Diner orders the ‘Juan Millionth Taco’ at Los Gringos Locos

Following up on a promotional tool they’d used successfully in August 2006 when they sold their 500,000th taco, Los Gringos Locos restaurant drew a packed house to the Foothill Boulevard eatery last week with the promise that the “Juan Millionth Taco” was about to be sold and its buyer would win a $1,000 gift certificate to the restaurant.

Estimating to a reporter earlier in the day of Thursday, March 26 that the 1 millionth taco would be sold sometime between 6:45 and 7:15 that evening, co-owner Bent Hansen was right on the dinero. At 6:58 p.m. a server took an order for three beef tacos, the final of which was the restaurant’s millionth, from Glendale resident and Los Gringos regular John Witt.

“When the order came to the kitchen I had no idea who was getting the taco — I only knew what table ordered it and that our server, Rolando, had taken the order,” Hansen said. He directed the server to deliver just the first two tacos on the order to Witt and held the prize-winning taco back temporarily.

“I’m not sure, but he might have been a little annoyed when he let the server know that he had ordered three tacos but only two were on his plate,” Hansen said. “The server apologized and let him know it would be there soon. During the ‘Taco Parade’ we passed right by him and then came back to him. As we finished the Taco Parade at John’s table and set it down in front of him it was magical. He was so surprised and the restaurant erupted in cheers for him and the taco, of course. It was sheer taco joy to give him the ‘Juan Millionth Taco.’”

Hansen said some friends from JPL helped the restaurant with the calculations for 1,000,000 tacos, estimating that if lined up, they would not stretch into space, but perhaps as far as Oceanside. “They didn’t offer clarification if they were measuring the overhanging lettuce or not,” he joked.

The popular restaurant, owned by Hansen and his brother John, has been serving up Mexican fare in La Cañada for 19 years, first from a smaller space on Foothill Boulevard and more recently in Plaza de La Cañada, near Gelson’s market.

“My kitchen staff has been with Los Gringos Locos for a long time and they have made a lot of tacos” Hansen said. “Chef Fidel has worked at Gringos since the beginning and seen just about every single taco we have served. We just had a cook retire last week — Ignacio Sierra — who was also with us from the first day we opened. He made the 500,000th taco.”

Asked if he’s tracking the number of margaritas he’s sold over the years, Hansen said no, but he suspects they’ve poured enough to fill the pool at La Cañada High. While he might consider delving further into that calculation, he definitely plans to continue focusing on Los Gringos Locos’ taco sales.

“We’re on to two million,” he said.