Credit: COURTESY

Credit: COURTESY

If you are following food blogs—or even have access to Instagram—you’re aware that quesabirria is having a moment. The Chicago Tribune describes it as a “shotgun marriage of a quesadilla and a bulging birria taco.” Hailing originally from Tijuana before making a splash in California, the masterpiece is constructed of birria, a Mexican stew, merged with a healthy portion of cheese. The quesabirria comes with a side of consomé, (beef broth) to dip in between bites. In other words, this is not a first date dish, things might get a little messy and fingers will be licked.

Like all good things, quesabirria has finally made its way to Tampa Bay. We've already fallen in love with the dish at Tampa's Taqueria Margarita, and the Golden State recently delivered Tampa Bay another buzzed-about local quesabirria slingers, Tacos Las Californias.

The family-owned food truck is run by Marlly Sanchez-Garcia, her husband Christopher Garcia and her father Felix Sanchez. The trio is from California, and have always dreamed of opening a restaurant.

“We have always admired small local restaurants' simple menu, but awesome food,” Sanchez-Garcia told Creative Loafing Tampa Bay in an email. Rather than wait out the pandemic, Marlly and her team decided to take the plunge and launch the Tacos Las Californias food truck in July.

“By the second week we were blooming with lines I couldn’t control by myself and my comadre (son’s godmother),” Sanchez-Garcia shares. "I knew we had something special that Tampa didn’t have at the moment. It was trending back home and we knew we had to bring quesabirria to Tampa.”

The business owner said after the initial surge, she began posting to social media and added more California food to the menu. “Our plan was to bring something different and authentic to Tampa," she wrote.

And the community was grateful. Over the last few weeks local foodie influencer feeds have been loaded with food porn posts featuring dishes from none other than Tacos Las Californias. Once Marlly realized that the surge in business was more than a fluke, she recruited her husband to man the stove while she focused on customers and growth.

“My husband was working as a truck driver. I had to tell him to come and help me because the taco truck was doing well sooner than I expected," she said. "He quit trucking and took over the spatula.” 

Since July, Tacos Las California has moved inside Red International Bar, located at 7007 N. Armenia Ave. in Tampa. Red International Bar belongs to Marlly’s father Felix, who was forced to temporarily close its doors during the pandemic. What’s the saying, when one door opens?

“Also the truck was small so I decided to keep the truck as the kitchen and take orders and offer inside seating to our customers," she added. “Our goal besides providing consistency to our customer is to hopefully soon open up brick and mortar.”

 In the meantime, you can get a taste of the concept’s limited menu offering tacos, California burritos, carne asada fries, quesabirria, birria ramen, and nachos. The Tacos Las Californias team plans on debuting a new menu in the near future as well as improving the current indoor seating area to enhance dipping pleasure. You can follow along with new offerings and updates through the truck's Facebook (@tacoslascalifornias).

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This article appears in Nov 5-11, 2020.