Under the Radar: Tripa Tacos and Cheesy Birria Burgers in Irving and Carrollton

While you'll never find us shying away from a steamy bowl of queso, we can't deny there's a void Tex-Mex will never fill. This past weekend we uncovered a hidden gem, Taqueria Moctezuma, whose house-made agua fresca and authentic Mexican food was nothing short of a revelation.

The taqueria has two locations — one in Irving and one in Carrollton. The former is no-frills, all food, and the latter offers the same menu but with a more Instagrammable experience — such as the neon sign and flower wall combo. Don't sweat it though, the food is just as good.

A majority of the menu is in Spanish, but you could ignorantly order anything and still end up with something you like.

The menu has a little bit of everything: burritos, quesadillas, enchiladas, menudo (traditional Mexican soup), flautas, tortas, loaded fries, antojitos (snacks), mulitas (a cross between a taco and quesadilla) and a ton of other things.

Some of the most popular items are birria-themed: tacos dorados, ramen, a burger and even birria pizza. The small section with burgers — birria, cheeseburger, chorizo and Mexicana style — is the odd man out but still worth ordering from.

In the center is a small section, opciones de carne (meat options). Rather than specifying pork, chicken or beef, it's the cut or type of meat that you order for your dish. Choose from birria (seasoned beef), barbacoa (barbecued meat), pastor (pork), pierna (leg), tinga (chicken), tripa (tripe), lengua (cow tongue), chicharron (pig skin), chorizo (spiced sausage), bistec (classic steak) and camaron (shrimp).
We tried the popular birria grilled cheese and two tacos, topping the order off with a melon agua fresca.

The cheese pull on our grilled cheese told us everything we needed to know about what we were about to sink our teeth into. It came out piping hot and perfectly greasy. The bread was toasted to perfection after being dipped in the consommé. Inside, the generous amount of tender and juicy meat paired with melty cheese was more than drool-worthy.

We've admitted before that our Spanish is painfully beginner, so we let fate take the reins for our tacos and ordered two tripa tacos.

Had we translated it before we arrived, we may have passed them up, but even knowing what they are now we would go back for them again. Crispy and salty beef tongue and intestines are served in a homemade, chewy tortilla. With all the fixin's, we would have ordered a few more if we had the room.
All toppings for the tacos/dishes are on the self-serve cart in the center of the dining room. There are three sauces (two green and one red), fresh limes, onion/cilantro and a raw cabbage blend. We grabbed limes, green sauce and, since we're not afraid of a little heat, a good helping of the red one.

If a jalapeño could take you out, definitely stick to the green, but the red was our favorite. It was hot, but nothing the melon aqua fresca couldn't cure.

Taqueria Moctezuma, 4117 N. Story Road, Irving. Monday – Friday, 8 a.m. – 10 p.m.; Saturday – Sunday, 9 a.m. –10 p.m.
Taqueria Moctezuma, 1837 W. Frankford Road, Carrollton. Daily, 10 a.m. – 10 p.m.