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Julio’s Casa de la Birria in Washington Twp Opens Tues Jan 21. Preview Visit!

Julio’s Casa de la Birria in Washington Twp Opens Tues Jan 21. Preview Visit!

Julio’s Casa de la Birria in Washington Township is set to open Tuesday January 21st! This delicious new Gloucester County Mexican quick-casual eatery is the brainchild of the same family who brought us the wildly popular Julio’s On Main in Vineland.

For their first satellite location they have chosen Washington Township… and I hope it turns into the first of many! (42Freeway November)

Julio’s Casa de la Birria – Washington Twp NJ

So while the Washington Twp location opens tomorrow, luckily for me I was able to stop in on Friday during a private “friends and family” event… which gave me a chance to see the new restaurant, chat with Cesar and Christine, as well as try their amazing birria tacos and more!

My birria three-taco platter (shrimp, steak, chicken) was amazing!!!   Absolutely delicious and literally every bite was bursting with flavor.  The platter included two sides and I went with their flavorful Mexican Rice and the incredible Street Corn… which when folks are telling others about Julio’s you’re likely to hear “oh you have to try their street corn!”

Birria Taco platter at Julio’s Casa de la Birria in Washington Twp comes with two tasty sides

The new Julio’s location is in the Echo Plaza in Washington Township which is located at the intersection of Hurffville-Cross Keys Rd and Fries Mill Rd.  Most would know the center as the (former) home to Giant Fitness, which very recently closed.

Specifically within the center, on the left side of the building in line with the side roadway there is a row of stores, and Julio’s takes up a spot near the center.  The unit they have moved into was previously home to Boardwalk Grill Pizza.  Parking for Julio’s is in the front or rear of the building.

Husband and wife owners Cesar and Christine Hernandez have completely rebuilt the space to make it a comfortable yet very casual dining space and menu.

For the Washington Township location they are following the successful pattern they started with the original Vineland location, which is a nicely designed restaurant space with a front counter for ordering.

The new restaurant design does include indoor seating with about five tables located at the front of the restaurant, offering a comfortable seating space that is very “quick-casual” similar to what you would see in a small pizzeria.

For my Friday visit all of the construction items were finished, inspections were passed of course, and the kitchen was abuzz!

Julio’s Casa de la Birria in Washington Twp is open and ready for customers! This last-Friday photo is before they had completed the decor items and menu monitors.

There were some final décor-only elements to be completed such as installing the front menu monitors, televisions for the dining area as well as wall décor which will include graphics and beautiful black and white photographs of Mexico which a family member had taken.

So absolutely stop in this week to try some amazing Julio’s de la Birria food… they are ready to go!  But keep in mind there’s still some additional decor items coming for the customer space. Delivery is coming… after they work through the first few days of being in the new location.

Follow on Facebook for updates, and read on here for more! Note: This new location also participates in the South Jersey Food Scene Frequent Diner Card program. Details can be found here:

Julio’s de la Birria : The Food

As mentioned, for my lunch I went with a Birria Taco platter.  If you’re unfamiliar, the classic preparation is to prepare a Mexican beef stew that is savory and slightly spicy, where the brisket simmers in the stew becoming tender, juicy and falling apart!

That beef becomes the main ingredient in the Birria Taco.  The entire taco is then dipped in the beef Stew and cooked on the griddle… When served you are provided more of the stew sauce for dipping your Taco in!

Birria Tacos; Steak, Chicken and Shrimp! Julio’s Casa de la Birria in Washington Twp

With the protein the big star of the show, the lettuce, tomato and onions are not piled on like you would see what we all consider a traditional Taco… but it makes for a very familiar dining experience, with an all new variety of savory flavors!

The Mexican rice was incredible and I detected a splash of garlic in the recipe, which really brought out the flavors.

My others side was Mexican Street Corn which was an off-the-cob preparation, topped with mayo and then cheese and a chili powder seasoning.  The flavors add up to a delicious tangy bite which Cesar says is one of their most popular items.

The menu offers much more than the birria tacos of course.. but they were my focus for the visit. Stop in to see what the full menu!

Julip’s Casa de la Birria – Washington Township

During my visit I got to meet Cesar and his wife Christine, as well as the two older children Bailey and Deanna… all of whom were working in the restaurant!  The three other children in the family are Matteo, Ronna and Kendal.

Cesar stopped over to chat with me as I enjoyed my lunch, and shared with me some of his background which lead him and Christine to start Julio’s… as well as his mindset for a successful restaurant brand as he looks to the future.

Christine, Cesar and Daughter Deanna

The most important part of a successful restaurant has already been figured out by the Hernandez family… making delicious food that has customers coming back for again and again!

But Caesar has taken all of the experiences he’s had through his culinary career to develop a restaurant game plan for Julio’s which offers the popular delicious bites that customers want, while also taking into consideration food preparation efforts and costs. And honestly as you expand into two.. three.. four locations, creating a fluid operational framework becomes as important as the food itself.

Cesar’s culinary career started with his mother and her delicious Mexican recipes.  As he moved into earlier career choices including security, Cesar found himself craving mom’s food and over time he would call her again and again “remind me how you seasoned your enchiladas?”.  Eventually he learned the recipes so that he could have mom’s cooking whenever he wanted.

Julio’s On Main – Vineland

Cesar soon moved into the restaurant industry working for several larger national restaurant brands where he picked up food management techniques which are important to support multiple locations while maintaining a delicious high-quality dining experience of delicious food and fast service.

So you’ve likely already come to the conclusion that Cesar simply blended his skills preparing his mother’s recipes, with his talents in restaurant management to create the Julio’s brand, right?

Well it wasn’t as immediate as that!

The start of Julio’s On Main… their food truck

Absolutely today Cesar has a clear refined roadmap for the restaurants, offering delicious food that people crave while prepared and operated in way that he can more easily support multiple locations with varying level of employee skillsets.

That being said the first eye-opening experience to start his own restaurant goes back a few years before that when he picked up some parttime work with several weekend festival/event caterers. Cesar doing what he does, soon found himself taking on more and more of the responsibilities. 

But it was a festival in Virginia where he, his wife and the team served over 5,000 meals in a weekend! it was all done under Cesar’s direction and recipes, and they never ran out of food… that Cesar realized “we’re making someone else rich!  We need our own restaurant!”

That led to the purchase of a food truck just a few years ago…  And in fact he credits the guys at Bonesaw Brewery for giving him his first real break with a regular spot for his food truck!

Success there then led to opening of the original Vineland take-out restaurant, an expansion into a sit-down restaurant and now Washington Township.

Links and Location

Julio’s Casa de la Birria – Opens Tuesday January 21, 2025
Echo Plaza
309 Fries Mill Road
Sewell Washington Township, NJ

Hours

  • Closed Mondays
  • Tuesday-Thursday : 11am-8pm
  • Friday-Sat : 11am-9pm
  • Sunday : 11am-8pm

Julio’s On Main
1370 S Main Road
Vineland, NJ