For roughly five or six years, the birria taco has been the hottest item at Houston’s Mexican food spots. The Tijuana-style preparation of crispy tortillas stuffed with beef and cheese and dipped in hot and savory consommé has become the soup de jour of many a food truck, strip mall joint and trendy restaurant.
So it may shock some to learn that arguably the hottest birria peddler in Houston is dropping the word from its own name. Over the weekend, Space City Birria owner Humberto Martinez revealed his award-winning restaurant in Downtown Houston was changing to Space City Tacos. It’s not exactly a huge leap from birria, but the 415 Milam St. restaurant is suddenly charting a new course for itself in a landscape that has changed drastically in the past few years.
“Well, you know, it’s something we thought about for a long time, but [hadn’t yet changed it] because as business owners, we get attached to the things that we build, especially when we spent years building it,” Martinez said.
Humberto and Stacey Martinez pose in front of their restaurant, Space City Birria Tacos & More in downtown Houston, Texas. (Marco Torres/For Chron.com)
Space City Birria opened in October 2022, two years after much of Houston had already been bitten by the stewed meat bug. It joined the likes of other businesses capitalizing on birria madness, including Doña Leti’s, the Birria Queen, TJ Birria y Mas, Dripped Birria and Tacos Doña Lena. Martinez’s version has garnered plenty of accolades, including multiple best-in-class showings at the local Top Taco Houston competition at the POST.
But times have changed, and Martinez doesn’t want his business to get stuck in the past.
“When we first opened Space City Birria, it was a trend we had to jump on,” Martinez said. “Birria is still our most popular item that we sell … but i feel the name ‘birria,’ because it’s almost like a standard now, it doesn’t bring a new and exciting feeling it had four, five years ago.”
The new Space City Tacos is expanding its menu to include chicken flautas, chicken tinga and al pastor. The added variety has a two-fold purpose: to entice the birria-wary to order something else, and to prove that more variation on the menu can help the business rely a little less on beef.
Space City Birria Tacos owner Humberto Martinez holds an elote, one of the sides at his downtown Houston restaurant. (Marco Torres/For Chron.com)
Much like in the barbecue restaurant world, beef prices have caused significant distress for Martinez’s business. While he didn’t immediately know how much or what his restaurant was ordering, he figured Space City was ordering beef chuck for $10-12 a pound. According to historical data, the prices for chuck have only risen as demand increases and supply (cattle inventories) remains stagnant.
Despite the name change, Space City Tacos is not shying away from its top-selling products and, according to Martinez, neither is anyone else. Quesabirria, he said, remains the top item for other Mexican restaurants, competition or otherwise.
“It’s not that the sales are going down for them, but I have noticed some of the other competitors that sell similar food-they had birria in their name and have dropped it,” Martinez said. “Maybe we were all thinking the same thing.”
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This article originally published at Houston birria restaurant changes name as beef prices surge.
