LA taco shop with controversial name closes downtown Vegas location
Pinches Tacos, the Los Angeles taqueria whose name caused controversy when the restaurant arrived in Las Vegas, has closed in Downtown Container Park on East Fremont Street after more than a decade, the restaurant announced Friday.
The announcement cited “economic factors, including decreased visitation, tariffs, and immigration concerns,” as the reason for the closing of the family-owned spot, which debuted at Container Park in 2013.
To some Spanish speakers, the word “pinche” is a vulgarity used to emphatically dismiss or denigrate, and residents expressed opposition to the name Pinches while the Las Vegas City Council was considering a temporary tavern license for Container Park in November 2013.
That license was granted after the taqueria agreed not to use its name on signs facing the street or a children’s play area at the complex, part of the Downtown Project urban renewal backed by late Zappos CEO Tony Hsieh.
Pinches opened a second Las Vegas Valley restaurant in 2015, at The Gramercy on West Russell Road in the southwest. That location is still open, with a street-facing Pinches Tacos sign.
Pinches began almost 20 years ago in L.A., where it now has five locations besides its remaining Vegas shop. The company says its name derives from a Spanish term for a cook or kitchen assistant, not from a vulgarity.
Contact Johnathan L. Wright at jwright@reviewjournal.com. Follow @JLWTaste on Instagram.