El Sazón de Jalisco offers house-made tortillas, birria
The sign reads El Sazón de Jalisco — The Seasoning of Jalisco — at the new Mexican restaurant at 11th and National.
Where there is a new restaurant with the promise of regional specialties, there is reason to turn the car around for a closer look.
Everly Huerta had been cooking for others from her home kitchen; demand soon grew larger than her kitchen could handle, so she opened the restaurant, she explained to me by text later.
Huerta was born in California but mostly grew up in Guadalajara, the capital of Jalisco. Specialties of that western Mexican state include birria and carne en su jugo, meat in its juices, which means they're specialties of the house, along with birria tacos.
Those are the dishes Huerta prepares herself; two cooks prepare other items from the broad menu.
The birria at El Sazón de Jalisco is beef (rather than goat or lamb) that's cooked slowly with a mild but deeply flavorful sauce made from dried chiles. It's available on its own ($13.55) or as a plate with refried beans and seasoned rice ($15.75).
The restaurant also stuffs birria into tacos ($2.50 apiece) with the tortillas crisped on the griddle, a dish that's become fabulously popular in Milwaukee and across the country.
El Sazón's birria was so savory and hearty; it's a dish to love, especially on cold winter days and nights.
But so is chicken soup, and El Sazón de Jalisco's caldo de gallina stole my heart. The house-made broth is delicate, the very essence of chicken; the meat is likely to have skin on and bone in for this home-style dish. The soup also is stocked with rice and chickpeas, a complete meal ($11 a bowl, or $12 for 32 ounces to go or $17 for 64 ounces).
And just when I thought dinner couldn't get any better, I took one of the corn tortillas that had been packed on the side and noticed it was house made. Fresh tortillas are such a joy — a moist, flavorful joy, one where the corn's flavor shines through.
You'll find fresh corn dough elsewhere on the menu: as-big-as-yourplate handmade quesadillas, filled with a choice of meat: fine-chopped steak, chorizo, seasoned pork, chicken in sauce, pork rinds in salsa verde ($9.75) or chitterlings, tongue or beef cheek ($10.75) plus lettuce, tomato and crema.
Or a huarache, large and sandalshaped, topped with refried beans, lettuce, crema and fresh cheese plus a choice of meat ($8.75 or $9.75), another satisfying dish.
El Sazón de Jalisco has 12 distanced tables in its adjoining dining rooms, but it also packs its menu items to go — I took my dinners to go, and soup and all was packed quite securely. An employee will bring orders curbside by request.
I always consider it a good sign when I've had a restaurant's food twice and I'm eager to try more (trust me, that's not always been the case). I have my eye on El Sazón de Jalisco for more: breakfast dishes and weekend specials of menudo, pozole rojo; and caldo de res, the beef soup with potato, corn, carrot and squashes.
Hours: 8 a.m. to 9 p.m. every day but
Wednesday, when the restaurant is closed. It will be open 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. Christmas Eve and have taco and a soup specials; it's closed Christmas Day.
1039 W. National Ave. (414) 988-4374.
Facebook.com/ElSazonDeJaliscomke
Carol Deptolla has been reviewing restaurants in Milwaukee and Wisconsin since 2008. Like all Journal Sentinel reporters, she buys all meals, accepts no gifts and is independent of all establishments she covers, working only for our readers.
Contact her at carol.deptolla@ jrn.com or (414) 224-2841, or through the Journal Sentinel Food & Home page on Facebook. Follow her on Twitter at @mkediner or Instagram at @mke_ diner.