TacoSur went viral because it’s Chicago’s best new taqueria

Veronica Fabre couldn’t figure out why so many people were lined up outside TacoSur Birreria Tijuanense, her restaurant that opened in April. “It happened so fast,” Fabre said. “I kept wondering, where are they coming from? Why are there 10 parties waiting to get in the door? Then I found this viral video.”

Posted on TikTok and Instagram, the video from @cai.eats.chi got right to the point: “Chicago, I think I may have done it. I think I might have found some of the best tacos in the city.” The creator went on to showcase TacoSur’s freshly made corn tortillas and tacos stuffed with fillings like beef birria and grilled pork ribs. The video has picked up 544,900 views on TikTok and another 750,000 on Instagram.

The taco-eating public got the message, swamping TacoSur and nearly overwhelming the operation. Wait times ballooned. Many complained loudly on Yelp and Google about the slow service, dinging the shop with numerous 1-star reviews. “We got a lot of feedback,” Fabre said.

Instead of getting flustered, Fabre quickly realized she was lucky to have a busy restaurant. “Now I think, we just have to be nice and friendly,” Fabre said. “Just tell people to come on a different day. But I’m so happy. I feel blessed because people want to come here.”

I’d prefer not to add more fuel to the fire. But if any new taqueria deserves to be slammed, it’s TacoSur. I thought a lot about the absurdity of those 1-star Yelp reviews as I devoured the doraditos, two lightly fried corn tortillas topped with intricately spiced and shredded beef birria, creamy beans, onions, cilantro and a hefty spoonful of salsa roja. Were these my favorite new tacos of the year? Then I tried the adobada tacos, which feature absurdly juicy slivers of marinated and charred pork cut off a vertical spit.

But if it’s in stock, the taco to try is the costillas. The cooks grill marinated pork ribs over charcoal until the bones slip out and you’re left with outrageously tender nuggets of slightly sweet and spicy pork that’s infused with smoke. You can get the meat on a perfectly acceptable store-bought tortilla, but I’d spring for the freshly made corn tortillas, which pick up toasty char marks from the griddle.

While TacoSur’s rise might seem unexpectedly fast, I expected nothing less from Fabre. The last time I chatted with her, she had just opened Tacos El Rey. That excellent taqueria is located on the East Side, which is as far south and east as you can get in the city before running into Indiana.

Fabre had fallen for the taco scene of Tijuana and wanted to replicate both the food and atmosphere with that restaurant. This meant that the tacos were wrapped in paper and dolloped with guacamole, while the space was sleek and bright red and white. She even had the cooks cover each plate with plastic, as is common in Mexican taquerias.

While that location is still busy, Fabre kept hearing from customers hoping she’d open a restaurant a little farther north. “A lot of people asked me when I was going to open a location in Little Village,” Fabre said. “Then one day I was driving around the neighborhood and saw the building at 31st and Pulaski.”

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She knew the area well. Born in Mexico City, Fabre moved with her family to the Little Village neighborhood when she was 7. “That’s my neighborhood,” Fabre said. “I went to school a few blocks away from where TacoSur is now.”

She also isn’t the first one from her family to sell food in the area. For about 10 years, her parents were street vendors, selling tamales from a cart. “Now I’m back in the same neighborhood,” Fabre said. “It was emotional to me. A little girl from Little Village now has this huge place. It’s amazing.”

While Tacos El Rey featured a bright red and white color scheme, TacoSur is cobalt blue and white. Fabre said she was inspired by the ornate bottles of her favorite tequila, Clase Azul. To get the right atmosphere, Fabre went to Mexico to buy much of the gear. “I had to go to Mexico to get the outfits. I brought the hats and the stone molcajetes. I had to carry those on the plane,” she said of the mortar and pestle sets.

Fabre isn’t done with TacoSur. In the same parking lot is a separate building that she’s calling TacoSur Taqueria. It’ll serve the same tacos, except this one will be takeout only and will stay open until 2 a.m. “So you can come by and eat tacos late at night,” Fabre said of the outpost that does not yet have an opening date.

Along with a packed new restaurant, Fabre also recently celebrated getting her citizenship. “It was just an emotional day for everyone,” Fabre said of the June 9 ceremony. “I got here when I was 7 years old. I married a U.S. citizen, but every time we’d travel, they’d stop me. Now I don’t have to worry about that. This gives me so many opportunities. Now that I have (citizenship), there are no limits.”

TacoSur Birreria Tijuanense, 3057 S. Pulaski Road; 773-502-0647; tacosurchicago.com

nkindelsperger@chicagotribune.com