Tacos El Guero — Downtown

A taco counter with room for a birria pizza

Tacos El Guero offers a straightforward entry point at its downtown restaurant: a tortilla with a choice of meat, onion and cilantro. The wider menu then takes that lunch in several directions. A standard burrito adds beans and cheese; the California-style version adds fried potatoes. A larger burrito brings rice, lettuce, tomato and sour cream into a different-sized meal. Those distinctions are more useful than choosing by the word burrito alone.

Birria supplies a second reason to know the business. Its tortilla-layered pizza sandwiches shredded beef with onion and cilantro, with consommé and grilled accompaniments alongside. A personal version makes the idea manageable for a smaller order; the larger pizza is designed for sharing. Birria ramen places the broth in another format. These dishes make El Guero a different proposition from a small menu limited to individual tacos.

Two Iowa restaurants, different mornings

• Downtown: 525 Pearl Street; 712-252-9084. Tuesday–Sunday, 9 a.m.–9 p.m.; closed Monday.
• Westside: 1100 Villa Avenue; 712-560-8356. Tuesday–Thursday, 11 a.m.–9 p.m.; Friday–Sunday, 9 a.m.–9 p.m.; closed Monday.

The westside restaurant therefore starts two hours later on midweek mornings. The official website provides a separate Orderspoon link for each location, so pickup should be assigned to the intended kitchen. A delivery listing also exists for the westside restaurant; availability depends on the platform and destination.

For a larger gathering

Catering packages can include dining ware, drinks and snacks, and the business takes enquiries about private events at the westside venue. Use the branch contacts for those arrangements; neither number is advertised as a delivery-only dispatch line.

Order from the downtown restaurant.