Anchor ads are not supported on this page.

4S Ranch Allied Gardens Alpine Baja Balboa Park Bankers Hill Barrio Logan Bay Ho Bay Park Black Mountain Ranch Blossom Valley Bonita Bonsall Borrego Springs Boulevard Campo Cardiff-by-the-Sea Carlsbad Carmel Mountain Carmel Valley Chollas View Chula Vista City College City Heights Clairemont College Area Coronado CSU San Marcos Cuyamaca College Del Cerro Del Mar Descanso Downtown San Diego Eastlake East Village El Cajon Emerald Hills Encanto Encinitas Escondido Fallbrook Fletcher Hills Golden Hill Grant Hill Grantville Grossmont College Guatay Harbor Island Hillcrest Imperial Beach Imperial Valley Jacumba Jamacha-Lomita Jamul Julian Kearny Mesa Kensington La Jolla Lakeside La Mesa Lemon Grove Leucadia Liberty Station Lincoln Acres Lincoln Park Linda Vista Little Italy Logan Heights Mesa College Midway District MiraCosta College Miramar Miramar College Mira Mesa Mission Beach Mission Hills Mission Valley Mountain View Mount Hope Mount Laguna National City Nestor Normal Heights North Park Oak Park Ocean Beach Oceanside Old Town Otay Mesa Pacific Beach Pala Palomar College Palomar Mountain Paradise Hills Pauma Valley Pine Valley Point Loma Point Loma Nazarene Potrero Poway Rainbow Ramona Rancho Bernardo Rancho Penasquitos Rancho San Diego Rancho Santa Fe Rolando San Carlos San Marcos San Onofre Santa Ysabel Santee San Ysidro Scripps Ranch SDSU Serra Mesa Shelltown Shelter Island Sherman Heights Skyline Solana Beach Sorrento Valley Southcrest South Park Southwestern College Spring Valley Stockton Talmadge Temecula Tierrasanta Tijuana UCSD University City University Heights USD Valencia Park Valley Center Vista Warner Springs

Good Tacos: Patience Is the Essence

Adrian Gonzalez used to come in here after the Padres home games with some of his teammates, such aas Will Venable.

“One minute you’d be seeing them playing live on these TV screens, the next minute they’d be in here,” says Enrique Vazquez. “And, believe me, in real life they look way taller, way bigger.”

I’m standing at the counter in Lolita’s at the Park (202 Park Boulevard, 619-269-6055).

It’s not just a tourist trap for baseball fans — Lolita's roots go deep into Chula Vista.

My adobada and potato tacos

It started out as one shop on Telegraph Canyon Road about 25 years ago. Now they have five places. This is in one of the new condo buildings that have sprouted up around Petco Park. No game tonight, though, so the place isn’t exactly crawling with people.

I’d seen the neon sign shining all the way from the trolley stop at 12th and Imperial. Kept meaning to try it out, but something always came up, like my bus or trolley. Tonight I have time. Stomach has the space.

And it turns out you’ve gotta have time here. Just look at their logo: “Patience is the essence of fine Mexican food.”

“That’s because we make each order from scratch,” says Enrique. “Usually it’ll be about 15 minutes. At game time it could be 30, 45 minutes.”

Wow. Is it worth it?

I order a potato taco ($2.25) and an adobada (pork) taco ($2.80). Sit down at a table near the rack of window booths.

“This was the last place I ate at before I deployed, and the first place I came back to, after seven months,” says TJ.

TJ

He’s sitting here chowing down on a carne asada burrito ($4.75). His wife Bri has just put away a shredded beef taco ($2.50).

Bri and TJ

“That was a good taco," says Bri, "but my favorite is the carne asada fries ($5.39; $8.62, large). You get about three meals out of the large one. And everything’s kind of rough-made. You can tell it hasn’t come out of machines. I love that.”

TJ’s on the Boxer, an amphibious assault ship. Got back two weeks ago. They’ve come down from PB for this.

Enrique brings my carne asada — and it was about 15 minutes — with the adobada piled on a flat corn tortilla loaded with guac, tomato chunks, onions, and that red, sizzling meat. The potato taco’s folded and wrapped in paper.

Honestly, the potato one’s pretty bland. Mash with two cheeses and some shredded lettuce, seems like. Green salsa helps zap it up.

But the adobada? Juicy, marinated, messy. Very corn-tasting corn tortilla adds to the taste. This is one beautiful taco.

And if I hadn’t had to work tonight I’d have had a draft PBR beer for $2.55 to go with it.

So I sit, guzzling into that pork. Heh-heh...can just imagine Adrian Gonzalez shivering in Boston, dreaming of warm evening games in Petco Park, and right after the game, that cool beer and hot adobada taco to look forward to at Lolita's.

Time to transfer back, Adrian?

Here's something you might be interested in.
Submit a free classified
or view all

Previous article

Reader 1st place writing contest winner gets kudos

2nd place winner not so much
Next Article

Summit Fellowship wants to be a home of belonging

Unitarian Universalism allows you to be exactly who you are in the moment

Adrian Gonzalez used to come in here after the Padres home games with some of his teammates, such aas Will Venable.

“One minute you’d be seeing them playing live on these TV screens, the next minute they’d be in here,” says Enrique Vazquez. “And, believe me, in real life they look way taller, way bigger.”

I’m standing at the counter in Lolita’s at the Park (202 Park Boulevard, 619-269-6055).

It’s not just a tourist trap for baseball fans — Lolita's roots go deep into Chula Vista.

My adobada and potato tacos

It started out as one shop on Telegraph Canyon Road about 25 years ago. Now they have five places. This is in one of the new condo buildings that have sprouted up around Petco Park. No game tonight, though, so the place isn’t exactly crawling with people.

