A quick note before getting down to the nitty-gritty: Did you know that there is a Taco Bell mobile app? (Maybe other restaurant chains have these, but I didn't bother to check.) The app itself seems to be a glorified menu for your mobile device. You can surf through all of the menu awesomeness in a format that is pretty conducive to viewing on a smallish screen. You can also find the nearest Taco Bell location, although the veracity of the data might be a tad suspect: it states that the Taco Bell nearest to my house has no drive thru window. (My local Taco Bell DOES have a drive thru window, so my first impression is that the Taco Bell app is a bit of a dumbass.) Is there such a thing as a Taco Bell without a drive thru window? I guess the locations at malls and airports don't have one. But a freestanding Taco Bell without a drive thru window? How the hell would I get a burrito at 2AM? Of course, I am viewing this through the prism of my much younger self, since there is virtually no way I would be awake at 2AM these days unless my body was reacting especially poorly to a meal I consumed at Taco Bell at 7PM the previous evening.
There is another segment within the mobile app called "The Cravinator." You can indicate up to 9 different cravings that you are having -- side note: is it even possible for a human being to crave 9 different things at the once? -- and The Cravinator will select the appropriate menu item for you. For instance, I indicated that I was craving something "Spicy," "Melty," and "Legendary." The Cravinator told me that I needed to get some Volcano Nachos. I think I am going to let The Cravinator pick my next Taco Bell meal (Visit #4), assuming that it doesn't crank out a result that is a duplicate of something I consumed on one of my first three visits.
Item #5: SOFT CHICKEN TACO
Tonight I once again went with the Dine In option, with Diet Dew once again my beverage of choice. For my first selection I went with a totally generic menu item: the soft chicken taco. After all, not everything on the menu can be a super-sexy choice. Sometimes you just need/want something basic. Per the official Taco Bell website description:
"A warm, soft flour tortilla filled with shredded chicken, topped with crisp lettuce and real cheddar cheese."
Price: $1.49
Taste: 6.5 (out of 10)
Value: 5.5 (out of 10)
Overall Score: 6.3 (out of 10)
First of all, let me say that there was nothing overtly BAD about the taste of this item. It was just completely unremarkable. Once I had chewed a couple of bites of this soft chicken taco, I decided to add some Verde Salsa to this sucker. Good move! I had never tried the Verde Salsa before, but its flavor actually blended pretty nicely with the flavor of the shredded chicken. It made the whole chicken soft taco much more flavorful, since the only other ingredients present besides the chicken are both a little bit on the bland side: cheese and lettuce. Here's a pic of the Verde Salsa along with his good buddy, Fire Sauce:
My major problem with the soft chicken taco was a disturbing lack of chicken. You can probably tell from the pic above that there really wasn't much there. It wasn't that I expected to be full after eating one soft chicken taco; I just expect a little more for the $1.49 price. Hence, the low Value Score. All in all, a decent-tasting but mostly unremarkable bite.
Item #6: CHEESE ROLL-UP
The Cheese Roll-Up can be found on Taco Bell's "Specialties" menu. From what I can gather, everything that cannot be classified as a Taco, Burrito, Gordita, Chalupa, Salad or Nachos qualifies as a "Specialty." I had no idea what to expect from this one, but my expectations were pretty low. Here's the Taco Bell website description:
"A flour tortilla rolled up with a three cheese blend melted to perfection."
Price: $0.89
Taste: 5.0 (out of 10)
Value: 5.5 (out of 10)
Overall Score: 5.1 (out of 10)
First impression: this thing was really small. Practically tiny. It was about as thick as a robust cigar. I cut it in half to see that it was indeed basically as described: melted cheese wrapped up in a tortilla. If the cheese in question had a stronger flavor I think this might actually have a chance to be a bit more successful. As presently constructed, however, it's a pretty bland roll of tortilla and cheese. On a positive note, however, I dunked the remainder of it in Fire Sauce and it tasted much, much better! Outside of that alteration I cannot in good conscience recommend the Cheese Roll-Up.
Item #7: NACHOS SUPREME
Up until this point it has been a mildly disappointing (but inexpensive!) meal. Nachos Supreme time, baby! I had never tried any nachos at Taco Bell other than their plain, undressed nachos with nacho cheese dipping sauce in the sad little plastic cup. So this was definitely a foray into the unknown, but I was cautiously optimistic. The Taco Bell website description:
"Crisp, freshly prepared daily tortilla chips covered with seasoned beef, hearty beans, warm nacho cheese sauce, diced ripe tomatoes, and reduced-fat sour cream."
Price: $2.19
Taste: 8.0 (out of 10)
Value: 7.0 (out of 10)
Overall Score: 7.8 (out of 10)
When you consider that you would pay three times (at least) the price of the Nachos Supreme for a much less appetizing presentation of nachos at a sporting event or movie theater, these are a relative bargain at $2.19. The portion size is not huge but is decent for the price you are paying. But the facet of this menu selection that surprised me the most was how good it tasted. It was delicious. There were ample amounts of seasoned ground beef -- which can taste pretty bland when squished into a soft tortilla but was really good in this context -- and refried beans. (The refried beans were especially tasty, not bland in the least.)
In addition, the tomatoes had none of the unpleasant acidic nastiness that plagued my Steak Meximelt from a few days prior. All of the ingredients worked very nicely together. I would caution anyone who orders the Nachos Supreme to eat them very promptly, as the chips themselves are on the thin and airy side and absorb the other ingredients fairly quickly. My one minor gripe would be that the inclusion of just 2 more chips would have yielded just about the perfect ratio of chips to toppings -- I had a small pile of leftover toppings after the chips were gone. But these were some tasty nachos!
Here's tonight's receipt:
That's it for Meal #3. For my next meal I will rely on The Cravinator. Things could get dicey.
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