I was sipping a hibiscus margarita that matched the color of the hibiscus flowers blooming around me. The tacos came out about as fast as you would expect from a taco truck, on double-ply corn tortillas, though with a few more touches to elevate them from baseline street food. A slice of chocolate cake topped with flan tasted as though it was from a home kitchen rather than a restaurant one.

I was glad to be here at Taqueria la Lucha, a low-key restaurant with its own niche that should be on your radar.

Sometimes, when a new restaurant makes a splash, I find myself thinking about others working in a similar vein more quietly. Call it a reminder from the ripples of that splash.

So it was that after Tacos del Cartel debuted nearby in the South Market development, with its worldly take on Mexican cuisine and stunning design, I found myself simultaneously applauding the new addition and reminding myself I had to get back to this sleeper in the Warehouse District.

Goodbye pie, hola tacos

Taqueria la Lucha is a pandemic pivot gone permanent, and it emerged without fanfare during the heaving ups and downs of that era.

It started out as Rye & Pie, a restaurant for wood-fired pizzas with a large bar and patio. Ryan Hollard opened it in the fall of 2019, just a few months before the pandemic arrived.

He tried to keep the pizzeria going. But when business disappeared, the cost of wood to simply keep the pizza oven lit felt like throwing wads of cash into the fire, he told me. The staff contracted to just himself and his chef, Parvin Macari.

It was her idea to launch a taco Tuesday as their own in-house pop-up. This struck a chord in the neighborhood, and so they kept at it and eventually a new concept was born as Rye & Pie became Taqueria la Lucha (for “the fight,” which is how it felt to punch through the pandemic).

Macari grew up in Mexico City and family ties brought her to New Orleans 10 years ago. She brought her culinary school training in Mexico City, and her family’s experience cooking in her grandmother’s kitchen. As the taqueria started taking off, she recruited her sister Mena to move from Mexico and help run the patio. This sister act gives the restaurant a family feel.

How it works

It’s also a restaurant that still feels like a pandemic flex. The small dining room and large bar remain out of service, though there is a plan to reopen them as the summer progresses.

For now, you order out a walk-up window. Get one of the fresh fruit margaritas or a beer from the short list, then find a table on the small, covered deck or the open patio.

The menu is straightforward, reflecting the restaurant’s stripped-down origin story. It starts with chips and salsa, guacamole and queso and then it’s all tacos.

Tacos and cake

The fish version is griddled, cut into a fine dice and tastes like ceviche after a quick spin over the grill, still tart with citrus and with a fresh scattering of chopped peppers and red onion, accentuating its summery appeal.

Pollo pibil, stained with earthy, bitter orange flavor of achiote, fills its tortillas with big hunks of chicken with a bouncy juiciness as though they were cut from a kebab.

The grilled cactus (napolitos) have a flavor like green beans, texture like stewed okra and an affinity with the salsa verde that brightens it all up. The most enticing of the vegetarian tacos is a mushroom version chopped into a hash with a smoky poblano cream, cut through by sharp chile spice.

Check the blackboard for specials. A recent one called el Sol had a mix of chop steak and yellow bell peppers over corn tortillas filled with cheese and grilled crisp, like a mini quesadilla, with the key finisher of salsa matcha, which is dark, oily and toasty-spicy (like a Mexican take on garlic chile crisp).

Desserts are homey, traditional and wonderful. The “house cake” tops a layer of dark, dense chocolate cake with a custardy flan and a scattering of walnuts and cranberries.

And the tres leches cake is so sopping moist, it’s a wonder it can keep its square shape as long as it does (but the spoon makes quick work of this creamy treat anyway).

Outdoors, easygoing

This is an outdoor space that fronts both sides of its block, with string lights overhead and the flowers all around. It feels like a fantastic spot for a private party and the taqueria does sometimes close for that type of business.

The convention center is two blocks away and the events there can have a dramatic effect on this small restaurant. I’ve seen tides of people wearing convention credentials arrive at once to form lunchtime lines rivaling that of nearby Cochon Butcher.

But day to day, this is one for the neighborhood. That’s what validated the shift to tacos in the first place, and it remains a spot for an easy outing with good flavors, good value and its own personality.

Taqueria la Lucha

404 Andrew Higgins Blvd., (504) 533-0016

Tue. noon to 9 p.m., Wed.-Sat. 4 p.m. to 9 p.m. (hours may change around conventions)