Even as a veggie, I enjoy lots of your columns, but this (amigo mio) is seriously sloppy fact finding.

And..for all I know, the owner's of Pica Taco could are born and bred Washingtonians who have a basic understanding of the spanish language due to their extreme passion for delicious tacos. You can now remove "pica" (pronounced "pee-cah") to your Rosetta Stone tutorial, in addition to cilantro, tortilla and lengua. (Que sabroso!)

I understand what you're saying (and thanks for your feedback).

But here's what I'm saying...it's a taco shack owned and operated by latin folk. Any spanish speaker would immediately know what pica means; its probably one of the first 20 words little latin babies learn. I know one of my bi-lingual nieces learned mom, no, and pica... in that order.

However, you as a native English speaker had to be told what pica referred to....in English.

So I guess my point is, during my only visit to Pica Taco, I thought it was pretty good (I'm from Houston, Texas, so I know my way around a taco) and I thought dedicating a majority of your blog piece on some obscure medical reference didn't do justice to the food or the establishment.

(I guess this is akin to Chevrolet trying to sell the Chevy Nova in Mexico...only to learn that "No va" in spanish essentially means "doesn't go".)

Thanks and happy eating,

-Sergio

Don't misunderstand. I'm not calling a whole culture's food staple dirt. If you read through this blog, you'll see a number of blog posts on tacos -- and my affection for them.

I also knew that there was a completely logical, Spanish-derived reason behind Pica Taco's name. But as Loose Lips' immediate reaction indicates, some Americans will think of the eating disorder first before anything else. That's not what a business wants.

Large companies will vet their business names over and over until they find one that will not offend anyone or have any negative associations. Obviously, a place like Pica Taco can't do that.