de res (beef) was crowned the people's choice for best birria. For the Judges' choice champion, Tacos y Birria La Única were deemed champions for both their beef and goat birria.
Thank you to everyone who drove out to the San Gabriel Valley on a beautiful not-too-hot day to enjoy L.A.'s best birria and horseracing. Thank you to Teddy's Red Tacos, Tacos y Birria La Única, Birriería Barajas, L.A. Birria, Birriería Don Boní, and The Goat Mafia for showing up and putting out your best birria forward for everyone to try. Thank you so much to L.A. TACO members and readers who showed up to support our street-level independent journalism. Thanks to Santa Anita Park for hosting L.A. TACO. Last but not least, thanks to L.A. TACO's Director of Partnerships Memo Torres for being the visionary behind the event, and to L.A. TACO's Director of Marketing Samantha Nuñez for executing the smooth event.
See everyone at next year's BirriaManía! If you missed out this year, each birriería is open at its respective locations and ready to serve you. Our photo essay recap is below.
Photos by Esteban Jimenez for L.A. TACO
