The first bite of her birria taco set 19-year-old Timya Green on a journey.

Following her inaugural taste at Taqueria Los Perez Dos, also known as Taqueria Los Perez Baltimore, Green said, she and her mother traveled to the eatery’s other locations in Riverdale Park, Laurel and Washington.

Maybe Green’s quest seems over the top. How can a Southwest Baltimore taqueria, sitting in a strip mall surrounded by other Latin businesses, prompt such devotion?

Well, I get it.

In the months since I visited the taqueria, I’ve tried to sound the alarm: sharing with friends and co-workers tales of the unassuming eatery with hefty portions of well-seasoned food for an affordable price.

Taqueria Los Perez Dos opened over two years ago at 3418 Annapolis Rd., between an abandoned sneaker store and a beauty salon. Owner Hector Perez, who did not respond to multiple requests for comment, largely publicized the opening over local Spanish radio, describing the spot as a place for the community to gather and seek out traditional Latin food. When the first Taqueria Los Perez opened in 2022, he told The Hyattsville Wire he’d worked at another taqueria before getting help from family to open his own.

Staff members at the Baltimore location say serving the Hollinswood and Lakeland area’s Hispanic community is how the business found its footing. The restaurant can get especially busy around holidays, after church on Sundays and during graduation season.

The eatery has held events celebrating Cinco De Mayo and patron saints, and expressing solidarity for the plights and contributions of Hispanic workers. Although most customers are regulars, business picked up slightly this year with more people discovering the taqueria through social media or by wandering by.

For Green, it all started with a hair appointment within the taqueria’s largely vacant strip mall. She had a hunger pain so intrusive it called on her and her mother to walk into the closest eatery, a cafeteria-like space that she’d passed over many times, with a statue of Our Lady of Guadalupe shrouded in fresh flowers in the front and names for food on the menu that she could not pronounce.

“I was kind of intimidated walking in,” she said.

Mexican sodas, tamales and pupusas fill fridges and freezers that line one side of the eatery. Each table offers bottled hot sauces and safety scissors for sauce packets that come with the cafeteria-style trays of tacos. A pitcher of mangonada, a drink of mangos, chamoy, tamarind and tajin, sits at the front counter on top of a case of unlabeled stews, salsas and pickled vegetables.

Green ordered birria tacos. Only $12.99 for four. “It can’t be that good,” she recalled thinking as a TV above the counter played footage of a man chopping glistening meat and dancing to bachata music. But it was unlike anything she’d tasted before. The flavors danced between savory and herby, with a rich blanket of cheese.

The gravy-like consommé lends the tacos a hearty, savory flavor that brings out the herby marinade and soft texture of the meat — complementing the taco without overpowering it.

Also of note are the carnitas and pickled pork tacos, which are fried into a crisp texture that’s offset by a light heaping of cilantro and onions sprinkled on top. A roasted green onion accompanies each meat-filled tortilla in an almost caramelized burst of sweet and tangy flavor that melts into each bite.

Mexican gorditas, or masa flour cakes stuffed with meat and cheese, are expertly pan-fried. The dough’s texture is thick and dense without taking away from the hefty portions of meat, chopped tomatoes and cheese stuffed inside. The perhaps more controversial birria pizza, with slowly marinated beef and cheese slathered on a flour dough, is another customer favorite.

The dozens of patrons I’ve spoken to have tried to build support for the taqueria across Baltimore, but in some cases friends were hesitant to try a place unfamiliar to them.

But Green won’t be deterred. She recently took friend Dana Powell for her first visit. Powell didn’t know what to expect when she arrived. But a few bites into her birria taco and she, too, felt Green’s urge to learn more about Latin cuisine and venture down the rabbit hole of what other Baltimore-area taquerias are worth their salt.

“I gave in,” Powell said. “And it makes me want more.”