Taco Bell Newer Menu Items

IMPORTANT NOTE: Complete Taco Bell coverage HERE.

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International Tacos and Margaritas

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Tortadas

April 14, 2010 - Taco Bell has now added a Bacon Ranch Tortada and a Salsa Roja Tortada. Nutritional Info

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Black Jack Taco

The new Black Jack Taco has a black shell, seasoned ground beef, and zesty pepperjack sauce. Click here for more info.

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Chili Fritos Items

April 20, 2009: The test restaurant in Irvine on Barranca now has a Chili Fritos bowl and a Chili Fritos Burrito. Yes, it is Fritos brand corn chips that are inside each.

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Three Types of Nachos

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Bacon Cheddar Gordita Crunch

Taco Bell's new item as of January 2, 2009 is their Bacon Cheddar Gordita Crunch with lots of bacon, a soft taco shell, a crispy taco shell, ground beef, and melted cheese. This item even has its own website with ingredient listing and nutritional info and it cost me $2.49 for one.

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Snackitos

Just got back (Dec. 17, 2008) from a Taco Bell test restaurant and they had some new items called Snackitos. There are three kinds: Nachos, Loaded Potato, and Spicy Buffalo.

Yes, this picture was taken in the rain.

But this one wasn't

As of January 2, 2009 the Snackitos seem to have been removed from the menu.

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Fully Loaded Nachos, Tortadas and More

Went for lunch today (Nov. 17, 2008) to try out the new Taco Bell Fully Loaded Nachos that I've been seeing ads for but got sidetracked when I saw that there is now, at least at the test restaurant that happens to be near where I live, a new Fire-Grilled Chicken menu with a tortada (a word I've never heard before), a taco, and a burrito.

I got the tortada and the taco. The tortada is kind of like a cross between a burrito and a tostada. Both items I got had the same ingredients with the difference being that the tortada came in a bigger, toasted tortilla. UPDATE (January 2, 2009): When I went back to this same Taco Bell location earlier today their fire-grilled chicken menu changed to just having three types of tacos. No more tortada or burrito apparently. UPDATE (March 11, 2009): All of a sudden people have started doing a lot of searches for "taco bell tortada." I thought that Taco Bell had tested it and decided not to take it beyond test stores but now that everyone's searching for it I'm going to try to find out if it's been brought back. If anyone has any information on this please leave a comment.

Here's the updated Fire-Grilled Chicken Tacos menu:

(If anybody knows the price for the Fully Loaded Nachos please leave a comment here and tell what city you found them in. The cost for them at my Taco Bell is $3.99 and you can make it a combo for a dollar more, which adds a large drink. Good deal considering the regular price of their small drinks is $1.19.)

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IMPORTANT NOTE (If you do not read this note you are likely to not find all the information you are looking for): This one entry is only one of our many entries on new items at Taco Bell. You can read our complete Taco Bell coverage all at once by CLICKING HERE. My site traffic tells me people do not see that link no matter how obvious I make it, which means that visitors here are not getting all the information they are looking for.

Fresca's Mexican Grill - Review #3 (Quick Stop)

Fresca's Mexican Grill 1621 Edinger Ave, #6 Tustin, CA 92780 (714) 259-0499 Listing on Yahoo! Local Listing on Ask.com's Citysearch Official Site

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Made a quick stop at the new-ish Fresca's Mexican Grill in Tustin (almost in Santa Ana) recently to follow up on the Fast Food Maven's recommendation to me to try their shrimp tacos. Fresca's is Orange County-based and similar to a lot of other fresh mex chains around here but it does have a few touches of authenticity you wouldn't expect.

So I ordered a shrimp taco and a chicken taco and loaded up on some chunky red salsa, some of the hottest escabeche I've ever had, some salsa verde and some horchata:

The thing I liked about the shrimp taco was that the shrimp were very fresh and plump and meaty with a hint of pineapple glaze and pineapple salsa. I wanted to get some flan but I've been trying to not have too much dessert lately.

They are also advertising some pretty good deals:

The Chili Pepper - Review #2 (Photo Super Post)

The Chili Pepper 167 S Main St Orange, CA 92868 (714) 639-2840 Listing on Yahoo! Local Listing on Ask.com's Citysearch No known official website.

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Time to let the pictures do the talking. This is one of those places I like a lot but just don't get to very much.

Huevos rancheros and chilaquiles

Carnitas taco with raspberry chipotle sauce and two coconut shrimp

Chicken Adobado

Pacific Whey Cafe

Pacific Whey Cafe 2622 San Miguel Dr Newport Beach, CA 92660 (949) 644-0303 Listing on Yahoo! Local Listing on Insider Pages Official Site

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(Disclaimer: This blog is not just about Mexican restaurants in Orange County but also about Mexican food that can be found in non-Mexican restaurants in Orange County.)

Here's a nice little place tucked away in the Newport Hills Shopping Center and I didn't even realize they had Mexican items on their menu until recently. In fact they have a whole section of Mexican items for breakfast and another whole bunch for lunch or dinner.

