Award-winning CRUjiente Tacos in Phoenix closing after 9 years in business

PHOENIX (AZFamily) — After years of serving delicious tacos and margaritas in the Arcadia area, CRUjiente Tacos is closing its doors on Saturday.

The beloved spot near 40th Street and Camelback Road has been in business since 2016. Over the years, it’s picked up countless awards on both a local and national level. Food Network’s Guy Fieri even visited the spot!

“You get to be part of people’s lives for a couple hours at a time. For a lot of our regulars, it was a couple of hours, a couple times a week every month, which was really nice,” Rich Hinojosa, the co-founder and executive chef of CRUjiente Tacos, said.

Hinojosa said rising rent costs are forcing the restaurant to close when their lease expires at the end of April. He told Arizona’s Family his landlord wanted to raise his rent more than 30% starting in May, along with yearly increases after that.

“When you start getting about 10 years down the road, if you’re looking at 100% increase in your rent, that’s a tough pill to shallow,” he added.

Hinojosa isn’t alone. Another local favorite, Sorso Wine Bar at the Scottsdale Quarter is closing on the same day. Sorso’s owners say rising rental costs are also forcing them to leave the Quarter after being there for a decade.

“Everybody is facing tight economic circumstances. I think the hard part about that is it’s making owning a local restaurant and living out your dream more difficult,” Gabe Gardner with Local First Arizona said.

As for what happens next for Hinojosa and CRUjiente Tacos, the chef hopes this isn’t the last time he makes delicious tacos for the Phoenix area.

“My hope is that we get to meet again somehow, some way, whether it’s this exact thing, or this thing somewhere else, or a version of it, I hope that it’s not the end of the chapter,” he added.

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