Taco Bell 2014 -

[Toliver]

Taco Bell announces a new breakfast sandwich:

"Taco Bell Rolls Out Waffle Taco in Breakfast War with McDonald's"

The Waffle Taco, which is a waffle wrapped around a sausage patty or bacon, with scrambled eggs and cheese and a side of syrup, is joined by the A.M. Crunchwrap -- scrambled eggs, hash browns, cheese and bacon, sausage or steak in a flour tortilla and the Bacon and Egg Burrito.

Taco Bell says breakfast will be available until 11 a.m. -- a half hour longer than McDonald's offers its Egg McMuffins.

So it sounds like the new Taco Bell breakfast item is basically a McGriddle, except the syrup is on the side, not baked into the waffle.

If you think about it, it's kind of silly that they made it look like a taco instead of a flat sandwich. But I guess it might be easier for their customer base to digest (pun intended) if it's made to look like the rest of their fare.

Does McDonald's have anything to be concerned about with this new entry into the fast food breakfast wars?

[Kim Shook]

I think the Crunchwrap sounds good - I'll probably give that a try. The idea of syrup and eggs touching is completely gross to me, so no waffle. Hardees is the only decent fast food breakfast in my area. Their biscuits are good and their sausage actually tastes like the kind I cook instead of some pre-cooked and frozen patty. It would be nice to have an alternative to Hardees for a quick breakfast.

[rotuts]

I think TB is fixed on Tubular. an article suggested that the Breakfast items were meant to be one-handed affairs, the other for coffee (sic) or texting.

its going to be hard to beet the McD sausage/egg/cheese/muffin. and those are cheap. a loss leader so to speak for the FF breakfast croud.

no TB thats not a Fried Chicken combo spot near me. ie TB/KFC are units around here.

[Tri2Cook]

From the Yahoo Finance article (quoting Taco Bell President Brian Niccol )...

Taco Bell intends to be a "strong No. 2" after McDonald's.

I'm guessing he'd like a chance to reword that one.

[rotuts]

Yar !

[Toliver]

Local Taco Bells have been test-marketing a new morning treat:

Captain Crunchberry "Donut" holes

 

Taco Bell’s latest menu item is the Cap’n Crunch Delight, a warm pastry coated with fruity Cap’n Crunch Berries cereal and filled with creamy, sweet milk icing – essentially a doughnut hole on crack.

Sadly, though they sound hella awesome, they don't taste very good. I sampled a couple of them this past week. 

What you mostly taste is the grease they were fried in, making them quite Chalupa-esque (another Taco Bell item that I think tastes greasy). Then you taste some sort of Crunchberry-ness and that's it. The recipe needs more tweaking. They're not crispy or crunchy and the Crunchberry-ness gets lost quickly.

A failure, IMHO.

[Kim Shook]

Too bad.  They sound like a great 2am post-party food.  Of course, I'm much too old for that, but I can remember!

[Thanks for the Crepes]

Actually, Captain Crunchberry Donut Holes sound pretty horrible to me, but Kim's take on it made me smile.

 

Yes, Kim, I remember those days too.

 

When we could take a day trip to the beach. Four hours drive time each way, eat absolute cheap junk, drink, swim and sun, and return home same day because we couldn't afford a beach motel. Wouldn't even think about it now, but I remember too!

 

Good times.

 

Enjoy your youth; it is way too short.

[Toliver]

Taco Bell seems to be upping its game when it comes to garnering fast food breakfast business:

"Taco Bell to Add Breakfast Biscuits in Bid for Morning Sales"

 

 

"The fast-food chain will introduce a new line of Biscuit Tacos, which wrap taco-shaped biscuits around fillings such as chicken and gravy, at its more than 6,000 U.S. restaurants on Thursday as part of an expanded morning menu."

I thought it was odd that they are going to be dropping the Waffle Taco menu item, which seems to be one of their featured morning items.

The picture of the chicken-in-a-biscuit-taco accompanying the article looks interesting, too. Guess I will have to take one for the team!

[rotuts]

let us know

 

"""   Biscuit Taco is going to get people to rethink their morning routine  """

 

I have my doubts.

[kayb]

I will eat McDonald's hash browns, and Burger King or Sonic French toast sticks. That's the extent to which I'll venture into fast food breakfastdom.

[Toliver]

I tried the new Chicken-in-a-Biscuit at Taco Bell this morning. I'd rate it a "meh". It wasn't bad but it wasn't great either.

The chicken is breaded with some sort of crumb coating which made it slightly crispy. Tasting the chicken by itself, I was surprised to find that the breading/coating had a little "kick" to it. You can get the biscuit "taco" with either gravy or jalapeño honey. The gravy/honey comes in a small, widemouthed (so you can dunk your chicken biscuit taco in it) disposable container. I got the honey. I think the chicken breading was spicier than the honey, which tasted just "sweet" and that was it.

To me, the oddest thing about it was that the chicken biscuit taco came in a cardboard sleeve. The only other Taco Bell item I can recall that had this extra sleeve was when they offered those Dorito taco shell tacos where you needed the sleeve because the Dorito shell was so fragile holding the taco without the sleeve would result in a quickly crumbled taco. Which is what happened with the chicken biscuit taco. I cast the sleeve aside ("Sleeve? We don't need no stinkin' sleeves!"  ) and as I was eating it, the biscuit started breaking up in my hand. Lesson learned. 

