Two fast food reviews in one week? Sure, why not! For those who are curious, I reviewed Arby's rib sandwich a couple days ago and Burger King's Impossible Whopper back when it first came out. But, there was another commercial that caught my attention enough to want to give it a go, so today I went through our local Taco Bell to give the cantina taco a try. First, I was a little curious what exactly made it "cantina." I took three years of high school Spanish and another semester at Wabash, but my grasp on the language can be charitably described as "shaky." I knew the word referred to a bar, but that was about it. A little digging tells me it's a bar that also serves food, and generally* has a more laid-back atmosphere. You don't go clubbing in a cantina. You might play some cards or dominoes, though. I read that some cantinas in Mexico are expressly just for adult men, no women or children.** Is that true or not? No real idea. But so I've read. *Again, from what I can tell. **That brings up a whole other subject of kids in bars, which I did see in Ireland. Probably best to talk about that for another day. So, what exactly makes this taco more like bar food than Taco Bell's usual fare? Well, I'm not entirely sure. I guess it's the melted nacho cheese? That seems like something a dive bar would do.* The only other difference between this and a hard shell taco supreme is the shell itself. It's a thinner, more airy shell. More like what you would expect if you actually fried up a tortilla for a shell than the usual Taco Bell hard shell.** I suppose that makes it more "artisan," to use a buzzy word. I'm not sure either addition makes me think "Cantina!" But, they had to come up with some Spanish word, I guess. *I'm referring to a dive bar in the best possible way here. Looking at you, DT Kirby's. **Netfilx's Taco Chronicles actually had a pretty good episode on American tacos if you want to look more in on that one. It didn't really leave me proud to be an American, but it was still interesting. The whole series is excellent, though. I would highly recommend it. But how does it taste, you ask? Pretty good, I'd say. The nacho cheese does add quite a bit to the usual taco supreme. The shell does feel more authentic, for lack of a better word. It doesn't taste like a whole lot, but the texture of it with the cheese gives a nice mouthfeel that is lacking with Taco Bell's other tacos. Or the rest of their menu, frankly. If you're not inclined to go to Taco Bell, I wouldn't recommend going out of your way for it. If you're going anyway, I'd say pick it up. Comments are closed.
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