Taqueria Lilia’s recipe for happiness: Hot menudo and a pretty restaurant

Taqueria Lilia offers menudo with generous servings of beef tripe and tasty broth. (Travis M. Whitehead | Valley Morning Star)

BROWNSVILLE — The quiet of the night along the street, often busy, reeks of loneliness and a loss of something.

I wish the night was cold, because in the dark and the cold the lights of Taqueria Lilia, shining gold around trees outside, would feel charming and each would be like a smiling Christmas.

But it is not cold, it is in the 70s, and 70s weather in the month of Christmas invokes a sense of decay and a loss of something fabulous and good.

But even with the disappointing weather and its temperatures, Lilia’s does invoke a sense of warmth and a promise of good food. In this I am not disappointed.

I have an appetite this night for a hot bowl of caldo. I have not had caldo in quite some time, so I look over the restaurants and their menus on my phone. Lilia’s serves both caldo de res and caldo Tlalpeno, says the menu, and I make my way through the silent streets until I find Lilia’s at 2514 Boca Chica Blvd.

The parking lot in front of Lilia’s does not tell a good story — few cars translates into few customers which I often construe as lack of popularity and therefore lack of quality. This is of course a false narrative concocted by a mind — mine — too eager to make conclusions based on random observations.

I enter anyway and find a most inviting place with a brick wall to my right, jarro jars with agua fresca in front of me, and brick archways to my left which lead to a larger dining room with marvelous San Miguel colors.

A waiter gestures for me to choose my own table — only one has been taken — and I move toward a black table next to a window which might provide me a good vantage point to observe everything.

The tall man who tends my table brings me the customary chips and my water and the menu. I do not look at the menu because I know I want caldo de res. He tells me they have no caldo de res tonight. I am sorry I won’t have caldo de res; I ask for caldo Tlalpeno, and that is not available either.

Taqueria Lilia is located at 2514 Boca Chica Blvd. in Brownsville. (Travis M. Whitehead | Valley Morning Star)

He says the restaurant does have menudo and pozole. I don’t make a choice right away. I look over the menu and see listings under “Carnes” and “Tortillas de Harina” and “Tortas” and “Almuerzos” and “Botanas.”

My eyes first land on the “Orden de Fajita” but I order that too often and I want something different. The “Tampiquena” and the “Parrillada Lilia” look good. The “Nuestros Molcajetes” category offers “Tapatia” with mushroom and garlic, two flavors I thoroughly enjoy.

As I read this I consider again the waiter offering menudo and pozole. I think over those a few minutes more and I order a large bowl of menudo. I cannot recall the last time I ever had menudo or if in fact I have ever had menudo. This promises me therefore a new journey, a new exploration.

The dining room meanwhile takes captive my attention as I look at the brick archways. Beyond the archways stands a glittering Christmas tree against the wall. Papel picado decorates the entire restaurant in colors of red, white and green, the colors of the Mexican flag. The thought occurs to me at this moment that these colors are also the colors of Christmas.

The hot bowl of menudo arrives. It is a large bowl and the broth is very tasty. I maneuver my mind around the idea of eating beef tripe and then eat slowly and it is very good. The bowl has generous servings of beef tripe, and I eat slowly and find myself acquiring a taste for it.

Taqueria Lilia offers menudo with generous servings of beef tripe and tasty broth. (Travis M. Whitehead | Valley Morning Star)

The menudo is good, rich in flavor, but I do not believe I will be eager for another meal of menudo the next time I have dinner in a Mexican restaurant. There is a fine cultural value to this dish, and the experience of a new cultural detail with such fine flavor is now an important part of my journey. I may return to it another time.

Life stirs around me, and I hear a voice singing “Donde va, donde va” over the speakers and a sportscaster narrates a football game in rapid Spanish.

Now a man wanders through the restaurant with a tray of small plastic bags wrapped around sweet Mexican cookies, and the pan de polvo makes the deal. I purchase one of the little bags for five dollars, and he continues through the restaurant selling more and enjoying a profitable night.

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