Place: Taco Bell
Items: Big Bell Value Menu
Price: $.99 to $1.29
“I’m full!” In two simple words, Taco Bell’s slogan
for its new Big Bell Value Menu appeals directly to the Lunch Guys’
id. Even the most delicious lunch will lose a spork in our ratings if our
stomachs are left growling.
We’re animals, and the Bell knows it. That’s why the restaurant’s
most dramatic menu revamp in more than a decade supersizes some of the foodstuff
with the Grande Soft Taco and three 1/2-pound burritos, plus the Cheesy Fiesta
Potatoes side and Caramel Apple Empanada. Did we stuff ourselves from duodenum
to uvula? No question. But is bigger better?
Chris: I love Taco Bell economics. The most massive items
are still among the cheapest. Seriously, 99 cents for a 1/2-pound Bean Burrito
Especial? If it’s that cheap and that big, who cares if it’s that
good? OK, flavor is still a factor, and there ain’t a dud on the menu.
The real standout is the Beef & Potato Burrito because it introduces a
new ingredient to the seven or so from which all Taco Bell products are mixed
and matched. Fried potato chunks float in the gelled beef-sour cream-green
onion like pineapple cubes in Jell-O. With each bite, I got flashbacks to
my dad’s Sunday morning special of corned beef hash.
being served next to a steak, but rolled in a burrito
or as a side dish in a “Mexican” restaurant, they seem as out
of place as an Olsen twin in a drug rehab center. If you want starch in your
burrito, rice works perfectly well and has for thousands of years.
But my hunch is people will have a real beef with this
burrito simply due to its lack of beef. The only thing big about it is the
hype. Taco Bell undoubtedly feels pressure to jump on the giant burrito bandwagon,
but a half-pound just doesn’t cut it in today’s super-burrito
world.
Chris: Yeah, those Chipotle suckers
must be 3 pounds. But I ain’t knocking any of the “Big”
items, though I’d rather load up on a pound of five a la carte small
items rather than two big ones. Still, I’m happily full.
Tom: The only benefit of the “Big”
would be if it reduced the percentage of carbs (if you call that a benefit).
However, having two tortillas on the Grande Soft Taco doesn’t help and
the flagship Beef & Potato would send Atkins to his grave. Again.
Rating: 3 sporks (out of 5)
Food facts, Beef & Potato Burrito:
530 calories, 42% from fat, 24 g fat, 9 g sat. fat, 1670 mg sodium, 65 g carbohydrates,
15 g protein.
E-mail The Lunch Guys:
tomandchris@thelunchguys.com
The Beef Combo Burrito and the Bean Burrito Especial (aside from the “especial”
addition of jalapeno cheese goo) are essentially more of the same. The Grande
Soft Taco had a nifty innovation to work in more of that cheese goo since
the main taco was already overflowing with a double helping of beef: slather
it on the outside, then wrap it in a second tortilla. And the potatoes side
(loaded up with sour cream and onion sprinkles like a sundae) and the heavenly
empanada are sexier, Mexier versions of McDonald’s fries and apple pie.
Tom: I also love finding enough change in my car seat to
have a good meal at Taco Bell, but I believe the Taco Bell items were already
the proper size. If I want more, I order another item and love doing so. However,
one thing I won’t order again is the new Beef & Potato Burrito.
Not that it’s bad -- it’s just not on the upper end of the Bell
curve. In Mexico, a potato and egg burrito is a common breakfast item but
after that, potatoes don’t belong. The potatoes themselves are tasty
seasoned chunks worthy of
