Juan Garcia is the birriero behind Compton Mexican eatery the Goat Mafia. With family origins in Jalisco, Mexico, the Compton native’s birria recipe dates back to his great-great-grandfather. Jalisco is the birthplace of birria, where using goat is the golden rule. The recipe was lost, but with the help of his mother, Garcia recreated the dish, fine-tuning the ingredients until the family felt he nailed it.
Previous work as a telemarketer and a plumber — as well as the sour experience of working in the kitchen of a national pizza chain, while making birria on the side — led Garcia to culinary school, where he met Ivan Flores. Together, they’ve been making birria for Angelenos for a decade, either by catering, pop-ups, or on the event circuit, before landing at Smorgasburg. Garcia even began raising goats in Victorville for the project, feeding them with spent grains from beer-making friends in the area.
More: Tracing the history of the birria obsession
Juan Garcia (middle) met Ivan Flores (left) in culinary school. Photo by Jean Lim Flores.
Last year, Garcia was approached by fellow Smorgasburg vendors Rhea Patel Michel and Marcel Michel, who run Saucy Chick, to collaborate in a former taqueria space in Beverly Grove. Saucy Chick mingles flavors that express both Marcel’s Mexican heritage and Rhea’s Gujarati lineage. Spice rubs that use cumin and evoke Yucatanian cochinita pibil coalesce on their rotisserie chicken.
Marcel Michel and Rhea Patel Michel of Saucy Chick approached Juan Garcia to collaborate in a brick-and-mortar space in a former taqueria. Photo courtesy of Saucy Chick
Los Angeles Times restaurant critic Bill Addison has no objections to this union, recommending a mix-and-match plate of birria and jeera chicken tacos.
“I’m so intrigued, as we move away from the worst of the pandemic, [by] the people who are finding ways to survive, and hopefully even thrive, as they find ways to make their businesses grow as we move into different times,” he says.
Note: As of this taping, Goat Mafia/Saucy Chick have secured a permanent lease in a different location. You can find both vendors every Sunday at Smorgasburg from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Their new location announcements are forthcoming and listeners can get that info on the Goat Mafia Instagram account.