The Chicken Biscuit combo costs a little more than the previous Waffle Taco did.

I'd say it's worth trying but it wasn't amazingly awesome which is what I think Taco Bell needs to generate more breakfast business.

 

As an aside, I was alarmed to read on all of the Taco Bell wrappers and sleeves a warning about not reheating or microwaving their food in the wrapping/sleeves. What chemical is in the wrapping/sleeves that can't go through a reheat or nuking?!   

[rotuts]

thanks for taking a Hit for the Team.

 

speedy recovery Your Way !

[Toliver]

Well, that was short-lived! The Taco Bells in my area have discontinued the chicken-in-a-biscuit from their breakfast menu.

You can get their other usual crap (scrambled eggs, sausage, bacon, cheese....whatev) stuffed into a biscuit "taco" for breakfast but just not chicken anymore.

[rotuts]

do they still sell RedSlime   if that's what its called ?

 

and some cumin and cilantro and you are S. of the Border !

[Toliver]

Not sure about the RedSlime. I will have to look next time I buzz through.

 

After selling a ka-billion (I'm not kidding about that number...they estimate they sold a billion of them) Tacos Locos with their Doritos Taco Shells, Taco Bell is now testing Frito Taco shells:

"Taco Bell to Unleash Fritos Taco Shells on Your Town Very Soon"

...Taco Bell has begun rolling out Fritos corn chip shells, both in original and chili cheese flavor, in select locations.

 

[Dave W]

Some negativity on TB's offerings here. I find the AM crunchwrap (eggs, sausage, hash brown, cheese, sauce in a tortilla) to be a 10/10 breakfast item, in the context of fast food.

[Toliver]

Oh, you lucky Canadians! Look at what you're getting:

"Taco Bell's Cheetos Crunchwrap"

Quote

While Americans are still chowing down on our so-yesterday Doritos tacos, Canadians will be satisfying their munchies with the ultimate late-night drunken feast.

Anyone up in Canada willing to take one for the team? 

[Anna N]

On March 2, 2016 at 7:18 PM, Toliver said:

Oh, you lucky Canadians! Look at what you're getting:

"Taco Bell's Cheetos Crunchwrap"

Anyone up in Canada willing to take one for the team? 

 Always happy to help out a neighbour.   Kerry Beal and I dropped into Taco Bell yesterday to take one for the team.  

 

 Due to a slight glitch in the ordering system we ended up with these two originals --  A spicy chicken and a cheesy beef or is it a beefy cheese? 

 

 

 But here is the one you have been waiting for.  

 

 The Cheetos Crunch Wrap. My opinion...  Chemicals wrapped in cardboard.  YMMV. 

 

Edited March 18, 2016 by Anna N (log)

[rotuts]

TB :

 

Human Testing, N. of the Boarder first ? eh ?

[Toliver]

My...it doesn't look too appetizing, does it? Thanks to you and Kerry for partaking in the dubious experiment. I hope you can recover from it soon! 

[Thanks for the Crepes]

I have found an item from Taco Bell that I actually like a lot, and it's only a dollar. It is the Spicy Tostada. It consists of a flat crispy corn tortilla topped with their refried beans, red sauce, lettuce, tomatoes, and a little cheese. Sometimes I will add more cheese at home if they have been especially stingy. The default item also comes with Chipotle Sauce, but after the first time, I asked them to hold that. It's not the chipotle I object to; that would be welcome, but not in a mayonaise base!   Much better without and then 4 or 5 packets of Taco Bell hot sauce added.

[Lisa Shock]

You know, they have an ok green chile sauce you can have them sub for the other sauces....

[Thanks for the Crepes]

On 6/10/2016 at 4:54 AM, Lisa Shock said:

You know, they have an ok green chile sauce you can have them sub for the other sauces....

 

Lisa,

 

Do you remember what that green chili sauce is called? I have not encountered any non mayo green sauces at Taco Bell. They even have an Avocado Ranch sauce.  I even perused the on line TB menu of several different items for customization options, and nothing seemed obvious.

 

Now if Taco Bell had self-serve pump dispensers of this hot green serrano/cilantro sauce like the do at Aplaca Peruvian Charcoal Chicken in Cary, that tostada could be elevated with a capital E-L-E-V-A-T-E-D! I drink that stuff out of the cup. The photo is linked from Yelp.com reviews.

[Lisa Shock]

The green sauce is not in packets or anything. It's just called 'green', like the stuff on a regular tostada or a bean burrito is 'red'. It appears to be just chopped skinless green chiles, with maybe a thickener, no mayo. It's kinda clear looking and not very spicy -definitely not jalepeno. I just order something like 'a bean burrito with green sauce please' and the cashier does:

-Red

+Green

on the receipt. Once in a blue moon I get asked if I want the green in addition to the regular red sauce.

 

I learned about the sauce in Santa Fe, where everywhere you eat people ask if you want 'red or green' so, I never learned a fancy name for it. No one has ever not known what it is. That said, I have mostly been living in the SouthWest.

 

It was originally on the quesadillas, back when they were introduced around 1997 or so (?) then a couple of years later they changed to the creamy sauce. I prefer the green. It's also really good on the breakfast crunchwrap, there's a slight acidity to it that really changes the dish. (I also have less of a tendency to feel overstuffed, so I think it has less fat than the creamy sauces)

Edited June 12, 2016 by Lisa Shock (log)