You can eat all the Pink Taco you want as long as you don ' tell Mary Manross about it! : AZ IMC

Suggestive name puts eatery, city at odds

Megan Finnerty
The Arizona Republic
Apr. 22, 2006 12:00 AM

In a city aspiring to be defined by its good taste, a new Mexican restaurant, the Pink Taco, is opening with a name that some find offensive.

Scottsdale Mayor Mary Manross was so put off by the name, a slang term for vagina, that she asked its owner to change it.

"I don't appreciate anything that offends more than half the population," Manross said. "But he said no and heard my concern. I really didn't want to see a business with that name opening anywhere here."

Sounding more strip club than cantina, the restaurant isn't coy about the double entendre.

"(The name) came out of a dish (that's on the menu), but it's tongue-in-cheek. It was amusing, catchy," Pink Taco CEO Harry Morton said. "You've got to stand out from the rest of the crowd."

The Scottsdale City Council will consider the Pink Taco's application for a liquor license May 15 and will vote whether to recommend that the state liquor board approve the license. No letters of opposition have been filed with the city so far, but Pink Taco management is nervous about the name controversy because the restaurant won't open without that license.

The original Pink Taco is inside Morton's family-owned Hard Rock Hotel & Casino in Las Vegas, where they serve strong margaritas and upscale food with sides of loud rock, Mexican art and "East LA" bric-a-brac, i.e. low-rider bicycles and license plates.

"I haven't had a single flap since the restaurant opened - in 6 years," Morton said.

Scottsdale is first in a planned expansion to other "AAA+ locations in A+ markets," he said.

The Pink Taco is slated to open in June on the corner of Scottsdale and Camelback roads in the $250 million Scottsdale Waterfront.

The restaurant will be next to the elegant Wildfish Seafood Grille and boutiques where blouses sell for as much as the payment on a Lexus. Nearby condos under construction will cost as much as $4 million.

And the name does offend some.

"It's degrading to women. It sounds like a sexual slur," said Dorina Wilson, 40, of Phoenix, a mom who shops in the area regularly.

Dawn Staples-Kerr, 39, of Scottsdale, agreed.

"I don't think we'd even go to lunch there. It's already been a talking topic," she said. "We were like, 'Can you believe they're going to open something with that name here?' "

Moments later, Staples-Kerr explained the phrase to a friend who's 44. Giggling ensued.

David Roderique, the economic-vitality director for Scottsdale, also giggled when asked about the restaurant. Then he regained his composure.

"While there may be some people who have concerns about the name of the restaurant, we've got a younger crowd who appreciates more diversity and finding ways to slap the establishment," he said.

The leasing agents in charge of the Waterfront's retail space knew the name had baggage, but it didn't matter in the face of the hipster cachet the Pink Taco would bring, said LeDonna Spongberg, vice president of leasing at the Phoenix-based Corritore Co.

"We knew who they were, and we liked them; they bring a really high energy to the project," she said.

Future condo tenants haven't been turned off by the name, said Jeff Roberts, vice president of real estate development with Opus West, the Waterfront condo developer.

Rick Kidder, president of the Scottsdale Area Chamber of Commerce, wonders if people aren't upset because the name goes over their heads.

"I've seen the Blue Burrito, and I thought, 'Oh, Pink Taco. OK.' " he said. "Somebody had to explain it to me. I just didn't get it."

Reach the reporter at megan.finnerty@arizonarepublic.com or (602) 444-8770.

Mike -- why don't you take your advice? Y'know -- get a life, get a girfriend (or a boyfriend), see a movie, walk in the park, take a shower. You know. A life.

I believe that this attempt to close a business is an act of desperation considering the age of the owner. It ludacris that a successfull individual or heir to a family fortune cannot open a business in our SO-CALLED Welcoming state of Arizona without somebody trying to take someone to court over spilt milk or simply having a bunch of grown ups which are supposed to teach kids the meaning of being an adult BICKER over a business name like "The Pink Taco" Their minds are simply IN THE GUTTER. I fully support The Pink Taco's owners in hopes of a successful business and hope to enjoy some great mexican food.

The business is opening here in June; no one's shutting it down. And Mary Manross going ballistic over "Pink Taco" is a PR godsend to PT's owners. You can't buy publicity like that. Otherwise, it'd be just one more mexican restaurant opening in the valley.

I do take issue, though, with the PT owner's claim that there's no good mexican food in Phoenix. Gimme a break...

If anyone doubts the vulgarity of the term "pink taco," just do a Google image search. Beyond being vulgar, it's just infantile. What's next, a hot dog joint named "Tube Steak"?

Pink Taco Menu
by Me gusta comer panocho Saturday, Aug. 19, 2006 at 2:05 PM

Even if it is an over priced yuppie menu my favorite item on the menu is the Panachos (Pink Taco).

Check out the Pink Tacos great menu.

http://arizona.indymedia.org/news/2006/08/47777.php

My favorite item is the "Panacho" which in English is the "Pink Taco". I think they spelled it wrong! If I spelled it it woud be "Panocho"

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Hi there,

I created the Pink Taco restaurant & bar concept and opened the original in May 1998 -- a year before the Mortons opened theirs.

The controversy and community response to their version is tame compared to what I faced in ultra-conservative Manhattan, Kansas. We had aggressive picketers, petitioners, hate letters, anonymous threats, an onslaught of negative letters-to-the-editor, and police
discrimination.

There were many stories in the local papers. The ABC affiliate out of Topeka came to Manhattan and did an on-site story that ran state-wide on the evening news, and the CBS affiliate invited us to join them in-studio for their half-hour morning show (which we declined since things were spiraling out of control).

I would do Internet searches at the time that would call up page after page of hits about me and my store. My Pink Taco dominated the regional news and spread nationwide through online postings and reprinted stories in towns across the country.

Anyway, I have written an article recounting the history of the original Pink Taco and the intense controversy it caused (complete with pictures and links to about a dozen of the news stories). You can read it on my blog if you're interested:
http://helpmestartauniversity.com/2008/04/17/the-amazing-true-story-of-the-original-pink-taco-restaurant-bar/

James W. Sperman