Bargain Burritos and Cheap Quesadillas at Lucky Lopez's New Sanlitun Digs

Forget Tex-Mex, Lucky Lopez is dishing out the real deal to quell your cravings for Mexican fare. The restaurant recently relocated from its original Jianwai Soho location to Sanlitun Nan Jia, to better take advantage of a hotter neighborhood's foot traffic, in the process bringing the affordability of its former locale to one of the notoriously costliest parts of town. The burritos, for instance, range in price from RMB 24 to 32, featuring everything from beef fajitas to southwest veggies and crispy fish fillets.

The tacos are similarly cheap, and when we opted for the RMB 28 carnitas pork we were pleasantly surprised by both the generous portions (which come in a pair that are each about 10 centimeters in diameter) and the freshness of the crisp veggies and tender meat. Unfortunately they lacked the fiery flavor of our favorite carnitas taco purveyors – namely Q Mex and, even more so Más (whose eats are tragically underrated) – but the prompt, no-fuss approach to their dishes helps Lucky Lopex exude the feeling of a mom-and-pop taqueria.

The quesadillas are even more impressive – featuring intricately crunchy bread, rather than the generic flatbread at many of Lucky Lopez's generic Tex-Mex competitors. They range in price from RMB 22 to 38, with flavors similar to what is offered in the tacos and burritos along with special varieties likes rustler beef, chorizo, and potato and rancher's pork.

The nachos, unfortunately, were a letdown, thanks to their meager drizzling of cream cheese and proliferation of pasty crushed beans. They were tasty enough and had a refreshingly simple quality, but they lacked crisp, abundantly flavorful cheesiness of the nachos at fellow Chaoyang Mexican haunt Santa or even longstanding (and steadily declining) eatery Luga's.

Thankfully, Lucky Lopez's laidback, airy interior, rock-bottom prices and wholesome homestyle preparation of its dishes all give this recently located restaurant a distinctive edge over Beijing's other, superficially flashier Mexican joints.

Lucky Lopez Mexican Grill
Jia 34 Sanlitun Nan, Xindong Lu, Chaoyang District (in the alley around the corner from Nearby The Tree, 50 meters west of Sanlitun police station) (6466 0302, 6466 0320)
朝阳区新东路三里屯南甲34号院内(三里屯派出所向西50米)

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Photos: Kyle Mullin