I’d seen the neon sign shining all the way from the trolley stop at 12th and Imperial. Kept meaning to try it out, but something always came up, like my bus or trolley. Tonight I have time. Stomach has the space.

And it turns out you’ve gotta have time here. Just look at their logo: “Patience is the essence of fine Mexican food.”

“That’s because we make each order from scratch,” says Enrique. “Usually it’ll be about 15 minutes. At game time it could be 30, 45 minutes.”

Wow. Is it worth it?

I order a potato taco ($2.25) and an adobada (pork) taco ($2.80). Sit down at a table near the rack of window booths.

“This was the last place I ate at before I deployed, and the first place I came back to, after seven months,” says TJ.

TJ

He’s sitting here chowing down on a carne asada burrito ($4.75). His wife Bri has just put away a shredded beef taco ($2.50).

Bri and TJ

“That was a good taco," says Bri, "but my favorite is the carne asada fries ($5.39; $8.62, large). You get about three meals out of the large one. And everything’s kind of rough-made. You can tell it hasn’t come out of machines. I love that.”

TJ’s on the Boxer, an amphibious assault ship. Got back two weeks ago. They’ve come down from PB for this.

Enrique brings my carne asada — and it was about 15 minutes — with the adobada piled on a flat corn tortilla loaded with guac, tomato chunks, onions, and that red, sizzling meat. The potato taco’s folded and wrapped in paper.

Honestly, the potato one’s pretty bland. Mash with two cheeses and some shredded lettuce, seems like. Green salsa helps zap it up.

But the adobada? Juicy, marinated, messy. Very corn-tasting corn tortilla adds to the taste. This is one beautiful taco.

And if I hadn’t had to work tonight I’d have had a draft PBR beer for $2.55 to go with it.

So I sit, guzzling into that pork. Heh-heh...can just imagine Adrian Gonzalez shivering in Boston, dreaming of warm evening games in Petco Park, and right after the game, that cool beer and hot adobada taco to look forward to at Lolita's.

Time to transfer back, Adrian?

Sponsored
Here's something you might be interested in.
Submit a free classified
or view all
Previous article

Lord of the Tacos

Next Article

Sunday chow

Out of the rain in City Heights, scarfing two rambunctious tacos
Ask a Hipster — Advice you didn't know you needed Big Screen — Movie commentary Blurt — Music's inside track Booze News — San Diego spirits Classical Music — Immortal beauty Classifieds — Free and easy Cover Stories — Front-page features Drinks All Around — Bartenders' drink recipes Excerpts — Literary and spiritual excerpts Feast! — Food & drink reviews Feature Stories — Local news & stories Fishing Report — What’s getting hooked from ship and shore From the Archives — Spotlight on the past Golden Dreams — Talk of the town The Gonzo Report — Making the musical scene, or at least reporting from it Letters — Our inbox Movies@Home — Local movie buffs share favorites Movie Reviews — Our critics' picks and pans Musician Interviews — Up close with local artists Neighborhood News from Stringers — Hyperlocal news News Ticker — News & politics Obermeyer — San Diego politics illustrated Outdoors — Weekly changes in flora and fauna Overheard in San Diego — Eavesdropping illustrated Poetry — The old and the new Reader Travel — Travel section built by travelers Reading — The hunt for intellectuals Roam-O-Rama — SoCal's best hiking/biking trails San Diego Beer — Inside San Diego suds SD on the QT — Almost factual news Sheep and Goats — Places of worship Special Issues — The best of Street Style — San Diego streets have style Surf Diego — Real stories from those braving the waves Theater — On stage in San Diego this week Tin Fork — Silver spoon alternative Under the Radar — Matt Potter's undercover work Unforgettable — Long-ago San Diego Unreal Estate — San Diego's priciest pads Your Week — Daily event picks
4S Ranch Allied Gardens Alpine Baja Balboa Park Bankers Hill Barrio Logan Bay Ho Bay Park Black Mountain Ranch Blossom Valley Bonita Bonsall Borrego Springs Boulevard Campo Cardiff-by-the-Sea Carlsbad Carmel Mountain Carmel Valley Chollas View Chula Vista City College City Heights Clairemont College Area Coronado CSU San Marcos Cuyamaca College Del Cerro Del Mar Descanso Downtown San Diego Eastlake East Village El Cajon Emerald Hills Encanto Encinitas Escondido Fallbrook Fletcher Hills Golden Hill Grant Hill Grantville Grossmont College Guatay Harbor Island Hillcrest Imperial Beach Imperial Valley Jacumba Jamacha-Lomita Jamul Julian Kearny Mesa Kensington La Jolla Lakeside La Mesa Lemon Grove Leucadia Liberty Station Lincoln Acres Lincoln Park Linda Vista Little Italy Logan Heights Mesa College Midway District MiraCosta College Miramar Miramar College Mira Mesa Mission Beach Mission Hills Mission Valley Mountain View Mount Hope Mount Laguna National City Nestor Normal Heights North Park Oak Park Ocean Beach Oceanside Old Town Otay Mesa Pacific Beach Pala Palomar College Palomar Mountain Paradise Hills Pauma Valley Pine Valley Point Loma Point Loma Nazarene Potrero Poway Rainbow Ramona Rancho Bernardo Rancho Penasquitos Rancho San Diego Rancho Santa Fe Rolando San Carlos San Marcos San Onofre Santa Ysabel Santee San Ysidro Scripps Ranch SDSU Serra Mesa Shelltown Shelter Island Sherman Heights Skyline Solana Beach Sorrento Valley Southcrest South Park Southwestern College Spring Valley Stockton Talmadge Temecula Tierrasanta Tijuana UCSD University City University Heights USD Valencia Park Valley Center Vista Warner Springs
Close

Anchor ads are not supported on this page.