Vegas eatery seeks AZ liquor license

The Scottsdale City Council is scheduled to decide today whether to recommend that an unconventionally named restaurant get a liquor license.

The Las Vegas-based Pink Taco restaurant seeks a liquor license from the state for its new location, the second in the nation, at the Scottsdale Waterfront.

Asking for the license wasn’t in question.

The restaurant’s unusual name was the issue.

Fewer than half a dozen people recently expressed their objection to the name, claiming it’s a derogatory slang term for a portion of the female anatomy.

The minor flap also got the attention of Scottsdale Mayor Mary Manross several months ago.

Manross has admitted she never thought of the name in a sexual context until opponents brought it up.

Manross has said she is offended by the name and went so far as to ask the owner to change it but he refused.

Manross could not be reached for comment on Friday.

The city in late April received four e-mails, three of which bore no names, objecting to the restaurant’s name.

One of those e-mails stated: “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.”

“We aren’t focusing on that flap at all,” said Lisa Perez, the restaurant’s spokeswoman, adding: “We’ve been focusing on getting the restaurant open.”

The 200-plus seat Mexicanstyle eatery is in the process of hiring employees and is scheduled to open sometime in June.

The first Pink Taco restaurant is inside the Hard Rock Hotel in Las Vegas.

Perez said the name comes from one of the menu items.

Perez said the company has not received any complaints or objections about its name.

The Maricopa County Environmental Health Department had no objection to the restaurant’s liquor license request, nor did city staff members.

City staff members said the restaurant’s request meets “the criteria imposed for determining that the community’s best interest is substantially served,” according to their report to the City Council.

If the council recommends that the restaurant be granted a license, its application would then be sent to the state liquor board for review.

In other news, the council also is expected to vote today on paying $126,476 in legal fees relating to a 2002 wrongful death lawsuit that was settled out of court last year.

Scottsdale has paid $578,000 to the survivors of Christina Laux, a 29-year-old Scottsdale mother who died on Loop 101 in a car crash that involved a drunken driver.

Scottsdale owes its contracted law firm fees that were incurred to settle the case.

The money would come from the city’s risk management budget, according to a staff report to the council.