Visit #7: Saturday, June 7, 2014: 10:17 AM

I had a bit of a rough week at work.  Consequently, I hadn't been feeling much like eating supper of late; thus, no Taco Bell experiences to report since last weekend.  The solution?  Breakfast!

Before I get to the food, I want to gripe about something.  A ridiculous complaint, really, but one I feel should be addressed at least in passing.  One of the menu items I ordered for breakfast came in a paper wrapper.  A lot of Taco Bell menu selections come in this type of a wrapper.  Many menu selections from other fast food restaurants come in such a wrapper as well.  For some reason -- I don't know why -- I happened to glance down at my wrapper after I finished consuming its contents.

"We want to hear about your visit!"  That's a nice enough sentiment.  The next line is the one that puzzled me:  "WARNING:  DO NOT REHEAT THIS PACKAGE."  I don't understand how reheating a paper wrapper could be dangerous.  It could definitely be dangerous to reheat the contents of the package; the prospect of consuming reheated/microwaved Taco Bell sounds a bit terrifying.  My natural skepticism leads me to believe that this is simply a ploy by the Bell to coerce consumers to buy new Taco Bell rather than reheat leftover Taco Bell.  (After all, it doesn't explicitly say that reheating is dangerous, just that you shouldn't do it.)  On to the food.

Item #17:  A.M. GRILLED TACO W/BACON

On Breakfast Visit #1 I consumed the shockingly yummy Waffle Taco with Sausage.  Today I tried another variation on the breakfast taco:  The A.M. Grilled Taco with Bacon.  From the Taco Bell website:

"Fluffy scrambled eggs, melted cheddar cheese and flavorful bacon folded in a warm tortilla and grilled for portability."

Price:  $1.00

Taste:  7.5 (out of 10)

Value:  7.5 (out of 10)

Overall Score:  7.5 (out of 10)

First, the positives:  There was a delightfully crispy texture to the grilled tortilla itself.  This was unexpected and ensured that the texture would not be one-note.  Also, the bacon and cheese flavors played nicely with the Fire Sauce that I applied (a breakfast first!).

But the bacon was once again present in tiny, fragmented form.  Sigh.  The eggs suffered a bit of compacting -- just as they did in the A.M. Crunchwrap -- so I am guessing this is an unfortunate consequence of the grilling process.  (They were wonderfully fluffy in the ungrilled Waffle Taco.)  Perhaps most egregiously, the whole Grilled Taco w/Bacon seemed too empty.  (See picture below.)  Not a bad little breakfast bite overall -- especially for the price -- but nothing exceptional here.

Item #18:  STEAK & EGG CHEESY BURRITO

As a broad statement I would say that thus far in my "Live Mas" eating experience I have enjoyed Taco Bell's taco offerings more so than their burrito offerings.  Not so today, my friend.  Today I was introduced to the Steak & Egg Cheesy Burrito.  From the Taco Bell website:

"Fluffy scrambled eggs, lots of warm, melted cheddar cheese, marinated, premium thick cut steak, and creamy jalapeño sauce all wrapped up in a warm flour tortilla."

Price:  $2.49

Taste:  8.5 (out of 10)

Value:  8.0 (out of 10)

Overall Score:  8.4 (out of 10)

The first thing I noted, as with other Taco Bell burrito offerings, was the heft.  This is a not insignificant  portion of breakfast food.  First bite:  plenty of tasty (if not necessarily juicy, since the steak at Taco Bell only appears to come "well done") steak and cheesy goodness.  There were lots of eggs too, probably just a bit too many.  It wasn't notably spicy in spite of the jalapeño sauce, so I did add a bit of Fire Sauce to the second half of the Steak & Egg Cheesy Burrito.

This baby did not have the shocking "Wow" factor that the Waffle Taco did.  But the Steak & Egg Burrito is a shining example of what Taco Bell is capable of when they apply their menu and ingredient strengths in a way that uses common sense.  I could easily see myself enjoying one of these on a weekly basis.  It seems so simple in concept but many fast food restaurant chains just don't get it.  They constantly seek to invent new menu items that stray further and further from their core competencies and the results are most often disastrous.

It seems clear to me that the Steak & Egg Burrito should be added to Taco Bell's lunch and dinner menus as well.  Other than that, nicely done Taco Bell.

Here is the evidentiary receipt:

Till next time, keep Living Mas.