I didn't expect to find Tucson's priciest taco in a tawny brown building across the street from Safeway. The 93-year-old restaurant is better known for its tamales and carne seca cheese crisps. But Lerua's Mexican Food also has a special menu, and on it you'll find the LBC Taco: lobster, bacon, chorizo.
The creation was invented by Lerua's young chef Michael Hultquist, who took over the family business a couple years ago after cooking in San Diego. He takes half a pound of Maine lobster and cooks it in a stew of housemade chorizo with garlic and white wine. Toward the end, he throws in the cubes of pork belly — cured in-house — that soften up but keep their crunchy skin.
The LBC tacos come two for $18, topped with a tornado of lettuce, avocado and queso fresco. There is no rice and no beans on the plate, yet it's full. If you can manage to pick up one of the tacos in your hand, each bite will be an explosion of spiced chunky meats followed by a gush of white crema and gleaming red oil. Put it down and underneath the flurry, you can fish out whole lobster claws with your fork: An extravagant, hidden meal, now in plain sight.
Weird fact: The Hultquist family also owns El Torero on South Fourth Avenue, and La Roca in Nogales, Sonora.
Location: 2005 E. Broadway
Phone: 520-624-0322
Hours: 10:30 a.m. to 8 p.m. Mondays through Saturdays, closed Sundays
Payment: accepts debit and credit cards
