Birria madness in Bay Ridge

By Scott Lynch

Few food fads in recent memory have swept through the city as rapidly as the increasingly-ubiquitous birria, that meaty Mexican slow-cooked stew that usually comes laid across fat-dipped tortillas, a cup of incredibly rich consommé on the side for sipping and dipping. In Brooklyn we’ve mostly seen beef birria so far (goat, lamb, and oxtail concoctions have been spotted elsewhere), and though the taco format still dominates, the stew is turning up in non-Mexican spots as well, including at least one pizza parlor.

Birria Mania, a fun and lively restaurant that opened last month on Third Avenue in Bay Ridge, takes the trend a step further. Several steps. For one thing, everything on the lengthy menu here is birria based. The ramen, the pizza, the sloppy Joes, the mac and cheese, the poutine, the Philly cheesesteak: all come laden with birria.

Beef birria ramen, $20 (Scott Lynch)

There are also expected dishes like tacos, burritos, mulitas, and tostados, and for each one you can choose from among three separate birria options, beef, chicken, or vegan. The meat is all halal.

Chicken, beef, and vegan birria tacos ($4.99 each) with accompanying consommés ($4.50 each) (Scott Lynch)

This is the first Brooklyn spot for the Amani Hospitality Group, which operates five other restaurants in Queens. “We’ve all been in the industry a very long time,” Razib Hasan, an East New York native and one of the Amani partners, tells Brooklyn Magazine. “We worked as busboys, food runners, servers.”

Another partner, Sazzad Hossain, who grew up in Jackson Heights, emphasized that Birria Mania was “the first restaurant in the city doing chicken and vegan birria,” and the third of the Amani trio, Jashim Ullah, called Birria Mania “the only sit-down, full-service birria restaurant probably in the entire United States.”

While we have no way of confirming that last bit, we can tell you that the chef here, Edgar Villa, knows what he’s doing. Villa is from Mexico City, he worked for many years at “every type of restaurant in the city,” he says, before landing in Bay Ridge, and for this gig he flew out to Los Angeles and Tijuana “to do research, learn a lot of birria recipes, and then create my own dishes for Brooklyn.”

The Birria Mania tacos are a good place to start, offering a solid baseline for the kitchen’s capabilities. We tried all three varieties, each with its own, appropriately flavored accompanying cup of consommé, and all did the trick. These are intense and sloppy, with the vegan birria, a sodden mix of cauliflower, peppers, and onions, sweet corn strewn on top, holding its own. The beef birria ramen is basically like eating a whole bowl of toned-down consommé, and the noodles are nice and chewy. The crisp-shelled taco, half submerged in the broth, is a nice touch.

Two of the menu’s more snacky dishes were great, especially the “Doritos Locos,” a bag of those nacho chips sliced open sideways and filled with mozzarella, black beans, salsa, sour cream, and, of course, birria.

Doritos Locos, $9.99 (Scott Lynch)

And the Vampiro Ranchero proves once again that putting a runny fried egg and a tangle of pickled onions on top of a mound of meat and a crunchy tortilla is a good idea. The red hot sauce on here, which squirts out of the “ketchup” bottle at your table, packs a punch.

Vampiro Ranchero, $7.99 (Scott Lynch)

For dessert, get the flan. Usually good advice in any scenario, but they make a very good one at Birria Mania, pairing the eggy caramel custard with some tart hibiscus syrup and coconut flakes.

Flan with hibiscus syrup and coconut, $9 (Scott Lynch)

Another option for something sweet (and spicy, and salty) is the Mangonada, an ultra-thick fruit beverage rimmed with chamoy and chili-lime salt, a chewy tamarind candy and a tangy lollipop sticking up out its depths.

The Mangonada, $9 (Scott Lynch)

The decor is wild, dominated by street artist Damien Mitchell’s mural of Biggie and Frida Kahlo along one wall and dozens of sombreros nailed to the arched ceiling. The chairs are all bright, primary colors, the tables tiled in traditional Mexican designs, the soundtrack Arabic pop tunes.

Scott Lynch

Plus, there’s a bit of advice hand-painted above the main dining area: “Dip it low, pick it up slow and let that consommé flow.”

Scott Lynch

Birria Mania is located at 75-08 Third Avenue, between 76th Street and Bay Ridge Parkway, and is currently open from 12:00 noon to 11:00 p.m. daily (718-701-3987)