Wetback Willie: Florida Restaurant Offends With Racially Insensitive Menu Items

Are you in the mood for a “Wetback Willie?” How about a “No Papers Shrimp?” If so, perhaps you need to pay a visit to Lola’s Burrito Joint in Jacksonville, Florida, where racially insensitive menu items are on fully display. According to the New York Daily News, owners Carlos Ramirez and Robert Kapuschanski were just having a bit of fun with the names, though, not surprisingly, it didn’t take very long for someone to take offense.

“Wetback Willie”, for example, was suggested to them by one of their employees. Wetback, for those who are oblivious to ethnic slurs, is a derogatory term generally aimed towards Mexicans. Using the word to name a menu item is certainly a little questionable, particularly in this instance.

Once customers got wind of the moniker, it didn’t take long for the backlash to take root. Lola’s Burrito Joint soon found their Facebook page alive with negative posts and harsh criticisms over the burrito, prompting the owners to change the name from “Wetback Willie” to “Wet Willie”.

Although Kapuschanski and Ramirez were quick to change the item as not to irritate or agitate their loyal clientele, they insist these names were not meant to racially offend anyone who sets foot in their establishment. However, according to Poho, both “Dirty Sanchez Crab” and “No Papers Shrimp” are still available for order.

“It’s a crab burrito, and crabs usually eat from the bottom of the sea,” Ramirez said of the the “Dirty Sanchez Crab”. Honestly, that is one of the saddest explanations I’ve ever heard. If you’re going to be daring or biting, at least be honest about your endeavors.

“Somebody said something, we immediately answered, we immediately changed, and it’s the right thing to do as a human being,” Kapuschanski explained.

Is naming a burrito something as racially insensitive as “Wetback Willie” just a fun way to do business, or is Lola’s Burrito Joint asking for trouble?