Birria is comfort food … comfort food with clout. It's a specialty at Victoria Mexican Restaurant.
A peppery spice marinade elicits beef's baritone vigor. Slow cooking in broth turns it so tender that you want to call it creamy. It is heavy with juice. It collapses into shreds. The aroma of this meat is that of a family kitchen where grandma is preparing the Sunday roast.
Pieces of it can anchor soup. Victoria also uses it for tacos or — best of all — for quesabirrias, which are exceptional quesadillas. They pack the meat into a broad, folded-over tortilla with cheese, onions and cilantro. The crunch of the griddled tortilla offers sensational contrast to the soft meat and melted cheese within.
Quesabirrias come with a cup of consommé for dipping. Made from the beef's cooking liquid, it is so heady that it makes ordinary au jus seem diluted. Savoring this dish is an edible paradox: at once soothing and breathtaking.
To begin a meal, Victoria presents the table with warmed chips accompanied by happy red salsa that packs only a hint of pepper punch.
On the other hand, the avocado finesse of an appetizer listed as "Mexican guacamole" barely veils the buzz of jalapeños and the pungency of cilantro. This rugged, freshly made version of the dish is different from the menu's "guacamole dip," which is smooth and innocuous.
Shrimp cocktail is a whirlwind. Its textures set senses spinning. You feel three different kinds of crunch: the strapping resilience of big shrimp (just cooked, still slightly warm), the cool, crisp snap of cucumber chunks and the crush of chopped raw onions. Among all these elements are smooth little avocado pieces and slippery bits of tomato. Spicy sweet cocktail sauce engulfs the myriad ingredients inside a goblet decorated with slices of citrus fruit and discs of cucumber. A full-size soup spoon is provided. No skimpy hors d'oeuvre, this could be a meal by itself.
The kitchen's dazzler is a molcajete, an extravagant presentation named for the volcanic-stone mortar and pestle traditional Mexican cooks use to grind food. In this case, a king-size mortar arrives at the table venting clouds of fragrant steam. It is draped with strips of beef and chicken along with chorizo, shrimp, grilled green onions, cactus pad patches, a splayed-open serrano pepper and soft lengths of melted cheese. A feat to eat!
All the same ingredients can be had in fajita form, which adds tomatoes, onions, peppers, zucchini, squash and mushrooms. Fajitas come with a large plate of rice, refried beans and salad sprinkled with cotija cheese and dabbed with guacamole dip.
From the drink menu, manager Marcelino recommends a house special named Victoria's Margarita. Chamoy, a condiment that is fruity, briny and peppery, energizes this apricot-hued tequila bombshell. Its broad glass is rimmed with Tajín, an eye-opening paste made of chilies, limes and sea salt.
It feels right to quaff one of these margaritas at Victoria's, where décor is a pop version of Mexican folk art and where flurries of flags describe the meals with a single word: "fiesta."
Victoria Mexican Restaurant: 510 Silver Bluff Road, Aiken, SC. 803-998-9234. http://ordervictoriamexicangrillandbarrestaurant.com
