I’ll be the first to admit that when I visit a Mexican food spot, I don’t consider the tortilla nearly as deeply as I consider the filling. That’s not to say that I don’t love a warm tortilla, either struggling to contain all of its burrito contents or folded into little triangles on the side of my plate. I just haven’t spent the requisite amount of time pondering the tortilla-making process. It was my recent visit to House of Corn that made me realize this—and it’s restaurant experiences like these that prompt me to take a closer look at things that I often take for granted.

House of Corn’s recently opened downtown location—it’s claimed that Even Steven’s space next to the 7-11 on 400 East—is more of a rebirth than a grand opening. The original House of Corn was in the Sandy Village, but owner/operator Armando Guerrero had to close the Sandy location at the end of 2022 after a nightmare that included flooding, issues with the property management and no shortage of financial struggles.

The new digs are great—Guerrerro’s Mexican heritage is on full display within, and the menu is packed with plenty of traditional cuisine. As the restaurant’s name implies, corn is a way of life when you’re in this house. It’s not often that you see a menu planned out where yellow, red and blue corn are all featured so prominently, and it really makes you wonder why you don’t see this more often. It reminds me of Anthony Bourdain’s tip to complement the rice at a sushi joint, which made me think that a similar maxim should be proclaimed for the masa dough at a Mexican spot.

For fans of traditional Mexican food, House of Corn will scratch a very specific itch. The menu includes street tacos ($4.99), tamales ($4), chilaquiles ($11.99)—breakfast is served all day, by the way—and hefty bowls of pozole ($12.99). The presence of giagantic pambazos ($12.99), plate-sized sandwiches whose bread adopts a rich crimson hue from being toasted and then dunked in a chili sauce, help veer the menu into something right out of Mexico City.

The street tacos are an excellent place to start at House of Corn. They’re served al pastor style, and they really give you a sense of how seriously this place takes its tortillas. There’s a freshness, a heartiness and an overall affection for both the versatility and structure that corn has brought to Mexican food.

If you want to take things up just a tad, the quesabirrias ($12.99) are spectacular. This plate includes two nicely-proportioned blue corn tortillas stuffed with slow-roasted birria and plenty of melty cheese. Naturally, this plate comes with a cup of beef consomme swimming with onions and cilantro for dipping purposes. If you don’t dunk your quesabirrias to the point when consomme is dripping down your arm with each bite, what are you even doing with your life?

Birria is having a pretty decent moment all over town, but it’s gotten pretty easy to spot a faker—and House of Corn is definitely not faking it with their recipe. There’s plenty of perfectly-tender shredded beef, and all that rich flavor just pops when you douse everything in consomme. And those tortillas! The flavor of the blue corn pairs very nicely with the birria; yellow corn can be a little sweeter, but the earthier notes of the blue corn work so much better here.

I also gave the a la carte tamales a try, because I figured you can’t go to a place called House of Corn and not see what they’re doing with their masa. They come in red sauce or green sauce varieties, and as soon as you peel off the steamed corn husk, you can see how gorgeous this masa is. The red sauce imparts a deep, rich color to the masa, as well as the shredded chicken inside. This one might have edged out the green sauce tamale ever so slightly, as the smoky flavors of the red sauce added a nice contrast to the starchy masa.

One of my favorite things about tamales is the texture of that steamed masa, and the tamales at House of Corn are excellent in this department. You’ve got a nice, thick layer of masa before you get to the filling, and each bite is full of that wonderful masa flavor. They can get a little dry, which is where I would recommend checking out the fully stocked salsa bar; dousing these with some spicy salsa goes a long way to enhance the dish.

As I never made it out to House of Corn when it was in Sandy, I’m glad I had the chance to experience their menu within the cozy confines of the restaurant’s new digs. It’s easy to write off new Mexican restaurants as repeats of existing concepts, but the team at House of Corn has something truly special going on. Here’s to second chances and second helpings.