Taco Bell’s top-secret Quesalupa is out
This week, I reached out — finally — for a Quesalupa at the worlds’ No. 1 Mexican-style chain, Taco Bell, with nearly 6,000 restaurants running for the border.
The Quesalupa has been a long time coming. Eagle eyes first caught a glimpse last year when Conan O’Brien visited Taco Bell test kitchens and dug into one. Considering Conan’s ratings, the Quesalupa remained pretty much top secret. What channel is his show on, anyway?
Earlier this year, Taco Bell started the Quesalupa hype by teasing its arrival with weird little clues and allowing Bell ringers to pre-order the mystery new product.
Then the Super Bowl ad. This new “thing” would be bigger than Tinder, bigger than aliens, bigger than James Harden’s beard … even bigger than football. Or, as soccer superstar Neymar corrects us, “real futbol.”
The day after Super Bowl, boom! It was everywhere.
Here’s the Quesalupa breakdown: a chalupa-like shell stuffed with melted pepper jack cheese, crammed with “beloved Taco Bell ingredients,” seasoned premium beef, lettuce, Cheddar cheese, reduced-fat sour cream and tomatoes. You know, watch the commercial enough times, and you’ll think premium means prime.
Total calories: 460. Fat grams: 26. Sodium: 890 mg. Carbs: 38 g. Dietary fiber: 4 g. Protein: 19 g.
Manufacturer’s suggested retail price: $2.99 (your mileage may vary).
Unlike the prom date your parents arranged for you, it’s what’s on the outside that counts here: the shell. Taco Bell has snuck a layer of pepper jack cheese inside the chalupa-like shell. Hiding cheese inside the outside bread? Taco Bell, have you been reading Pizza Hut’s diary?
This is the marriage of a chalupa and quesadilla, with all the “been there, done that” Taco Bell fillings. Every few months, Taco Bell raids its refrigerator and divines how to sneak the same old ingredients by fans as a new product.
Taco Bell, have you been reading Olive Garden’s diary, too?
Think Taco Supreme in a Chalupa shell with a quesadilla cheese shmear.
The Quesalupa has its merits — it’s a solid, handheld hunk of Taco Bell tried and true. Two of these will fill you up. The warm cheese has high elasticity — it’s not a stretch to say this is fun eating.
On the down side, the cheese seems to settle in the middle of the shell. The first bites from either end are all bread. Pretty cheesy … trick.
And where’s the pepper in the pepper jack? The inside flavor was wimpy, a G-rated safety squeeze.
The Quesalupa price tag, $2.99, is steep for Taco Bell, whose biggest fans are teenage boys pulling up to the drivethrough window after midnight and ordering five of everything on the Dollar Cravings Menu.
If history has taught us anything, strap yourself in for Quesalupa 2.0 … as spring follows winter, the Doritos Quesalupa.