A new taco spot in Fresno is causing some double-takes, and it's all because of the name on the sign. Tacos El Gordo opened in late September at 4065 E. Ashlan Ave., next to Save Mart near Cedar Avenue, but it has nothing to do with the Tacos El Gordo chain that many Central Californians already know from trips to San Diego or Las Vegas.
Same Name, Completely Different Restaurant
The Fresno location is locally owned and is not associated with the better-known Tacos El Gordo, which started in San Diego and now has several locations in Las Vegas, according to the Fresno Bee. That version traces its roots to Tijuana, where it got its start, and opened its first San Diego location in 1998, per Eater San Diego. The chain's famous Las Vegas Strip-area location stays open until 4 a.m. and is known for a large rotating trompo roasting meat for al pastor tacos right in the window, the Fresno Bee reports.
Fresno's Tacos El Gordo is named for owner Moises Oropeza, who got the nickname El Gordo while working at Toledo's Mexican Restaurants, the Bee reports. Cashier Laura Contreras told the paper the Fresno restaurant has no connection to the other Tacos El Gordo — and that she believes it's better.
From a Food Truck to a Storefront
Oropeza most recently cooked at Westwoods BBQ & Spice Co. and Sabor Cocina Latina & Bar before leaving those jobs to open his own place, the same report notes. Four or five years before the restaurant opened, he ran a taco truck also called Tacos El Gordo that used to park at Chestnut and Gettysburg avenues, and many of those former customers have followed him to the new storefront.
The menu leans on what made the truck popular in the first place: tacos, asada fries, and menudo on weekends. Contreras's pick for newcomers is the sopes, made in-house from thick corn masa, deep-fried, and topped with a customer's choice of meat, beans, and cheese.
Breakfast and Hours Still Taking Shape
Right now the restaurant is open daily from 10 a.m. to 10 p.m., though the Bee reports it's planning to open earlier. Breakfast options currently include burritos with a choice of chorizo, bacon, ham, or asada, along with a few egg dishes and chilaquiles made with tortilla chips and eggs, and the restaurant has said it plans to expand that breakfast menu further, though no timeline or specific additions have been announced.
The building itself carries its own bit of local history. It was formerly home to BJ's Kountry Kitchen, a brand that served biscuits and gravy and other hearty breakfasts for more than 40 years before Tacos El Gordo moved in.
As for the chain that shares its name, reports vary on just how far it has grown. The Daily Aztec reported that the San Diego-based chain expanded into Las Vegas starting in 2010 and, at the time of its writing, counted three total Las Vegas locations alongside three in the San Diego area — two in Chula Vista and one in San Diego, according to The Daily Aztec. The chain's own website, meanwhile, lists four Las Vegas-area addresses among its locations in California and Nevada, though it is not clear from the available records whether that count and the Daily Aztec's figure were recorded at the same time.
