Pinches Tacos owner refuses to change name

LAS VEGAS, Oct. 30 (UPI) -- The owner of a planned Las Vegas taco restaurant said he will not change the name, despite a city official's concerns about a possible profanity connection.

Javier Anaya, whose family owns four Pinches Tacos restaurants in California and one in Alabama, said the restaurant in the downtown Container Park will bear the same name as the rest of the eateries. The resturants are named for a story Anaya's grandmother told about an uncle named Pinche who cooked for Pancho Villa, the Las Vegas Sun reported Wednesday.

Councilman Bob Coffin raised concerns about the name, saying Latinos in his downtown district had told him "pinches" is Spanish slang for a profanity. He suggested Anaya change the name to Pinch's Tacos to avoid the association.

"It's going against our actual brand and we truly stand behind it," Anaya said Tuesday. "It's not what other people say it is, as far as the meaning."

Anaya said he will not budge on his decision, even if it means facing a legal challenge.

"But they will not go to court," he said of city officials, "because they will lose. This has to do with our culture and our free speech right to use that name. They have nothing to stand on."

Coffin said he is not planning any legal challenges.

"He can have his free speech, but he won't get my business," the councilman said. "That's what happens when people get wealthy and they forget where they come from ... It's unfortunate when people get successful that they forget that the shoulders they're standing on are the ones that made them what they are."

The restaurant is scheduled to open in November.