Growing up, my family never once purchased a meal from Taco Bell as far as I can recall. This pronouncement should be much less shocking when contemplated within the context that I cannot recall my family purchasing a "pre-made" meal from ANY restaurant other than McDonald's, outside of perhaps purchasing a hot dog at a sporting event, during my entire childhood. This was primarily due to financial limitations, but also partially due to a severe under-appreciation of good food. This is all to say (in an admittedly roundabout way) that my only exposure to tacos growing up was to the standard crunchy ground beef tacos that were served in the school cafeterias and in the Ortega make-at-home taco kits. So for probably the first 10 (maybe 20) visits that I made to The Border, Crunchy Tacos were all I that I ever ordered.
I remember during my time attending the aforementioned college that Taco Bell had a special on Sundays: you could purchase unlimited Crunchy Tacos for 49 cents apiece. I took advantage of this offer on a few occasions, but for whatever reason Taco Bell held limited appeal to me in those days. During those college years I gravitated more towards pizza and take-out Chinese food for whatever reason.
Upon the inception of this blog, I would estimate that I had still visited Taco Bell fewer than 100 times in my entire life. So while I did have some familiarity with the Bell, there were MANY menu items that I had never tried, and there had never really been a period in my life where Taco Bell had been a menu staple for me. Today was visit #6 since just May 18th. And I am merely getting started, dear reader.
Item #13: NACHO CHEESE DORITOS LOCOS TACO SUPREME
I must disclose to you that I have been eager to try another Doritos Locos Taco following my positive experience with the unexpectedly amazing Spicy Chicken Cool Ranch Doritos Locos Taco. I essentially have three more variations to tackle: Cool Ranch Doritos (w/ beef), Nacho Cheese Doritos, and Fiery Doritos. I opted to go with the Nacho Cheese Doritos Locos Taco, with an upgrade to Supreme. The official Taco Bell website description:
"A Taco Supreme made with premium seasoned beef, crisp lettuce, diced juicy red ripe tomatoes, real cheddar cheese and topped with cool reduced-fat sour cream, in a shell made from Nacho Cheese Doritos Chips."
Price: $1.79
Taste: 9.0 (out of 10)
Value: 7.5 (out of 10)
Overall Score: 8.6 (out of 10)
This variation on the Doritos Locos Taco was almost as successful as the afore-referenced Spicy Chicken Cool Ranch Doritos Locos Taco. I honestly think the only facet that is slightly less successful is that the beef in this taco doesn't pack as much flavor as the spicy chicken in the other. The sour cream was a nice addition (from the Supreme upgrade), melding well with the flavorful shell that was once again lovingly presented in a sturdy cardboard sleeve. (The sleeve not only made eating a Crunchy Taco in the car feasible, it made it EASY.)
As with the Cool Ranch Doritos Locos Taco, I wouldn't necessarily say that the shell particularly tasted like Doritos. And the texture of the shell is not particularly reminiscent of the texture of Doritos chips either. But it was once again damn tasty. If I said to you that I wasn't looking forward to iterations #3 and #4 of the Doritos Locos Tacos, I wouldn't be too eager to believe me.
Item #14: CRISPY POTATO SOFT TACO
On Visit #1 I consumed the Cheesy Potato Burrito. My take was that is was a generally positive -- if unremarkable -- experience, but the potatoes made the whole affair a bit heavy, and the sheer heft of the burrito made it somewhat of a challenge to finish. Today I selected the similar, but meatless and less voluminous, Cheesy Potato Soft Taco. From the Taco Bell website:
"A warm, soft flour tortilla filled with crispy potato bites, pepper jack sauce, crisp shredded lettuce, and real cheddar cheese."
Price: $0.99
Taste: 7.5 (out of 10)
Value: 7.5 (out of 10)
Overall Score: 7.5 (out of 10)
My expectations were not spectacularly high for the Crispy Potato Soft Taco given my previous experience with the potato product offered by Taco Bell. But a couple of things about the Crispy Potato Soft Taco helped it deliver unexpectedly positive marks: #1. Taco Bell wisely toned down the amount of potato here. In smaller, more manageable numbers, the potatoes are unquestionably an asset. #2. Once again, the Bell's trusty Pepper Jack Sauce brought the thunder. I am not sure if there is anything on Taco Bell's menu that wouldn't taste better with this mysterious sauce on it.
