Our fourth stop led us deeper into South L.A., to a Guadalajara style restaurant with just nine red stools and a jukebox from Rodolfo Torres y Familia. Tlaquepaque is a neighborhood in Guadalajara, in case you were wondering. There’s a larger Tlaquepaque across the street where they roast the goat . We opted for the original, which wasn’t as comfortable, or apparently, as fresh. Still, we made our choice, and had to make the best of the situation.

Each stop seemed to have increasingly elaborate murals, perhaps none grander than the Aztec imagery we found at Tlaquepaque.

A grande order of leg and rib meat ($9.25) was submerged in a spicy consomé that had a good chile kick and didn’t quite allow the goat-y flavor to shine through. Unlike other locations, Tlaquepaque’s version was already fully loaded with white onions and cilantro.

We received crispy foil-wrapped tortillas, which were not homemade in this location.

El Parian is a formidable, Jalisco style restaurant from owner Maria Garcia that dates to 1968. Writers like Jonathan Gold regularly laud the restaurant, for good reason.

Our birria ($8.25) arrived dry, with an intensely but oh-so-satisfying goat-forward consomé. The meat achieved an excellent balance of crusty and juice. A squeeze bottle of vinegary habanero sauce added to the experience.

El Parian’s taqueros are also skilled at preparing carne asada.

By all means order birria at El Parian, and also order carne asada tacos. You know, for balance.

We circled back to Boyle Heights for Birrieria Jalisco, a local landmark that now has multiple locations. The space sported canary yellow walls and black-and-white photos of Jalisco.

We selected an order of birria ($9) with spine, rib and leg meat. The meat was fairly tender, but didn’t have the juiciness, crust or intensity of flavor of previous stops. The consomé was a disappointment, murky brown and salty.

Birrieria Jalisco singed their corn tortillas, which came from a bag and came with classic condiments.

We all visited Flor del Rio on separate occasions. Don’t bother asking for a menu. Your only choice is whether to get the meat on or off the bone. Either way, birria costs $10.65 per order, but by all means, eat on the bone. As food aficionados know (and Ruth Reichl titled a book), meat is more “tender at the bone,” and it was at Flor del Rio.

The roast goat was certainly tender, but also spice-rubbed and crusty at the edges. Still, the highlight was definitely the addictive chile-flecked consomé loaded with goat-y debris. This is the only birrieria where the flavor built in intensity with each bite, which was truly impressive.