The Laughing Water Restaurant at the Crazy Horse Memorial in South Dakota. Photo from Crazy Horse Memorial
Native American Taco? Laughing Water Restaurant too politically correct?
By Grouchy Gourmet Grouchy just happened to take some friends and family up to the Crazy Horse Memorial on the 4th of July. There was a blast on the mountain at 1:04 p.m. and so Grouchy waited until after the blast to get to the Mountain, but there were still hundreds of people still there. The idea was to have lunch at the Laughing Water Restaurant at the Memorial. The restaurant was also very crowded and Grouchy noticed a very large number of Asian tourists this year. After getting seated at a table for 6 we were waited on by a friendly young lady with a big smile and one who continued to provide quick and good service throughout the luncheon. The first thing Grouchy and guests noticed on the menu was “Native American Tacos.” Now isn’t that taking political correctness one step too far? “Native American Tacos,” are you kidding? To everyone at Grouchy’s table, and they were all Native American but one, trying to change the age-old “Indian taco” to “Native American Taco” is almost sacrilegious. Old Joe Tapio first introduced the famous “Indian taco” to the Pine Ridge Reservation in the 1920s. He learned the recipe while working in New Mexico where it was served on corn or flour tortillas, but he and his wife decided to use the commodity flour they were issued on the reservation and make it into fried bread and they would pour the chili beans and meat over the top of the fried bread making a unique “Indian taco.” Old Joe and his wife had a pickup truck (Model A Ford) with a tail gate and they would drive to the pow wows and rodeos on Pine Ridge and Rosebud and open up the tail gate where they had a pot of hot chili and stacks of fried bread. Customers would flock to the pickup to get their “Indian tacos.” They added to the tasty meal by adding shredded lettuce, onions and tomatoes to the recipe. And before you knew it, the “Indian taco” took off like a shot and one could find them sizzling in kitchens all over the reservation. Now-a-days when an individual or groups wants to raise money for a good cause, they have an “Indian taco” sale made possible by the ingenuity of Old Joe Tapio. And they do not advertise these frequent sales by writing “Native American Taco Sale” on their posters. Oh yes, aside from the screw-up on the menu about “Native American Tacos” the meal was quite good. The service on the salad and food bar was really slow. The meat loaf disappeared so Grouchy stood by waiting with dish in hand while someone sent for more. We guess they were all out of meat loaf because they brought out some roast beef instead. Grouchy sure had his taste buds ready for the meat loaf. All in all it cost $92 to feed six people so that would come to about $15.33 per person and that included the drinks. Not too bad, but we advise the staff at Crazy Horse Memorial to ditch the political correctness and put the good old fashioned “Indian taco” back on the menu. As one elderly Pine Ridger put it, “I was born an Indian and I will die an Indian.” And one more complaint, how can a restaurant serve “Indian tacos” and have no jalapenos on hand? “I’m sorry” our waitress said, “but we don’t serve jalapenos.” Say what??? What is an “Indian taco” without jalapenos? Grouchy says, “Get it right, including the name, or remove it from your menu.” Grouchy will be checking on you in the next couple of weeks. Copyright permission Native Sun News
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