i am like a SLAVE to taco bell. god it’s like the lowest quality “mexican” food i’ve ever eaten… but for some reason i get it just about every week. i’d say i’m pretty bad off, but then again a certain friend of mine eats taco bell practically daily. he’s… he’s not well.

taco bell does a pretty good job of coming out with new items. they do this all the time. it’s too bad all their food is just a new combination of all the same old stuff. or, in this case, just a GIANT FUCKING CHALUPA.

the xxl chalupa

an unoriginal concept, and kind of ridiculous at that. but of course i’m going to buy a huge glorified taco! it’s pretty much the same as a regular chalupa, with all the same toppings as the ‘supreme’ chalupa, plus nacho cheese sauce and “red strips”, which are flavorless strips of corn tortilla chips. and it’s been… embiggened.

it was actually not bad! well, i don’t know why i was surprised about that, really. it was just a big chalupa! it held together well, and i was able to eat it by hand, though i have heard horror stories from others that it’s sometimes far too ‘intense’ to pick up (soggy and falling apart). it was jam packed with toppings, which was nice, and they all blended together well (except those stupid stale red strips… boo). but all in all, it’s a bit cumbersome to deal with, and i enjoy the different style options available on regular chalupas. the chalupa XXL is really nothing more than a novelty.

the salsas

along with the giganto-chupa, i tried the new salsas: verde and fire roasted. the verde had a prominent aroma right out of the package, and by itself tasted pretty much exactly like you’d expect a tomatillo salsa to taste like; there was a bit of a bite, but mostly just a kind of refreshing flavor. but it was weak… i could hardly taste it, even when the taco i had it with was slathered in it. but the fire roasted salsa was actually quite good! it has a warm, spicy scent, and the flavor has a nice robust bite to it. it tastes a bit smokey, and generally has more going on than the regular taco sauces. i liked it! i’ll use it again.

…assuming i don’t die from all the taco bell i’ve been eating.