This Southern California chain based in Costa Mesa, Calif., is known for its marinated grilled chicken, but it claims that it was the first quick-service chain to introduce birria when it did so in March 2022 as a limited-time offer. It came in three forms:

Shredded Beef Birria Stuffed Quesadilla: Grilled flour tortillas filled with shredded braised beef, cheese, avocado, chopped onions and cilantro served with a side of beef broth simmered with garlic, chile and lime, starting at $8.29

Shredded Beef Birria Burrito: Shredded braised beef, cheese, sour cream, rice, beans, cabbage, chopped onions, and cilantro in a flour tortilla served with a side of beef broth, starting at $8.29  

Shredded Beef Birria Crunchy Tacos: Shredded braised beef, cheese, chopped onion, and cilantro served in two crunchy corn tortillas, starting at $8.29 

It recently brought those items back to the menu, and they're now available through June 28. 

Bety Barrera, head chef of this restaurant in Houston, made a Mexican style sandwich called a torta out of her birria, which she made by braising beef chuck in a vegetable broth with mirepoix, thyme, bay lives, and chipotle and guajillo chiles.

Then she reduced the braising liquid, with more guajillo chiles added, to a rich broth and topped it with onions and cilantro.

She put the meat on a traditional thick telera roll and served it with the broth, French Dip style, and charged $15 for it.

The menu item was introduced in 2021.

This chain based in Austin, Texas, made birria a permanent option last October for burritos, bowls, and salads for a $3-$4 upcharge. It’s beef braised with guajillo, jalapeño, and arbol chiles, onions, garlic, and cloves for 18 hours.

Last fall, Alex Moreno, executive chef of this restaurant in Beverly Hills, Calif., seasoned USDA Prime beef brisket with salt and pepper and cooked it in sous-vide for 36 hours. Then he collected the broth from the vacuum-sealed bag.

Separately, he wrapped Maui onions in foil with thyme, bay leaves, salt, and pepper and then slowly roasted the, but not so much that they lost their texture.

He also made a paste of onions, garlic, ginger, cloves, allspice, vinegar, and four types of chile: California, guajillo, arbol and morita.

At service, he pan-seared the brisket fat-side down, removed, it, sliced it, and then added the roasted onions to the pan. He deglazed it with the brisket broth, seasoned it with salt and pepper, and garnished it with cilantro.

He put the paste on a hot cast-iron pan, which was brought sizzling to the table where the dish was assembled. It was $38

This casual-dining chain based in Los Angeles introduced quesabirria to its menu as an LTO in early 2022, and brought it back again this year; it’s available through April in two forms:

¼ lb. Beef Quesabirria Burger: Burger topped with melted Jack cheese, braised shredded beef, onion and cilantro on a toasted red chile bun, served with red chile broth and fries, $12.99

Quesabirria Fries: French fries topped with braised shredded beef, Jack cheese, onion, and cilantro, served with a side of red chile broth for dipping, $9.99

Availability: Through April (but first introduced in early 2022)

This casual-dining chain based in Irving, Texas, introduced quesabirria as an LTO in February of last year, although it called it Birria Quesa Tacos. It was made with beef barbacoa, Mexican cheese, diced onion, and cilantro served in crispy flour tortillas served with hot consommé for dipping, plus warm flour tortillas, Mexican rice and refried beans on the side, starting at 12.99

This fast-casual burrito chain born in Denver and now based in San Diego, introduced quesabirria as a permanent item last October in two formats:

QuesaBirria Quesadilla: Brisket braised with chiles and garlic, shredded and served between grilled flour tortillas with 3-cheese queso, pico de gallo, and shredded cheese, served with guacamole and sour cream, $10.75-$11.75

QuesaBirria Burrito: Braised brisket, queso, pico de gallo, shredded cheese, salsa roja, cilantro lime rice, and black beans in a warm flour tortilla, $10.75-$11.75

This fast-casual chain based in Austin, Texas, introduced a Short Rib Birria Taco as an LTO last summer and fall. It was a corn tortilla dipped in short rib stew and then stuffed with Jack cheese and braised short rib, topped with crema and cilantro and served with a side of beef consommé for dipping, $6.50