GrubGrade

You should never confuse Taco Bell with authentic Mexican food… ever.  So when the fast food Mexican mega-chain goes for a taste of legit Mexican tacos, we will all point and laugh.  Even though I say this, I take Taco Bell for what it is and have been known to go for a taco or three at 2am.  For a cheap, quick taste of quick-serve Mexican grub… for a lot of people, Taco Bell is the only game in town.  Here’s Taco Bell’s attempt at a “real” taco with the introduction of Cantina Tacos.

It’s no surprise that chicken and steak are two of the available options for the new Cantina Tacos.  A newcomer to the bunch is (thankfully not shrimp) carnitas or as the gringos say “shredded pork”.  Each taco was an overpriced $1.69. I say overpriced because there are far heavier menu items on the cheap Taco Bell value menu.  There’s not too much to say about each one of these so watch how creative I’m about to be… (more…)

Just in time to celebrate every one’s favorite excuse to eat Mexican food day, fast food chain Taco Time will be selling their signature Crispy Tacos for only 50 cents today. Touted as “Bigger and better than the rest,” each Taco comes with lean ground beef, cheddar cheese, lettuce and diced tomatoes stuffed into a crispy corn shell.

Each Taco (without Sour Cream) weighs in at 260 calories and 17 grams of fat (5 grams saturated) for those of you who keep score. Taco Time has more than 350 locations wordwide, and is a major Mexican fast food eatery out here in the interior west. They even operate a store on the campus of my college, but I’ve yet to check out their tacos.

We want your opinion; which Fast Food establishment serves the best “cheap” tacos, and how will you be celebrating Cinco de Mayo?

Scratch this one up as another rehash of ingredients for a new Taco Bell menu item.  That might sound like a complaint, but it’s really not a big deal.  Just as long as it’s tasty and affordable, you’re usually going to get a thumbs up from me. There’s only so much you can do with the thousands of combinations possible at Taco Bell.  The latest creation has a bit of an identity complex going on.  It’s sort of a Crunchwrap disguised in Quesadilla clothing.  The latest grub to join the TB menu, the Chicken Bacon Ranch Tortada and the Salsa Roja Tortada.

So Crunchwrap in Quesadilla clothing…let me explain.  A semi-hexagonal folded up tortilla, packed with a combo of ingredients would be an OK description of a Taco Bell Crunchwrap.  A tortilla stuffed with cheese or cheese/meat and folded once over and housed in a suffocating paper-plastic sleeve would describe a Taco Bell Quesadilla.  The new Tortadas are folded into squares and diagonally sliced into 2 decent sized triangle pieces.  Once again, just a tortilla stuffed with a mixture of ingredients and presented in a nice handheld package. (more…)

Yeah I know I’m late on this one, but better late than never.  I’ll be honest, I guess it’s obvious that I wasn’t really looking forward to trying Taco Bell’s latest creation.  Taco Bell has something new on the menu every month it seems and it’s usually just a new combination of the same ingredients.  I’m not complaining about that, but now comes along a creation with shrimp and I shy away from it.  Keith made me do it! Well, I do like shrimp and I do like tacos so I decided to just go for it.  Here’s my review of Taco Bell’s latest, the Pacific Shrimp Taco.

The Pacific Shrimp Taco is described like this:

A warm, soft flour tortilla filled with six succulent shrimp marinated in a mix of spices, then topped with crisp shredded lettuce, Fiesta Salsa, and Avocado Ranch Sauce.

Right off the bat, I’m already a little wary about a mixture of shrimp and  Avocado Ranch Sauce from the description alone.  I go ahead and “opt for the ocean” as Taco Bell tells me to and I really should’ve trusted my gut on this taco. (more…)

Once upon a time, I scoffed at the idea of going for a burrito bowl over a burrito. These days, it’s not unusual for me to go without the tortilla and it’s not so bad.  I can’t really say that less carbs, calories and fat is my main reason either.  I always seem to order a side of chips and end up using them as my utensils.  I’m a big fan of Chipotle because they have very good guacamole.  California Tortilla on the other hand has very bad guacamole.  At Chipotle, my move is to scoop some guac and let it act as the spackle  for the burrito bowl dig.  At Cali Tortilla I just go guac-less and the experience is still pretty solid.  My bowl of choice at California Tortilla is the Low Fat Caribbean Bowl and guacamole isn’t needed because the mango sauce is on the main stage.