My only complaint here (refer to the picture above), and admittedly this is possibly a defect that can vary from specimen to specimen: Lettuce, more lettuce, just too much lettuce. This was easily remedied by removing about one-third of the lettuce. For the cost, however, the Crispy Potato Soft Taco is a true bargain. It would also be tough to imagine a better-tasting meatless option on the Taco Bell menu, although time will tell.
**UPDATE: The Crispy Potato Soft Taco appears to have been discontinued. It has, however, been reincarnated as the Spicy Potato Soft Taco, which I review later in my Live Mas adventure.**
**UPDATE: The Crispy Potato Soft Taco appears to have been discontinued. It has, however, been reincarnated as the Spicy Potato Soft Taco, which I review later in my Live Mas adventure.**
Item #15: BEAN BURRITO
I don't think I have ever had a meatless burrito before. Of course, if I had lived a few hundred years ago, a meatless burrito would almost certainly have been the only burrito in town. From a cursory examination of the "Burrito" entry on Wikipedia, burritos were developed by peoples in present-day Mexico and the southwestern United States. Historically they were tortillas wrapped around fillings that included tomatoes, squash and mushrooms. At some point beans began to be used, and eventually, meats. Thank God for evolution. The official Taco Bell website description:
"A warm, soft flour tortilla wrapped around hearty beans, real cheddar cheese, tangy red sauce and diced onions."
Price: $0.99
Taste: 7.0 (out of 10)
Value: 9.0 (out of 10)
Overall Score: 7.5 (out of 10)
The onions and the red sauce worked well in unison here. (I think this is the first Taco Bell menu item I have ever had that included onions.) The crunchy onions helped break up the monotony of the slightly chalky texture of the beans. The beans did have a nice, robust flavor though. For the price and the amount of food here, the value is exceptional. No frills, and nothing amazing in the flavor profile, but if you only have $0.99 -- first of all, I feel sorry for you, but secondly, you can't go wrong with Taco Bell's Bean Burrito.
Item #16: CHIPOTLE RANCH CHICKEN LOADED GRILLER
Taco Bell's Loaded Griller series stomped onto the scene in late 2012. At the time of their introduction, the lineup included the Beefy Nacho Loaded Griller, the Loaded Potato Griller and the Spicy Buffalo Chicken Loaded Griller. The last of these was eventually replaced with the Chipotle Ranch Chicken Loaded Griller. One positive aspect of the Loaded Griller lineup that you should try to exploit if possible is that they only cost $1.00 from 2:00PM to 5:00PM, seven days per week. So I resolved to make certain that I take advantage of this special pricing on Saturdays and Sundays (since I work unit 5:00PM on weekdays). Today I chose the newest entry in the Loaded Griller lineup: the Chipotle Ranch Chicken. From the Taco Bell website:
"Delivers the taste of spicy chicken wings with ranch dip because we take our grilled, all white meat, marinated chicken and cover it with kicked-up Chipotle Ranch Sauce and cool reduced-fat sour cream, then wrap it all up in a warm flour tortilla and grill it so it's ready to eat on-the-go."
Price: $1.00 (special Happy Hour pricing)
Taste: 8.5 (out of 10)
Value: 10.0 (out of 10)
Overall Score: 8.9 (out of 10)
Wow. This was nice. First of all: To date, this is the spiciest item I have consumed from Taco Bell that did not come in a small packet and with a label that reads "Fire Sauce." It's nice not to have to douse out Fire Sauce to get that spicy kick that I enjoy. Secondly: the whole grilled chicken (not shredded) provided good chew and mouth feel. My only complaint (a mild one) is that there is no secondary texture here: just meat, tortilla and cheesy sauce. But I cannot imagine a better value at Taco Bell when you take advantage of the special pricing. This is a not-insignificant amount of food, and it's well worth a try.
As always, a copy of the receipt from my visit:
Today was a really successful visit. I would give an overall "Thumbs Up" to every item I tried today. Nice job, Taco Bell! Keep living mas, peeps.
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