“The queso fundido and ceviche are great, but they don’t have a liquor license yet,” a local Beacon resident tells visitors while passing by the new Mexican restaurant La Barbirria, succinctly summing up the state of affairs.
Barbirria owner Patricio Patino opened the new spot in June, choosing to focus on the food program while awaiting the license. But the drinks will start to flow by Friday, July 14. Cocktails will center on exotic habanero and jalapeño margaritas, he says, along with Mexican beers like Victoria, the country’s oldest beer brand. Solid, weighty margarita glasses add a splash of color behind the bar.
Patino, who hails from Ecuador, also owns Soltano, a northern Mediterranean restaurant in Fishkill that opened in 2018. He recently became enamored with Mexican cooking and made two research trips south of the border.
The term “birria,” embedded in the restaurant’s name, refers to a method of braising chicken, pork, lamb, beef, and even mushrooms for several hours. Two signature entrees showcase the method. La Barbirria parillada mixes grilled skirt steak, chicken breast, pork adobado, and chorizo in one platter ($36). And Patino says that he’s never seen La Barbirria molcajete ($36) outside of Mexico. The dish, served in a heated stone mortar, features skirt steak, chicken breast, shrimp and chorizo.Seafood specialties include pescado marinado ($28), a sea bass dish with cumin; and camarones al chile de arbol ($24), a shrimp dish that includes a healthy dose of garlic.
“True Mexican cuisine is about blending flavors, like Indian food,” he says. “You’re combining a lot of spices together to make things taste good.”
Quesadillas and burritos are absent from the inventive menu, which is divided into four groupings: entrees, appetizers, street tacos, and soups and salads. Fajitas and the “authentic” tacos reflect Patino’s commitment to freshness. “Real street tacos are made by people with spices and other things they grow or cultivate,” he says. “They don’t buy it, they just make it. Nothing is processed. That’s how it is here: we have no microwave and only a small freezer for the ice cream. Everything is fresh. We don’t even serve ground meats.”Patino also hires someone to hand-press corn tortillas all day long. No single-serving taco costs more than $5, and they come flat on the plate with the ingredients piled on top.
Intriguing combinations include pescado (blackened salmon, pico de gallo, avocado, chipotle sauce, $5); al pastor (marinated pork and pineapple, $4); and camaron enchilado (shrimp and chile de arbol drizzled with melted cheese, $5).
A couple of taco items come with three servings: tacos dorados ($12) showcase the marinated chicken and birria taco dish ($16-$18) includes a choice of protein, queso mixto and consommé—like a French dip.Also rare in the area is aguachile, says Patino, who has worked as a chef for 34 years. Akin to ceviche, La Barbirria’s aguachile offers a choice of shrimp ($16) or scallops ($21) marinated in a lime, cucumber, jalapeno and cilantro broth.
Dessert options include the requisite flan and tres leches cakes (both $8), as well as churros with chocolate sauce ($8), and a chocolate lava cake with vanilla ice cream ($12) and a deep-fried, cookie-coated ice cream ball, dusted with cinnamon sugar, and topped with strawberries, and chocolate sauce ($8).
To compensate for the alcohol license lag, the soft beverage selection is solid. Agua fresca offerings ($5) include a cucumber and lime flavor along with agua de jamaica, a blood red concoction made by soaking dried hibiscus flowers in water and adding some sugar to soften the tart tang. Pours are served in tumblers as hefty and bright as the margarita glasses.
Also available: Jarritos soda ($4), Mexican Coke ($4) and Horchata ($5), a creamy rice water flavored with cinnamon. Another drink of note is cafe de olla ($4), consisting of coffee, cinnamon, Oaxaca chocolate, and raw brown sugar served in clay cups. “If you taste one, you’ll want it all the time,” Patino says.
The uncluttered brown and beige decor, along with the folksy music pumping through the speakers, is secondary to the cuisine. Large front windows let light into the rectangular interior, which is adorned with wall art and faux vegetation. Colorful rebozo shawls cover wooden beams along the walls and brightly hued flags hang from the rafters. The long granite bar, resting atop a solid brick base, seats a dozen.
Patino plans to offer a Sunday brunch menu and to keep experimenting in the kitchen and behind the bar.
“I do this out of love, not for the money,” says Patino. “I tell everyone that my wife is my second wife, not because I was ever married before, but the restaurants are really my first wife.”
Sunday to Thursday: 11:30am-9pm; Friday and Saturday: 11:30am-10pm
@labarbirria 
