Chalio Mexican Restaurant can still bowl you over

There’s nothing like a steaming hot bowl of beef-rib birria on an 85-degree, extraordinarily humid spring evening.

I’m not kidding: This intense and powerfully fragrant stew, served at Chalio, a restaurant that first opened in Los Angeles and has thrived on Seminary Drive under the oversight of Fort Worth family members for 11 years, is so good it’s worth seeking out, even on the most uncomfortably warm days.

So is nearly everything at this restaurant, which is in a prime location just across the street from La Gran Plaza in south Fort Worth.

Those in the know are aware that a table at peak hours is hard to come by, and because of this, the restaurant is expanding.

In fact, when you pull up, a massive “Abierto” sign wafts in the wind, communicating that the place is still open, despite the massive overhaul and renovation project on the building’s west side.

Inside the dining room, a mix of colorful paper flags hang from the ceiling, as do flat-screen televisions. Mexican-tile floors meet booths not far removed from those in fast-food joints, and the kitchen is in full view, underscoring that nearly everything on this menu is made on these premises.

Take the house-made corn tortillas, an iteration both revolutionary and practical.

First, they are huge — roughly double the size of the standard ones used for street tacos. Second, they are wisely dense and thick, devised to sop up every ounce of sauce from virtually anything you order.

The molcajete Yucateco ($19.95) is enough for two hungry appetites. It’s a blistering-hot molcajete bowl — a stone mortar — overflowing with flank steak, shrimp, chorizo, chicken and queso ranchero, all bubbling away in a spicy red-chile sauce.

We took care to avoid touching the bowl, threw a few tortilla chips in to test the waters, and then pulled out the palm-sized piece of steak to cut. The dish is similar to fajitas, yet it has more juice and was spicier than any we’ve ever tried.

While the stick of queso ranchero interestingly did not melt into the bowl, everything else commingled nicely. Piled into the tortillas, the chicken and shrimp were also expertly cooked, and the chorizo, formed into small links, was fabulous — juicy, with a crispy bite.

The Costilla birria ($10.95) was tender beef rib, stewing away in an exceptionally savory roasted chile-based broth. The traditional way of eating the dish is to place the beef in a tortilla, and then add diced onions and cilantro, and a squeeze of lime.

The final step — a dip into the broth — brings the flavors together.

The chile verde ($8.95), chunks of pork in a green sauce, was a slightly lighter option, but no less outstanding.

The pork was so tender we shunned our knives, and were reduced to using our fingers to chase after the last few drops of sauce. It’s not a coincidence that the menu uses the expression “Finger lickin’ ” to tout the food.

From queso fundido ($3.99) to carne asada ($10.99), enchiladas ($10.50) to combo platters ($9.95), there are more traditional items on the vast menu, but we were drawn to the outliers.

The camarones a la diabla ($11.95) bore a “HOT” tagline, but I usually ignore the warnings — my experience has found them to sound false alarms. But these shrimp, nicely plump and perfectly cooked, were so spicy I required milk to put out the fire. Not cool.

Chalio has long been on hot lists of area foodies and neighborhood families. After the restaurant expands — a rep says that it will take a few more months — it will seat 275 guests, but I won’t be surprised if you’ll still have to wait for a table.

It’s that bueno.

This story was originally published May 17, 2016 at 3:51 PM with the headline "Chalio Mexican Restaurant can still bowl you over."