Steamy, fragrant, supple-ropy lamb barbacoa, when done right, is such a painstaking art that most local practitioners sell it only on the weekends. Some standouts must be mentioned: in Lincoln Heights, Josefina Garduño serves spicy consomé bobbing with chickpeas and wisps of meat alongside barbacoa tacos, and in frequent Boyle Heights pop-ups Petra Zavaleta of Barba Kush unwraps her Pueblan-style barbacoa from a swaddle of maguey leaves. Conversations around sublime lamb barbacoa should start up north, however, at the stand that Gonzalo Ramirez sets up on Saturday and Sunday mornings in the north San Fernando Valley, near the Arleta DMV. You’ll see him and his family wearing red T-shirts that say “Atotonilco El Grande Hidalgo” to honor their hometown in central-eastern Mexico. Ramirez tends and butchers lambs in the Central Valley. The meat slow-cooks in a pit overnight and, cradled in plush made-to-order tortillas, the tacos come in three forms: smoky, molten-textured barbacoa; a pancita variation stained with chiles that goes fast; and incredible moronga, a nubbly, herbaceous sausage made with lamb’s blood. — B.A.

14263 HOYT ST., ARLETA l INSTAGRAM.COM/BARBACOARAMIREZ_