With “Low Fat” in the name, some might consider it not very tasty right off the bat.  Just because there is no cheese or sour cream doesn’t mean it’s not a tasty choice.  The Low Fat Caribbean Bowl consists of grilled marinated chicken breast, Mexican rice, black beans, low fat Caribbean mango sauce, fresh salsa and romaine. All the ingredients are generously portioned and always fresh in my experience. (more…)

If you gaze upon the Taco Bell menu board, you will come across a ton of choices but none more simple than the Cheese Roll-Up.  This seems like an item for those either short on cash or looking for something without meat.  If you’ve got less than a buck, this 79¢ item will do the trick.  For someone like me, the Cheese Roll-Up is merely an add-on to a meal.

The Cheese Roll-Up isn't important enough to get it's own packaging label so they used a Grilled Stuft Burrito wrapper.

Taco Bell describes the Cheese Roll-Up like this:

A warm, soft flour tortilla rolled up with a blend of three real cheeses and melted to perfection.

Since Taco Bell has a Why Pay More? value menu with over 10 items for 99¢ or less, it’s a no-brainer that this basic snack makes an appearance.  I can see the Cheese Roll-Up being a hit with little kids, but for a grown kid like myself, it’s not so bad either. (more…)

When I think of tacos, I think of your basic taco.   A hard/soft tortilla shell, with beef or chicken, shredded lettuce, tomatoes, cheese and sour cream.  Perhaps, I’m not thinking outside the box enough.  As you know, Taco Bell thinks outside of the bun when it comes to tacos.  They are always expanding their menu with new items that appeal to different taste buds.  One item that is a good example, which you can find on their Why Pay More Menu for 79¢, is the Crispy Potato Soft Taco.

I love Taco Bell’s Why Pay More menu and have become a big fan of the 89¢ Chicken Burrito-Fresco style.  For that price, I can get two and have lunch for $1.78, and still be fairly calorie/fat conscious.  I don’t mind trying new things so I decided that along with my normal chicken burritos, I would give the meatless Crispy Potato Soft Taco a try.

Taco Bell describes the Crispy Potato Soft Taco as:

A soft flour tortilla filled with crispy potato bites, Pepper Jack sauce, crisp, shredded lettuce, and real cheddar cheese.

That’s basically it.  Nothing really special with this taco, except for the fact that it could appeal to the vegetarian out there.  The potatoes are mildly seasoned and slightly crispy.  The shredded iceberg lettuce and cheddar cheese is typical of what you’d find on most Taco Bell menu items.  The flavor standout comes from the subtle bite of the Pepper Jack sauce that Taco Bell is currently using on the new Black Jack Taco. The ingredients on this taco (at least on this occasion) are very uneven as you can see from the last picture in this review.  The potatoes are taking over half of this taco and the lettuce and cheese are taking over the other half.    It would be a better product if the ingredients were equal throughout.  This wouldn’t be much of an issue if it was strictly position of the ingredients but I would’ve like to see more of some and less of some others.  I can’t help but take bite after bite and think something is missing. As I previously mentioned, this is a good item for the non-meat eaters out there but for the rest of us, it leaves you yearning for some protein.

This isn’t a bad item if you are looking for something different and cheap.  This isn’t a very filling taco and with mainly carbs, it won’t stick with you for long.  The 79¢ Crispy Potato Soft Taco contains 260 cal/13 g of fat/6g of protein as compared the the 89¢ Chicken Burrito Fresco-Style which carries 340 cal/10 g of fat/14 g of protein.  This makes me think I’d rather pay the extra 10¢ and get the Chicken Burrito -Fresco-Style and know that I am getting an item that will satisfy my appetite a lot better.  For the vegetarians, give the Crispy Potato Soft Taco a shot but for the rest of us, leave it as a little side item or just pass altogether.

(Check out our review of the Bacon Cheesy Potato Burrito)

• Pros:  Only 79¢.  Pepper Jack sauce gives it decent flavor.  Item for vegetarians.
• Cons:  Put together uneven.  Not very satisfying/filling.  A little high in fat/carbs.

