It was 2020, and Jose Laos was at a crossroads. After more than 20 years as an executive chef at corporate chains including Cheesecake Factory, Capital Grill and P.F. Chang’s, he quit his job and got a divorce.
“I was freaking out. I had to totally start over,” said Laos, a native of Peru who emigrated with his family to the U.S. when he was 6 and grew up in New Jersey.
He watched videos on YouTube for inspiration, pinpointing some popular food trends. Over and over, tacos filled with birria, a traditional Mexican meat stew, popped into his video stream.
Laos spent about six months perfecting his version of birria, and by the end of the year, he was making tacos in his garage in Lawrenceville and selling them from the parking lot of his neighborhood Publix as Jose’s Birria Local (instagram.com/josesbirrialocal).
Credit: Courtesy of Jose's Birria Local
Credit: Courtesy of Jose's Birria Local
In 2021, he held his first official pop-up at Monkey Wrench Brewing in Suwanee, and has since popped up regularly at local breweries and beer stores and at events for Gwinnett County
He’s developed a following for his consist menu of birria tacos, quesadillas, tostadas and crunch wraps, as well as a handful of sides including nachos and an esquites corn salad of grilled corn kernels tossed with lime-flavored mayo, cotija cheese, butter and Tajin and topped with ground-up spicy Cheetos.
He also offers rotating specials. Currently, the menu features a sandwich that Laos describes as a cross between a birria Philly cheesesteak and a French dip.
Laos describes his birria as “very traditional, but a little different with some of my chef’s touches.” While most birria is made by boiling all the ingredients together, Laos uses his training as a saucier to prepare the elements individually before combining them, including sauteing the vegetables and searing and seasoning the beef. His recipe also includes knuckle, shank and marrow bones to add flavor; guajillo, ancho and arbol dried chiles for a little spice; and vegetables like onions, tomatoes, garlic and ginger.
Credit: Courtesy of Jose's Birria Local
Credit: Courtesy of Jose's Birria Local
When assembling tacos, Laos dips the 6-inch corn tortillas into the red oil he gets by skimming the consomé broth produced while he cooks the meat. He then stuffs the tortillas with birria, layers them with shredded cheese and onions, and fries them on the griddle.
“The oil gives the tacos such an amazing flavor and crust, and doesn’t make the tacos soggy the way that dipping them in the consomé sometimes does,” he said.
All menu items are served with a consomé, and customers can zhuzh up their purchases with radishes, cilantro, lime and jalapenos from a condiment bar.
For those with a plant-based diet, Laos offers a vegan version of his birria made with seasoned, sauteed jackfruit mixed with Beyond beef chunks, served with vegan consomé and an optional sprinkle of vegan cheese.
Laos, who has fond memories of cooking with his parents as a child, appreciates that the pop-up enables him to spend time with his daughters, Alexis, 16, and Caylee, 15. They work with their dad twice a week — he serves as the main cook, while they take orders, prep items for the taco bar and build crunch wraps.
Credit: Courtesy of Jose's Birria Local
Credit: Courtesy of Jose's Birria Local
“As a chef working in restaurants, I never got to see them, and when I got divorced, it was even harder,” he said. “It’s not like this anymore, but at first, I was embarrassed that I had gone to culinary school and then was selling tacos out of my garage. But when I realized it would let me see my daughters all the time, and they could work with me and learn work ethic and responsibility — it’s the main reason that I’m doing this.”
Laos, who currently preps food in a commercial kitchen, plans to grow the business with the purchase of a food trailer later this year, and eventually open a takeout-only brick-and-mortar location that would also serve as the base kitchen for the pop-up.
He also plans to build up a second pop-up, Jose’s Burger Local, that he started last year to serve smashburgers “for the one person who doesn’t want to eat tacos,” he said.
“For me to keep the core menu items and continuing to get busier and busier, signals to me that there’s an appetite for it,” he said. “I think our consomé is one of the best out there. People ask me, do you think people will get sick of birria?’ And I say, ‘People don’t get sick of tacos.’ Birria is just a specialty taco.”
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