During its seventh
season, the X Files television series in which FBI agents investigated
paranormal phenomena featured an episode in which a ravenous Lucky Boy
employee in California struggled against his craving for human brain
matter (almost anything goes in the Golden state). The most
paranormal thing about the Duke City Lucky Boy is its "east meets
west" dining concept. Nowhere else in town can you order
Chinese and American food so inexpensively and from the very same menu.
If you think about it,
ordering inexpensive Chinese and American food from within one menu
shouldn't be such an anomalous event--especially when you consider that
many of Lucky Boy's patrons are UNM students, many of whom know how to
stretch a buck. It's not just UNM students who patronize this
hole-in-the-wall. You might just as soon find faculty and staff
also indulging in inexpensive (but good) food.
Lucky Boy is a
quintessential American mom and pop (make that mama-san and papa-san)
diner tended lovingly by Chinese proprietors who know what many of their
customers are going to order as soon as they walk in. You'll do a
second-take the first time you see a steaming wok preparing noodles next
to the sizzling griddle on which burger patties are being cooked.
Lucky Boy's green chile
cheeseburger is six inches of well seasoned meat and standard (lettuce,
pickles, onions) but high quality condiments, including a tangy Day-Glo
colored mustard and ketchup sauce the proprietors refer to as Lucky Boy sauce.
The green chile is flavorful albeit not as piquant as many New Mexicans
might like it. It wouldn't be too much of a stretch to call it one
of the city's very best green chile cheeseburgers.
The menu also includes
an Egg Foo Young sandwich, a culinary curiosity served in St. Louis as a
"St. Paul sandwich" and which you won't find in Minnesota.
At Lucky Boy, you can have the Egg Foo Yong sandwich with hamburger meat
and the condiments which normally accompany a burger (including the
aforementioned Lucky Boy sauce). It's a great sandwich!
Lucky Boy's French
fries are only so-so (fairly standard) while we've found the chocolate
shakes to be rather gloppy and bland.
Lucky Boy offers more than the standard Pepsi or
Coke soft drinks. RC Cola and Diet Rite in a can are among the
different sodas featured.
Chinese fare includes
sweet and sour pork, Mandarin chicken and other American favorites.
Aside from the Egg Foo Young sandwich we haven't sampled any Chinese
entrees but have observed that there's almost a fifty/fifty split among
patrons ordering burgers and Chinese food.
