Best Budget Bites: $3.75 Happy Hour Tacos From Pizza Luce Duluth

Racket's Twin Ports nightlife correspondent files a tantalizing taco recommendation.

11:19 AM CDT on September 2, 2025

Kaylee Matuszak

The cost of things these days? Far too expensive! Tariffs, rent prices, giddy price gouging from proprietors large and small—the boring factors are too numerous to count. To protect our readers, Racket launched the Best Budget Bites series, where we’ll showcase a toothsome, wallet-friendly food item that’ll actually fill you up. Have a nomination? Hit us up: tips@racketmn.com.

What: Happy hour tacos
Where: Pizza Luce, 11 E. Superior St., Duluth
Availability: 3-6 p.m. Mon.-Fri.

Pizza Luce is a load-bearing tentpole of my social life. It’s my go-to for bar trivia, and also one of the only places in Duluth that serves food after 9 p.m. I really didn’t think they could find new ways to surprise me. I was wrong.

Enter: happy hour tacos.

Pizza Luce’s happy hour taco deal isn't listed on any menu or social media feed. I only discovered it upon seeing a bunch of people chowing down on overstuffed tortillas at the bar and wondering how quickly I could join them. The beauty of these tacos has flown under the radar for years, but I value your wallet and your stomach. The time of the happy hour taco is NOW.

But first, let's address it: tacos at a pizza place? Walk with me. We’re not going for authenticity here—we’re going for reasonably priced deliciousness. Your first decision is foundational: hardshell or softshell. I personally love the soft option here. They throw the tortillas on the grill to warm 'em up, creating a nice place for the shredded cheese to melt. Then comes the protein. My go-to is the chicken, because they use the warmly spiced cubes that come in the jerk chicken bowls. There’s a classic ground beef option as well. I have heard tales from my vegetarian friends of jerk tofu gracing the interior of some tacos, though haven’t seen it with my own eyes. Finally, your delicious plate is generously topped off with a mountain of shredded lettuce and diced tomatoes. Grab a hot sauce, some napkins, and dig in.

These tacos are a truly perfect candidate for Best Budget Bites, coming in at $3.75 for two (before tax). You’re telling me that I can get dinner and a beer ($5 taps during happy hour!) for under 10 bucks? In this economy? What a blessing.

I know the majority of Racket readers are down in the Twin Cities metro, where the Pizza Luces are plentiful. I asked my bartender if this fantastic deal was unique to Duluth, or popped up at any other locations. After thinking about it, he said he honestly had no idea (and he’s worked at the Duluth Luce since it opened in 2001). I really can’t blame him; they keep this deal quiet at their own location. I am incredibly curious to hear if anyone has experienced this delicious phenomenon at their local Pizza Luce. (Editor's note: A worker at the Richfield Pizza Luce confirmed to Racket that the happy hour tacos are "just a Duluth thing.")

If the magic and beauty of happy hour tacos exists only in Duluth, I am excited nonetheless to spread the good word. You never know when you might find yourself on the North Shore between 3-6 p.m. during the workweek! Perhaps you’re making your way back from a day immersed in nature. You'll find the line at OMC Smokehouse is long. And the line at Northern Waters Smokehaus? Even longer.

You are hungry... NOW!

Well, follow the red glow of the "LIQOUR" sign at the Pizza Luce bar. Sit down next to me, order a Hamm’s, and experience deeply affordable bliss.

BBB Hall of Fame

Kaylee Matuszak

@kayleefabulous

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