Taste: 5.00/10

Value: 8.50/10

Grubbing on the Go: 6.50/10

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GrubGrade: 5.50/10 (Mediocre)

(Overall GrubGrade is not an average)

Price: $0.79

TacoBell.com

Nutrition Info – Crispy Potato Soft Taco

Calories – 260

Fat – 13g

Saturated Fat – 3g

Cholesterol- 10g

Sodium – 690mg

Carbohydrates – 31g

Dietary Fiber – 3g

Sugars – 2g

Proteins – 6g

It’s very easy to point at Taco Bell and call their new items very uninspired.  You’ve got to give them credit though, at least they continuously market reasonably priced and reasonably tasty offerings.  There’s really only so much you can do with Mexican fast food.  You’ve got a ton of ingredients and coming up with something new just requires plucking a little of this and a little of that and coming up with a new name.  This time around, Taco Bell has a new-look taco called the Black Jack Taco, and it’s hard to pass up at only 89¢.

Taco Bell describes the Black Jack Taco like this:

A crunchy black taco shell filled with seasoned beef,  zesty pepper jack sauce, shredded lettuce and a blend of three cheeses – cheddar, pepper jack and mozzarella.

Maybe it’s a Halloween thing, I’m not sure, but a black hard shell taco for the month of October seems like a pretty cool idea.   Like the red Volcano Taco shell, the Black Jack’s black shell doesn’t taste any different from what you’re used to. You’re still getting the typical toasty crunch from your standard hard shell taco.  Putting aside just the look of the thing, the main concern for all the grubbers out there is, “How does it taste?”  Well, you’ve got seasoned ground beef and a mix of shredded cheeses and cheese sauce.  Crunchy, cheesy and beefy are three words that can describe the Black Jack. The inclusion of Pepper Jack cheeses into the Black Jack is a nice change of pace.  It’s milder than the cheesy Lava Sauce found in the Volcano Menu items but still has a hint of heat that won’t overwhelm the cheese taste.  Considering that a regular hard shell taco is on the Why Pay More? value menu at Taco Bell for only 89 cents, my question is Why Not Go For the Black Jack? You’re not getting more beef but the cheese blends are a nice bonus.  Taco Bell could’ve easily just come out with this taco with the typical yellow shell and had a different name for it.  The pepper jack and mozzarella cheeses are the only real taste changes.

In closing, it’s a no brainer to give the Black Jack a taste.  It’s promo priced at only 89 cents right now so why wouldn’t you? I applaud Taco Bell for it’s cheap options all the time and grabbing three items and spending under $3.00 is really the way to go.  It’s a cool, new look with a decent taste that won’t hurt your wallet.  Try it.  Available until December 27th.

• Pros: Cheap.  Zesty cheese blend. Cool look.
• Cons: Black shell is just for looks.  Not filling and 17 grams of fat.

Taste:  7.25/10

Value:  9.50/10

Grubbing on the Go:  6.00/10

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GrubGrade:  7.25/10  (Decent)

(Overall GrubGrade is not an average)

Price: $0.89

TacoBell.com

Nutrition Info – Black Jack Taco

Calories – 210

Fat – 17 grams

Saturated Fat – 4.5 grams

Carbs – 6 grams

Cholesterol – 35 milligrams

Sodium – 430 milligrams

Sugars – 1 gram

Dietary Fiber – 2 grams

Protein – 8 grams

A little break from heat of the Summer and the heat of the Volcano Menu from Taco Bell.  Let’s cool down and tackle a new menu item from the fast food Mexican chain.  You might need it after conquering the Volcano Nachos.  The price of this latest creation was too good to pass up.  Introducing the 89¢ Chicken Ranch Gordita from Taco Bell.

Described by Taco Bell as:

A warm, pillowy flatbread filled with Flame-Grilled Chicken, creamy Ranch sauce and crisp lettuce.

First thing’s first…a gordita has never been 89¢ and that’s one of the major selling points that Taco Bell is going with here. (more…)

The long awaited addition to the Volcano Menu has reached the States nationwide.  I recall making my bold predictions at the Taco Bell Test Kitchen back in May, that the next item to bring the heat would be the Volcano Crunchwrap.  The Taco Bell folks were tight-lipped and as it turns out, I was dead wrong.  My second guess was the Volcano Nachos and it turns out I should’ve never trusted my instinct.  So here we are in the middle of the Summer heat and Taco Bell raises the temps even higher with the fiery New! Volcano Nachos.

As I mentioned in my Food News post, Taco Bell entices us with that great promo picture and this description:

Crunchy, freshly prepared tortilla chips covered with hearty beans, seasoned ground beef, warm nacho cheese, red tortilla strips, our new cheesy, molten hot lava sauce, jalapenos and topped off with reduced-fat sour cream

(more…)