Pink Taco To Open 1st Chicago Location In River North

CHICAGO, IL — Pink Taco, the Los Angeles-based Mexican restaurant with the "wink, wink, nudge, nudge" name, will be opening its first Chicago location in River North. The new eatery is expected to open later this year at 162 W. Hubbard Street, according to press release Thursday from the company. The Chicago restaurant will join Pink Taco locations in LA and Las Vegas, as well as a Miami spot planned for 2018, which also was announced Thursday.

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The River North Pink Taco will feature a seasonal, wraparound, outdoor patio and will serve brunch, lunch and dinner, the release stated. The restaurant also will be open late-night hours, and the menu will include tacos, margaritas, salads, taco bowls and other items. Pink Taco food trucks will be in Chicago months before the restaurant opens to begin generating buzz among potential customers about the taco joint, the company says.

Pink Taco will be taking over the 9,600-square-foot space that formerly housed Bull & Bear. The stock market-themed sports bar did not renew its River North lease at the end of last year, Chicago Eater reported at the time.

Opened by founder Harry Morton in 1999 in the Las Vegas Hard Rock Hotel & Casino, Pink Taco was purchased by the private equity management arm of Z Captial Group in 2016. The Chicago and Miami locations are part of the new owner's effort to expand the restaurant's brand nationally. The chain's West Coast base, however, has helped create wider name recognition thanks to its celebrity clientele.

The taco chain's penchant for courting controversy — no surprise, given its name — also has helped extend its profile. In 2006, the mayor of Scottsdale, Arizona, objected to a Pink Taco location opening there and asked the restaurant to change its name. Its refusal earned it segments on "The Daily Show" and "Saturday Night Live." In 2011, the chain was criticized by animal rights activists when the location in Century City, California, painted a donkey pink in honor of Cinco de Mayo.

image via Pink Taco | Z Captial Partners

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