Pink Taco- Century City, CALIFORNIA
There have been a lot of nuevo-gourmet contemporary Mexican restuarants opening recently. We did a review a few months ago about Amaranta in Woodland Hills. Now lets turn our sights toward Century City and take a look at Pink Taco.
No this won't be a discussion on the historical notoriety on the name of the restaurant. You're free to peruse the web for that.
Upon entering Pink Taco, you notice that the decor is a blend of both traditional religious iconography with various crucifixes displayed on a column in the dining area along with contemporary Mexican street art in the way of artistically painted car hoods adorning the walls. It was a neat ecclectic mix of styles inside this restaurant, less garage-sale and more artsy in my opinion. This restaurant really looks fun.
I didn't know what to expect on whether this would be a family friendly place when we saw the greeter was similarly dressed to a Hooters waitress (sans the short-shorts). But it was indeed family friendly at least in the afternoon.
We were promptly seated and served freshly fried nacho chips and salsa. These were light and crispy. I really need to limit myself when served these chips, as I will often overeat prior to my main entree, but these chips were good!
For myself I ordered the Burrito Mojado. This had carne asada, pinto beans, cheese, peppers and pico de gallo. It was artistically topped with a Sour Cream, Pasilla Chile Sauce, more cheese and thinly sliced avocados. The presentation was excellent and it looked like they took time to arrange the food in the most appetizing way possible.
Was this authentic food? I'm not sure, but it was delicious. The sauce on top was a bit sweet for my taste, but that was countered with the interior which was meaty and spicy. Next time I do want to try their Crispy Brisket Tacos which just reading about makes my mouth water.
Pink Taco really was an enjoyable and fun place to eat. I suspect that dining there at night with cocktails might be a bit racier. But at least with this restaurant it just isn't all about style, their food is actually quite good.
There are 3 locations for Pink Taco (Las Vegas, NV; Century City, CA; and Scottsdale, AZ)
Check them out at www.pinktaco.com
3 comments:
I'm not a fan of Pink Taco. When I eat at the Century City mall, I go to Houston's or the food court. The food court is awesome. It's very similar to the food court at the Topanga Plaza in Woodland Hills. I especially like the Brazillian restaurant.
Wow, he like pink tacos.
hehehehehehehehehehe
Hi there,
I saw your post on the Century City Pink Taco, so I thought you might be interested in a bit of back story on where the concept originally came from.
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
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