Felipe’s Uptown taqueria vandalized, ransacked on National Taco Day

NEW ORLEANS (WVUE) - National Taco Day is Oct. 4 - making it the ultimate Taco Tuesday in 2022. But for one popular taqueria, the fanfare was ruined before it could even begin.

Owners of Felipe’s in Uptown New Orleans say their employees showed up to work Tuesday morning just after 7 a.m. to find glass on the front doors shattered and the store ransacked.

“Violated,” the post reads. “Our enthusiastic team arrived just after 7am this morning to open up for an exciting National Taco Day to find the Uptown restaurant completely vandalized. Doors shattered, TVs, computer equipment and alcohol stolen, cash drawers thrown out around the kitchen.”

Two men were captured on the store’s security cameras around 5:50 a.m. smashing glass on the front door and snatching a cash register. In a screenshot accompanying the post, one of the intruders is seen with two armfuls of liquor bottles.

The manager of the Uptown location says the thieves yanked an 11-year-old TV off the wall and made off with some of the cheapest tequila in the store, and two cash registers with no money in them.

“It’s really important that tourists come to New Orleans and feel safe,” owner Pike Howard said as his crew was preparing to open despite the rude wake up call. “This is a heavily hospitality-driven city. It’s a very important part of what this place is all about. I think we need to take crime pretty seriously in terms of looking at it under that lens.”

The store’s managers say they have been focusing on their Fort Myers Beach location, which was destroyed by Hurricane Ian, “and now we have to clean up this mess.”

“Be better New Orleans,” the post concludes.

The New Orleans Police Department is investigating. If you have any information, you’re asked to call Crime Stoppers at 504-822-1111.

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