Chico's Tacos is a small local restaurant chain based in El Paso, Texas

El Paso, Texas

El Paso, is a city in and the county seat of El Paso County, Texas, United States, and lies in far West Texas. In the 2010 census, the city had a population of 649,121. It is the sixth largest city in Texas and the 19th largest city in the United States...

. 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 even featured in the Food Network show, The Best Thing I Ever Ate

The Best Thing I Ever Ate

The Best Thing I Ever Ate is a program on the Food Network which premiered on June 22, 2009 . The program originally aired as a one-time special in late 2008...

. It was also a topic of the Gabriel Iglesias

Gabriel Iglesias

Gabriel J. Iglecias , known professionally as Gabriel Iglesias, is an American standup comedian and actor, known for his shows I’m Not Fat… I’m Fluffy and Hot & Fluffy.-Early life:...

 stand up act "I'm not Fat... I'm Fluffy".

Chico's has entered into local legend for its rolled tacos in a special tomato soup-like sauce, as well as its low prices. Other items on the menu include hamburgers, French fries

French fries

French fries , chips, fries, or French-fried potatoes are strips of deep-fried potato. North Americans tend to refer to any pieces of deep-fried potatoes as fries or French fries, while in the United Kingdom, Australia, Ireland and New Zealand, long, thinly cut slices of deep-fried potatoes are...

, grilled cheese sandwiches (or as Chicos Tacos employees often refer to them as "grillos"), and special round hot dogs 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 flauta-like tacos submerged in bath of tomato juice and then topped with shredded American Cheese. The custom is to grab the tacos individually out of the tomato juice and, using a provided plastic fork, to scoop the melted cheese onto the taco and take a bite.
The most commonly ordered items are the single order (three tacos) or double order (six tacos), which come topped with grated cheese. However, many devotees will order two single orders instead of a double order, so as to achieve best cheese coverage on all tacos.

In addition to its tacos, Chico's Tacos is also known for its hot dog which, unlike a traditional American hotdog, is served on a hamburger bun with two franks sliced in half lengthwise, topped with chili beans, mustard, and pickles, and its crinkle fries which some say taste best with the tomato juice and cheese from the tacos.

Recognition

In 2003 the 78th Texas House of Representatives adopted a resolution (HR 84), introduced by El Paso representative Norma Chavez

Norma Chavez

Norma Chávez served seven terms as a Democratic member in the Texas House of Representatives representing District 76 which includes part of El Paso County...

, honoring the Mora family and celebrating the restaurant's 50th anniversary.

Standup comedian Gabriel Iglesias

Gabriel Iglesias

Gabriel J. Iglecias , known professionally as Gabriel Iglesias, is an American standup comedian and actor, known for his shows I’m Not Fat… I’m Fluffy and Hot & Fluffy.-Early life:...

 mentioned Chico's in his 2009 Comedy Central

Comedy Central

Comedy Central is an American cable television and satellite television channel that carries comedy programming, both original and syndicated....

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

Legal Issues

In the late 2000s, the owners of Chico's Tacos sued an Austin

Austin

Austin is the capital of the U.S. state of Texas.Austin may also refer to:-In the United States:*Austin, Arkansas*Austin, Colorado*Austin, Chicago, Illinois*Austin, Indiana*Austin, Minnesota*Austin, Nevada*Austin, Oregon...

-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. 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.