Lolita’s

 

 Lolita’s is the one taco shop I hear about most in my adventures. The comments vary from exhortations (“you should try it out”) to incitements (“you’re an idiot fraud for not saying this is the best taco shop in San Diego!”). These comments come mostly from my brethren in the cities south of San Diego, who tend to know a thing or two about burritos.  

Let me say this first: I’ve been to the Lolita’s in Bonita, and it was really good, but I wasn’t paying enough attention to justify a review without returning. And since Bonita and Chula Vista stray from my beaten path, I just haven’t had a chance. I want to go back, but I haven’t yet.

So I was very happy when my good friend Arfie Kareem called to say he was visiting San Diego for the weekend and, a good native, seeking his fill of burritos. I got to tag along to the taqueria of his choosing—Lolita’s, at their new location in Kearney Mesa.

Let me back up a bit. I grew up with the Kareems and was thus afforded a taste early on of Pakistani food, never as often as I’d like. I credit Salman Kareem, Arfie’s mother, for my dogged affinity for lamb and spice. Recently retired, she should open up a restaurant, I told her. She scoffed. “I don’t know what it is, Crawford,” she said. “Whether we get busier as we get older, or just lazier. I don’t know. My goal these days is to watch Oprah and Jerry Springer, which I haven’t yet been able to do.”

I was able to visit with the Kareem family for about an hour or so before we left for lunch and it reminded me of how deeply burritos and Mexican-American food saturate our lives here. On the sunny back patio of the Kareem house as we chatted, Salman mentioned that she likes Cotixa’s food but prefers the hot sauce at Roberto’s, especially the green, which you must request. Arfie’s father sagely demurred, but the point is this: We all have opinions about the things we love, and just about every San Diegan loves their taqueria like a second kitchen, one in which we don’t have to do the dishes.

So on to Lolita’s on Clairemont Mesa Blvd.

This place is in a strip mall like everything on Clairemont Mesa Blvd. It’s new and clean, practically gleaming, and big. Most of the clientele were high school-age and the place was packed.

Arfie ordered the carne asada. As he pulled the bills from his pockets to pay, I was proud to see that with them came a bulk of receipts from other burrito orders of the weekend. Arfie eats as much Mexican food as he can when he visits home, and mostly burritos. Good man!

I had the pollo asado burrito and the veggie burrito.

The burritos are good, really good and I ate both. The tortillas were well toasted. The portions were fair. And there were some nice flares in the presentation as well, which, as I’ve said before, are what make a good place great. The cooks are obvious fans of black pepper. The flavor really permeated the meats. The pollo had been brined or something and was really plump and tender. Good guacamole from fresh avocados. A solid effort for sure, but looking at Arfie’s order, I think carne asada is their strong suit. It just looked really good—a layer of browned meat, a strip of green guacamole, and it all packed tightly together—and moreover my man was happy. I could see that.

Lolita’s loses some points in the salsa department. It’s like Ann Coulter: thin, one-dimensional and really spicy. It’s not as bad as Ann Coulter. More like my Aunt Claudia then: It does the trick but adds little to the meal other than heat. Peppery.

So Lolita’s is really good, folks. There, you have it. But don’t take it from me. This place is doing a brisk business. As a side note, Santana’s is really expanding and is the closest we have to a corporate chain here in town. But they better watch out because Lolita’s does it better—with the salsa as the exception—and they’re expanding with a new location downtown to open soon. Thanks, everyone, for the introduction.  

Lolita’s

7305-A Clairemont Mesa Blvd. (Across from Ranch 99.)