$1 Tacos every Tuesday at Lime

A full plate of $1 tacos.

In most U.S. cities, ethnic food typically comes in three forms: the “Bad”, the “Authentic”, and the “Not Really Authentic, but Fun”. In the realm of Mexican food, an example of the first category would be Taco Bell. An example of the second category would be Tacos y Salsas. An example of the third, and the focus of this article, would be Lime.

Lime is fun because it is hip and festive. The inside is nicely designed in a modern style that is hip and chic. They have mood lighting in the bar, simple but elegant black tables, and an outdoor patio strung with small white lights. It exudes the sort of vibe that one would expect in a nightclub or an upscale downtown restaurant. It is clearly an attraction for the after-work crowd. It is a place where on most nights young professionals can be seen eating nachos and drinking bottles of Corona or Dos Equis. The atmosphere is more like happy hour in Miami than it is a taqueria in East Los Angeles.

Lime, at the corner of 6th and Clarkson.

The food is decently priced even under normal circumstances. Most plates range from $8-13 (although the drinks are not so reasonable, i.e. $5 for a bottle of Dos Equis), but one night a week is especially great for Cheap Eats aficionados. Every Tuesday is Taco Tuesday and Lime serves up those delightfully tortilla nestled treats for only $1 each.

Choose from a crunchy corn shell or a soft flour tortilla. Then decide between ground beef, shredded beef, chicken, or grilled vegetables. It’s pretty simple. Each taco comes with whatever filling you select, plus lettuce, tomato, cheese, and sour cream. Admittedly, there is nothing particularly authentic about this experience. This is nothing like cruising over to Federal and ordering some Tacos al Pastor from some small dive, but that being said, Lime is still fun. This deal allows you to get some friends together, go out to a hip restaurant, and order a bunch of tacos, and you can do so for less than $5. Lime is also nice for the vegetarians out there who can’t normally find anything to eat at most taquerias, but can order tacos with grilled onions, peppers, and zucchini at Lime. Also, speaking as someone that loves meat tacos, the grilled vegetable tacos at Lime are quite delicious. I actually find them to be preferable to the beef.

Soft taco, with local and naturally raised chicken.

Another neat thing about Lime is that they support local business by buying only organically raised chicken from Colorado farms. If you are interested in organic food, or if you just want to help out the local economy, you can throw a few bucks that way and have dinner at the same time.

The food is tasty, the restaurant is cool, the ingredients are quality, the atmosphere is fun, and on Tuesday night it is ridiculously cheap.