COUNTER INTELLIGENCE: MEXICO

At Birriería Jalisco in Boyle Heights, roasted goat is the specialty. It's prepared with a generations-old recipe.

By Linda Burum, Special to The Times

"Squeeze some lime on it," I instruct my friend, who's piling soft shreds of sweet roasted meat onto a fresh tortilla. She moistens the crispy-edged flesh with an accompanying broth that's the color of sun-drenched terra cotta and as complexly seasoned as Oaxacan mole.

We're eating my favorite version of birria de chivo, Guadalajara's famous roasted kid specialty, at Birriería Jalisco, in a quiet neighborhood filled with tortillerías, panaderías and piñata stores just east of downtown.

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It's true that there are dozens of birrierías (as places specializing in the dish are called) in the L.A. area, but unlike most of them, this restaurant doesn't hedge its bets by serving other entrées. As in the best birrierías in Guadalajara, the Jaliscan capital, the kitchen concentrates its expertise on birria alone, offering a half-dozen cuts of the meat along with nothing more than tortillas, a few traditional desserts and some house-made beverages. Impeccably prepared, following a generations-old inherited recipe, this version of birria has established the 33-year-old restaurant as a community institution.

The large, recently remodeled dining room has a colonial feel, with faux arches, dappled earth-tone walls and a display of wonderful turn-of-the-century photographs of Guadalajara (the birthplace of birria) from a family collection.

Once in a while, gastronomically challenged friends have rejected invitations to join me here (the same timid diners who wince at sweetbreads and snub rabbit, escargot and quail as though they were on a par with the live cobra heart or tempura-style fried water beetles with which Anthony Bourdain loves to horrify viewers).

But today it's just me and my omnivore friend Alison. We love the lean delicacy of the meat that's first been braised then roasted, and the light, mild yet well-balanced seasoning of the "consommé" in which it's served. After a large bite sprinkled with lime, Alison's eyes widen at the way the juice amplifies and unifies the birria's flavors just as a trumpet trill brightens a tune.

Steakhouse-style, Birriería Jalisco offers various cuts of meat or combinations of cuts; the choices are listed in Spanish on a card at every table. No. 1, the surtida, includes leg, rib and back meat. No. 2, leg and back alone, is the leanest order, while No. 3, the rib and leg, offers lots of wonderful gelatinous cartilage to gnaw.

The "grandmother cut" (pierna y aldilla) comes boneless, while the coveted chamorro, or foreshank, is comparable to osso buco and is priced at $8 to $12, slightly more than the average $7.50 per plate for other cuts. Your order will come in the consommé unless you request it be served on the side.

The consommé, elegant and full-bodied, is made from the de-fatted braising liquid reduced to a goaty essence then enriched with seasonings and an even-textured fresh tomato purée. The kitchen grinds the tomatoes daily in a stone corn mill, and the seasoning mixture is such a well-guarded secret only family members are allowed to assemble the blend.

If you can manage dessert, the kitchen turns out velvety jericalla (essentially cup custard), milky rice pudding, and in the summertime, raspados (coarsely chipped ice under house-made fresh fruit purée) or a rich caramelized condensed milk raspados de cajeta showered with chopped pecans. You can also get a fine version of homemade tepache, a rarely seen Guadalajaran specialty drink of lightly fermented fresh pineapple and piloncillo sugar.

Birriería Jalisco goes through at least 5,000 pounds of kid a week, according to Luz González, whose late father, Don Bonifacio González, opened the café in 1972.

A proud, ambitious man who grew up in Guadalajara, González perfected his recipe working at his uncle's well-known birriería there. "But he was already 64 when he opened here," Luz recalls. He first spent years as a laborer sending money to his family in Mexico.

In its early days, the restaurant was open from 8 a.m. to midnight. "We kids just accepted the fact that when you saw Dad it would be at the restaurant."

The father's work ethic has been passed on. Not only is his business thriving but his children have opened sparkling new branches in Lynwood's Plaza Mexico and in Las Vegas.

On weekends at mealtimes you may have to wait for a table on the banquettes in the exterior alcove. But that may soon change. The family has acquired an adjacent plot of land and looks forward to expanding the original restaurant.

For now, when the room is crowded with multiple generations of celebrating families gathered at long tables, and the mariachis come around to sing — and they often do — you can imagine you're in a birriería in old Guadalajara itself.

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Birriería Jalisco

Location: 1845 E. 1st St., Los Angeles, (323) 262-4552. Also: 3180 E. Imperial Highway, Lynwood (#D in Plaza Mexico), (310) 639-5123.

Price: Full order, $8; half order, $5.75. Desserts, $1.75 to $3.50.

Best dishes: Birria, raspado de cajeta, jericalla.

Details: Open 8:30 a.m. to 8:30 p.m. daily. No alcohol. Street parking and lot parking in the rear. Visa, MasterCard and ATM debit cards.