Chico's Tacos is a small local

restaurant chain A chain store or retail chain is a retail outlet in which several locations share a brand, central management and standardized business practices. They have come to dominate the retail and dining markets and many service categories, in many pa ...

based in

El Paso, Texas El Paso (; "the pass") is a city in and the county seat, seat of El Paso County, Texas, El Paso County in the western corner of the U.S. state of Texas. The 2020 population of the city from the United States Census Bureau, U.S. Census Bureau w ...

. It was founded on July 4, 1953 by local boxing promoter Joe Mora. Long considered a local institution in El Paso, it is perhaps the city's best-known restaurant, having been featured in the Food Network show ''

The Best Thing I Ever Ate ''The Best Thing I Ever Ate'' is a television series that originally aired on Food Network, debuting on June 22, 2009 (after a preview on June 20). The program originally aired as a one-time special in late 2008. After being cancelled by The Food ...

''. It was also a topic of the

Gabriel Iglesias Gabriel Jesús Iglesias (born July 15, 1976), also known as Fluffy, is an American stand-up comedian and actor. He has produced a number of stand-up specials for television outlets such as Comedy Central and Netflix, including ''I'm Not Fat… ...

stand up act ''I'm not Fat... I'm Fluffy''. Chico's has entered into local legend for its rolled

tacos A taco (, , ) is a traditional Mexican food consisting of a small hand-sized corn- or wheat-based tortilla topped with a filling. The tortilla is then folded around the filling and eaten by hand. A taco can be made with a variety of fillin ...

in a special tomato soup-like sauce, as well as its low prices. Other items on the menu include

hamburgers A hamburger, or simply burger, is a food consisting of fillings—usually a patty of ground meat, typically beef—placed inside a sliced bun or bread roll. Hamburgers are often served with cheese, lettuce, tomato, onion, pickles, bacon, or c ...

, French fries,

grilled cheese sandwiches A grilled cheese (sometimes known as a toasted sandwich or cheese toastie) is a hot sandwich typically prepared by heating one or more slices of cheese between slices of bread, with a cooking fat such as butter, on a frying pan, griddle, or sandw ...

(or as Chicos Tacos employees often refer to them as "grillos"), and special round

hot dogs A hot dog (uncommonly spelled hotdog) is a food consisting of a grilled or steamed sausage served in the slit of a partially sliced bun. The term hot dog can refer to the sausage itself. The sausage used is a wiener ( Vienna sausage) or a f ...

served on hamburger buns. Originally located at 4230 Alameda Avenue on El Paso's south side, Chico's has since expanded to five El Paso locations, primarily on the town's east side. Since Mora's death in 1992, the restaurants have been run by his surviving children.

Menu specialties

Chico's Tacos' specialty dish is a paper tray containing three rolled taquitos, referred to as flautas, submerged in bath of a special tomato soup-like sauce that is topped with shredded Cheese. The custom is to pick up a taco individually from the special tomato sauce, then using a fork, scoop the melted cheese onto the taco before taking a bite. The most commonly ordered items are the single order (three tacos) or double order (six tacos). Often, many devotees will order two single orders instead of one double order, to take advantage of the best in cheese to taco ratios. In addition to their legendary tacos, Chico's Tacos are also known for their unique hot dogs. Unlike hotdogs commonly served in America, this menu item is served on a hamburger bun with two franks sliced in half lengthwise, topped with their chili, mustard, and pickles. Couple that with a side of crinkle cut fries (that some say taste best with Chico's special tomato sauce and a topping of cheese) makes for another tasty legend at Chico's Tacos.

Recognition

In 2003 the 78th Texas House of Representatives adopted a resolution (HR 84), introduced by El Paso representative Norma Chavez, honoring the Mora family and celebrating the restaurant's 50th anniversary. Standup comedian

mentioned Chico's in his 2009

Comedy Central Comedy Central is an American basic cable channel owned by Paramount Global through its network division's MTV Entertainment Group unit, based in Manhattan. The channel is geared towards young adults aged 18–34 and carries comedy programmin ...

special ''I'm Not Fat, I'm Fluffy''. During his routine, which was taped in El Paso, Iglesias referenced Chico's as "an El Paso tradition", to the applause of the audience.

Legal issues

In the late 2000s, the owners of Chico's Tacos sued an Austin-based restaurant, Chuco's Tacos, for trademark infringement. In addition to the name, which differed from Chico's by only one letter, Chuco's Tacos also featured a paper tray with rolled tacos in a tomato-based sauce as its main menu item. Chuco's Tacos went out of business on July 18, 2008, before the trial could begin.

Discrimination controversy

On June 29, 2009, Chico's Tacos became the focus of gay-rights protestors when a group of five homosexual men were kicked out of the restaurant after two of them kissed publicly inside the restaurant. When the men did not leave immediately, the graveyard-shift security guard, Marcos Nava, an employee of All American International Security, called 911 in an attempt to have them removed by the El Paso Police Department. "There are two men eating here, and they're kissing," Nava said in Spanish on the 911 recording released by authorities. "They are homosexuals. I approached them and told them that they couldn't be kissing here because there are children here. They were kissing on the lips." The incident received widespread national attention, and the actions of the security guards and El Paso Police Department were widely condemned, including by the

El Paso City Council El Paso (; "the pass") is a city in and the seat A seat is a place to sit. The term may encompass additional features, such as back, armrest, head restraint but also headquarters in a wider sense. Types of seat The following are exam ...

. In light of this criticism, the restaurant's owners insisted that they have a policy of nondiscrimination, and that the men were ejected because they were unruly, not because they were homosexual. However, the two police officers responding to the 911 call allegedly threatened to have the men arrested for "homosexual conduct," despite there being no such law on the books. As a result of the incident, police chief Greg Allen announced that all officers department-wide would undergo more extensive sensitivity and anti-discrimination training.

References

{{reflist Companies based in El Paso, Texas Restaurants established in 1953 Regional restaurant chains in the United States 1953 establishments in Texas Restaurants in El Paso, Texas