On Monday from the "PM Ole" menu I tried the Grilled Vegetable Quesadilla stuffed with "Pepperjack Cheese, Zucchini, Yellow Squash and Sweet Bell Peppers." I liked that the quesadilla was not greasy on the outside, making it easy to pick up and eat. Good blend of flavors inside and the green tomatillo/avocado sauce helped.

Early this morning I tried out the interesting sounding Breakfast Potato Nachos, made with "Red Rose Potatoes Smothered in Cheddar Cheese, Pico de Gallo, Avocado and Sour Cream." This is the first time I've ever heard of breakfast nachos so when I find something unusual like this I have to try it out. This really is nachos with fried up potato slices in place of corn chips. Overall I enjoyed it but wish they could've followed the quesadilla's lead and made the potatos a little less greasy.

Both entrees were $7.95 and the Sunkist protein drink thing I got each time was $3.85. Slightly pricy, but when the opportunity presents itself I'll be trying more of Pacific Whey's Mexican items. And they have lots of good bakery items too that I've tried before.

Throwing in the Towel

Before I write more about Mexican food I need to put the brakes on and find out if any readers have any thoughts on how this blog could be run better, better organized, etc. The reason I ask is because the site traffic suggests that the vast majority of visitors to this site do not click around the site to find the information they need and 95% of the time that information is only one click away . . . and usually the necessary link is staring the visitor in the face. Believe it or not the almighty Google does not always send people to the best page on the site for the info they are looking for and I find that usually a visitor will glance at the first thing they see here, assume wrongly the site doesn't have what they are looking for, then leave. This really is a pandemic, oft-repeated scenario. I wouldn't bother mentioning it if it hadn't happened thousands upon thousands of times. Is there something I can do to make the links more obvious? ... or have people been conditioned by Google to be afraid to explore a website?

Chipotle Opening in Huntington Beach

People have been searching for information on when the new Chipotle will open in Huntington Beach and I have just received word that it'll open this Friday, December 5th. I stopped by about ten days ago and even though it was only 5:15pm it was still so dark already that the picture turned out very poorly:

Trust me, it looks a lot better than that in person. I'll try to get some better pictures soon (unless an enterprising reader wants to beat me to it and submit some) and might even get there on opening day. The location is on Beach Blvd., I think between Heil and Edinger on the west side of the street. And do me a favor, when you go there and you want a Barbacoa Burrito please don't ask for a Barracuda Burrito.

UPDATE (Dec. 3): Here's a photo taken today and it shows a sign now with the opening date:

More information can be found at the Fast Food Maven blog.

Best Breakfast Burrito in Irvine

No surprise to longtime readers but I am always analyzing the traffic for this site in many different ways. What has surprised me is how often people search for information on the "best breakfast burritos in irvine," with similar searches for other OC cities rarely turning up at all. Why would that one city be the most popular one out of all Orange County? I still don't know the answer but if anybody has any insight let me know.

I'm not even much of a burrito guy but recently set out to try all the breakfast burritos in Irvine I could. My quest may never end (as with the overall quest of this entire blog) but I'll update this entry every time I try a new contestant. And let me just say that I don't care where the breakfast burrito comes from. It doesn't have to come from a "Mexican" restaurant per se; it can come from any place that sells food and also happens to have breakfast burritos on the menu. So here's pictures (and possibly descriptions and comments) of the burritos I have come across so far.

Mimi's Cafe

Chipotle Breakfast Burrito

"Stuffed with scrambled eggs, shredded beef, green onions, cilantro and black beans. Topped with chipotle sauce and melted cheeses. Served with red skin potatoes."

Official Site

Chick-Fil-A

Sausage Breakfast Burrito

Official Site

Tacos & Co.

Chorizo Burrito

Official Site

Las Fajitas

I can't remember what this breakfast burrito was called. Las Fajitas has three or four to choose from but they no longer have an official website because, as they told me, nobody ever looked at it.

La Sirena Grill

Picadillo Burrito

"Organic scrambled eggs, Niman Ranch sausage mixed with peppers, onions, garlic and choice of rice or pinto beans."

I already wrote about this burrito in an entry on the breakfast at the La Sirena Grill in Irvine. It can be read by clicking on the 'la sirena grill' label at the end of this entry.

Official Site

McDonalds

McSkillet Burrito

My comments: More rustic than you would think coming from McDonald's.

Official Site

Carl's Jr.

Big Country Breakfast Burrito

My comments: nobody remembers that Taco Bell used to have a Country Breakfast Burrito with gravy in it. Now Taco Bell doesn't but Carl's does.

Official Site

Tortilla Grill

Machaca Burrito

"4 eggs scrambled with shredded beef and pico de gallo stuffed in a handmade flour tortilla with jack/cheddar cheese and beans."

My comments: This burrito was huge.

Taco Factory

Machaca Burrito

My comments: This was an okay breakfast burrito. The interesting thing about it is that they serve it to you open-faced then you can roll it up yourself.

Chorizo Burrito

My comments: Similar to the machaca burrito but maybe a little better

Official Site

Jerry's Wood-fired Dogs

Hot Link Breakfast Burrito

"Jalapeño hot link chopped with freshly scrambled eggs, grilled onions & peppers, with cheddar and pepper jack cheese. Served with a side of fresh salsa."

Official Site