La Barbacoa Autentica De Borrego

"Excellent food, very delicious, great people, very good service"

"Best lamb barbacoa ever!"

"I love this place anything you order to eat here is good!!!"

"La Barbacoa Autentica de Borrego is a spot that specializes in delicious meats affordably sold by the kilo, served ready to be stuffed into high-quality tortillas. A fragrant pot of comsomé de borrego stews on a burner, filling the surrounding air with its delectable aroma of simmered lamb and vegetables. Antojitos such as quesadillas, tacos, and tlacoyos are also offered. What you want to order, however, is the Lamb Mixiote, a bone-in lamb roast that has been lovingly braised until it becomes wobbly and spoon-tender. As with the aforementioned consomé, the meat and its brown juices are rich, flavorful, and bear enough muskiness to let you know you're eating lamb, but not so much as to overwhelm you with funk. The Barbacoa de Borrego (Mexican lamb barbecue) is the house specialty and it too has that feel of jiggly, sweaty meat, but leaner and more concentrated -- more lamb-y. I prefer La Barbacoa Autentica de Borrego's mixiote, but I'd gladly have the barbacoa meat in the tacos or taco dorados (what most "taco shops" in San Diego refer to as 'rolled tacos'). They do a better job with the barbacoa here than that much more popular barbacoa place in Chula Vista that I reviewed last year. The house's excellent tortillas are hand-made out of fresh masa supplied by nearby Tortilleria Lily, who themselves are rightly known for producing some of San Diego's finest corn tortillas. If you're looking for a free-standing building, a street stand, or even a food truck, finding this under-the-radar operation will be difficult. The entirety of La Barbacoa Autentica de Borrego amounts to a few banquet tables and folding chairs in a presumptive dulcería called "Candy Land" in the middle of the City Heights neighborhood -- a tiendita that is well-trafficked by neighbors purchasing cigarettes in the morning, kids from the nearby middle school in the afternoon, and connoisseurs of barbacoa de borrego on Friday afternoons, Saturdays, and Sundays. Yes, as with many places serving food out of barbacoa pits in Mexico, this spot is only open three days per week."

"This is authentic mexican barbacoa, absolutely delicious, I highly recommend it."