Why this restaurant’s name is confusing people. Tacos El Gordo is now open in Fresno

Key Takeaways
Key Takeaways
AI-generated summary reviewed by our newsroom.

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• Tacos El Gordo opened in late September at 4065 E. Ashlan Ave. in Fresno.
• The Fresno Tacos El Gordo is locally owned and not the one Las Vegas or San Diego.
• The menu includes tacos, asada fries, weekend menudo, and breakfast burritos.

The name of a new Fresno restaurant is causing some drivers to do a double take when they pass it.

Tacos El Gordo opened in late September on Ashlan Avenue, next to Save Mart near Cedar Avenue. But it’s not that Tacos El Gordo.

To explain, the Tacos El Gordo many people in central California are familiar with is the one that started in San Diego and has several locations in Las Vegas. One, on the Las Vegas Strip is open until 4 a.m. and has a huge rotating trompo in the window roasting meat for al pastor tacos.

“That’s super popular,” customer Deron Walker of Fresno said. “There’s a lot of people (who) know it. It’s a whole experience.”

Lines are separated by what meat customers want on their tacos.

That’s not what opened in Fresno.

Our Tacos El Gordo is a locally owned restaurant named after the owner who got the nickname El Gordo when he was working at all the Toledo’s Mexican Restaurants locations.

Cashier Laura Contreras has fielded questions about the name.

“We’re not associated with them at all,” she said. “I like to always say we’re better than them. That’s a strong statement, but we can back it up.”

Moises Oropeza most recently cooked at Westwoods BBQ & Spice Co. and Sabor Cocina Latina & Bar before leaving to open his own place. Four or five years ago, he had a taco truck named Tacos El Gordo that used to park at Chestnut and Gettysburg avenues. Many of those customers have followed him to the new place.

“They had a really good clientele. They were pretty well known in that area,” said

The food

Even though chef Oropeza is the heart of Tacos El Gordo, he prefers to remain hidden away in the kitchen. Contreras is the face of it.

And she can tell you everything you need to know about the menu — the tacos, the asada fries, the menudo on weekends.

She always recommends the sopes, a thick corn masa cake made in house and deep-fried until golden, tipped with your choice of meat, and beans, cheese and more.

“Everybody gets them, and they’re like, ‘Oh my goodness, you’re so right,” she said.

But it’s breakfast Oropeza wants her to talk about. The restaurant is in the same location as one of the last BJ’s Kountry Kitchen locations at 4065 E. Ashlan Ave. For more than 40 years, the brand served up biscuits and gravy and other hearty breakfasts before its last location became a different restaurant.

And because customers still walk in expecting breakfast, Oropeza is giving it to them. For now, the restaurant is open from 10 a.m. to 10 p.m. daily, but it’s planning to opening earlier.

The breakfast menu will also be expanding soon. For now, it includes breakfast burritos — your choice of chorizo, bacon, ham or asada — and a few egg dishes. Chilaquiles made with tortilla chips and eggs is also on the menu.