But as luck would have it, shortly after walking into the restaurant, the skies outside blackened, and some truly biblical weather ensued. This kept any additional potential patrons from entering the restaurant -- a definite plus -- but it was a little unsettling when the lights began to flicker a bit and the thunder grew so loud that I felt it transmitting into my body from my hard plastic chair. Also, I was trapped for a few minutes after I got done eating. Oh well.
(You may notice from my receipt that I purchased a Brownie Sandwich along with the two other items from tonight's meal that I am reviewing below. For reasons unknown -- perhaps my concern at being swept away in a tornado was to blame -- my appetite was not at its peak on this particular evening. The thought of attacking the Brownie Sandwich after already eating a sizable portion of food was not an appealing one, so I reserved it to consume after my next Taco Bell meal. I will provide the review for the Brownie Sandwich in that meal's post.)
Item #27: BEEFY 5-LAYER BURRITO
I have been on the record as saying that in general, Taco Bell's burritos have been the most disappointing category of Border cuisine. Tonight gave me a bit more hope. And as any person with their salt knows: "Hope is a good thing, maybe the best of things, and no good thing ever dies." Tonight's burrito selection: the Beefy 5-Layer Burrito.
The official Taco Bell website description:
"Layers of seasoned beef, beans, real cheddar cheese and cool reduced-fat sour cream all wrapped in a flour tortilla with a special layer of warm nacho cheese sauce."
Price: $1.29
Taste: 8.0 (out of 10)
Value: 9.5 (out of 10)
Overall Score: 8.4 (out of 10)
Sometimes the best addition is a subtraction. The subtraction that I am referring to in this instance is rice. Rice in and of itself does not a bad burrito make. But I do feel like it makes the proper flavor/texture balance more difficult to achieve. Everything needs to be spot-on for the rice to seem like it belongs. Leaving the rice out allows for a wider margin of error. The Beefy 5-Layer Burrito doesn't knock you over with spectacular flavors, but texturally it is near perfect and at $1.29 delivers incredible value.
All of the flavors here work very well together, particular the beef and the beans. Taco Bell was also wise not to "over-beef" this burrito. There is just the right amount. That said, it is still a very sizable meal for the price, and is easily my favorite Taco Bell burrito to date.
Item #28: NACHOS & CHEESE W/CORN SALSA
The corn salsa served at Chipotle restaurants is certainly among my favorite condiments on Earth. In perusing Taco Bell's website, I noted that Taco Bell also offered their side of Nachos with corn salsa. I wasn't entirely sure what to expect, although I was pretty certain that it would not be on the level of the product offered at Chipotle. I figured "what the hell," because I needed to cross it off my list.
The official Taco Bell website description:
"Roasted corn and pepper salsa, paired with crispy tortilla chips."
Price: $1.49**
Taste: 7.0 (out of 10)
Value: 7.0 (out of 10)
Overall Score: 7.0 (out of 10)
This was without a doubt my most amusing checkout experience to date. As previously mentioned, I dined in on this occasion. I have been doing this pretty frequently of late and thus remembered tonight's cashier from previous visits to this Taco Bell location, so he was not a new employee. He looked to be approximately college-aged with scruffy hair poking out from underneath his Taco Bell cap. I ordered the Beefy 5-Layer Burrito first -- no problems there.
Next up: a side of Nachos with Corn Salsa. He hunted around the computer screen for about a full minute. It was actually getting a little bit uncomfortable. I was just about to say "Don't worry about it" and order something different, but he found it just in time. (I guess that tells you all you need to know about how often a customer orders corn salsa at Taco Bell, and sadly, probably tells you all you need to know about said salsa's freshness.)
You will notice an asterisk on the $1.49 price above. I am not sure whether it was a cashier error, or if one simply cannot get a side of Taco Bell nachos without nacho cheese, but I received cups of both nacho cheese AND corn salsa. (See picture above.) I was charged $0.30 for the corn salsa and $1.19 for the nachos and nacho cheese. Which turned out to be quite a happy accident, because upon trying a chip dipped only in the corn salsa, the flavor was too bland for my liking. There was a faintly sweet and roasted flavor that was definitely not unpleasant -- there just wasn't enough of it.
The other problem that I initially encountered was that the corn salsa had difficulty staying put on top of the chip. The solution that I implemented was nothing short of genius** -- I dipped each chip in the nacho cheese first, then executed a follow-up dip in the corn salsa. The resultant flavor was not exceptional, but it was certainly a huge improvement on the dipped-only-in-salsa flavor. The other bonus was that the nacho cheese caused the corn salsa to adhere to the chips much more effectively. The nacho cheese and corn salsa combo is a solid combination, but not a particularly remarkable one.
(**Actually, no genius was involved.)
**UPDATE: Corn Salsa appears to have been discontinued as a menu offering. It's probably for the best.**
**UPDATE: Corn Salsa appears to have been discontinued as a menu offering. It's probably for the best.**
As always, the receipt:
Peace out, loyal readers. Stay tuned for the riveting conclusion to the Brownie Sandwich saga!
No comments:
Post a Comment