Pflugerville Diner Where Taco Containing 'Teeth' Was Served Closing Its Doors

PFLUGERVILLE, TX — The Mexican food restaurant that faced backlash after a woman's photo of a barbacoa taco she ordered there was purported to contain teeth is closing its doors, according to media reports.

The Pflugerville Pflag community newspaper reports a handmade sign has been placed on the front door of the El Rincon Mexican food restaurant alerting patrons of the imminent closure after a "tough year" of business. Those challenges occurred in earnest after the photo of the toothy taco went viral in March.

Shortly after a patron posted the photo of her teeth-containing tacoon Facebook, it went viral. After the story was first reported by KENS in San Antonio, the story of the tooth-containing taco spread like wildfire, garnering national headlines along the way. In a subsequent prepared statement, restaurant officials explained the teeth as best they could.

And so it came to pass that untold legions not among the barbacoa cognoscenti learned the source of the tasty taco filler — derived from the head and cheek of the cow — as detailed in the restaurant's statement in the time in explaining the culinary misstep in inadvertently including bovine teeth inside the tortilla among the meat.

Consumers of authentic Mexican food items are not squeamish people. There are instructional videos on YouTube showing people how to make their own barbacoa at home with an entire cow head— just there are primers on making menudo (soup containing stomach tripe), tripas (animal small intestines) and other culinary offerings not for the faint of heart.

We've inserted such a video below to illustrate the plausibility of getting teeth inadvertently added to the mix as apparently happened at El Rincon, but will caution the squeamish not to view it as it graphically shows the unadulterated process of extracting meat from an actual cow's head.

The company vowed to find another supplier for its barbacoa. But, with the image of the teeth-suffused taco seared in the memories of so many (perhaps forever for some), it may have been too late to assuage an anxious clientele.

"With a heavy heart, we must close our business permanently," the sign outside the restaurant at 200 E. Pecan St. reads. "We would like to thank our staff and customers for the business over the years."

El Rincon had been in business for 26 years, restaurant owners previously said.

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