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Entertainment | Restaurants & Dining | January 2007  
Mexican Taco Chain to Open Restaurants in China
Associated Press
 Move over Peking duck. Now there's something spicier.
 A popular Mexican taco chain opened its first restaurant in Beijing last week, and announced plans to follow with 25 more eateries in the next four years, in both Beijing and Shanghai.
 Sergio Rosas, operating manager for El Fogoncito, told The Associated Press that the company was investing $1 million to have five restaurants in Beijing by next year, in time for the 2008 Olympics.
 But the first restaurant, which opened Thursday, is aimed at winning over the Chinese.
 "I think it is the first traditional Mexican restaurant," he said. "We found some taco places, but they had nothing to do with the traditional Mexican concept. They were American investors offering Tex-Mex," or a mix of Mexican and American cuisine.
 The restaurant sent five Mexicans to China to train Chinese staff in the art of taco-making.
 El Fogoncito was established in Mexico in 1968, the same year Mexico hosted the Olympics.
 With the new restaurant in Beijing, the company has a total of 26 eateries, including five in Costa Rica, four in Honduras and three in Nicaragua.
 The chain also plans to open 15 restaurants in the U.S. at the end of this year. | 
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