Del Taco’s new limited time menu item, shredded beef birria, has introduced a possible new line of food options at the company.
The Lake Forest-based firm is the latest restaurant chain to add birria dishes to its menu, including tacos, quesadillas and Del Taco’s first-ever ramen. Each item comes with a consomé dip developed by the research and development team for about four months with 16 different iterations to find the best recipe, according to Senior Director of Culinary Research and Development Jeremias Aguayo.
Birria was Aguayo’s very first project when entering his current role and took one year to test and finalize. The birria ramen was introduced in the second test run of the beef product with Del Taco partnering with another firm to create its own custom noodles for the soup.
The dishes match the “street food approach” Del Taco takes with its menu, Aguayo told the Business Journal during a visit to the company’s headquarters and test kitchen.
“I wanted to make authentic flavors accessible and at a good value,” he added.
Aguayo noted that the ramen, as the chain’s first soup offering, has also sparked more ideas for the menu in the future.
Del Taco, Orange County’s sixth largest locally based chain, counts almost 600 restaurants in the U.S. and reported third-quarter systemwide sales of $231 million in August. Around 3,000 employees are based at the chain’s local headquarters.
See below for images taken at Del Taco’s headquarters and test kitchen in Lake Forest.