Pink Taco Is en Route to Boston, Hideous Name and All

The inelegantly named, Vegas-founded-but-Los-Angeles-headquartered Pink Taco is on its way to a mystery location in Boston’s Fort Point or Seaport District area, per Boston Restaurant Talk and confirmed by a “coming soon” listing, sans address, on the restaurant’s website. Boston is one of several cities on Pink Taco’s expansion list — it just moved into Chicago, and the website also lists Miami as a future location.

Founded in 1999, Pink Taco garnered criticism in 2006 from then-mayor of Scottsdale, Arizona, Mary Manross, who asked the owners to change the name as they tried to open a location in the city. The city had reportedly received several emails from citizens outraged with the restaurant’s name, describing it as derogatory slang for female genitalia. One of those emails read: “The City of Scottsdale has a very fine reputation around the world. Let’s keep the standards high. Let’s let what plays in Vegas stay in Vegas.”

At the time, a company spokeswoman reportedly replied that the company name comes from one of its menu items...which doesn’t change the fact that both the restaurant and a menu item share a name with a derogatory slang term for female genitalia.

Hideously named or not, Pink Taco will join a spate of other chains and outsiders in Boston’s hastily expanding Seaport area. Once it opens, eaters will be able to feast upon what one expects to feast upon at a taco joint these days — queso dip, street corn, tostadas, burritos, and, yes, tacos. And if the Boston menu is anything like the Chicago menu, drinkers will be able to slurp on $18 margaritas.

Regardless of the name, it seems that Fort Point and the Seaport District are already overflowing with tacos: Papagayo recently shut down its Fort Point location for this very reason. Lolita, Temazcal, and Rosa Mexicano are all nearby, and Bartaco is on the way as well.

Pink Taco has not replied to requests for comment; this story will be updated if new information becomes available.

Barry Brecheisen/Eater Chicago

• Pink Taco Appears to Be On Its Way to Boston [BRT]
• Inside Pink Taco Chicago, Feeding River North Lobster Tacos and $18 Margaritas [ECHI]
• Pink Taco Restaurant Name Causes Stir [CBS]