April

Place: Taco Bell
Lunch: Pacific shrimp taco (no tomato), beef combo burrito, nachos supreme (no tomato), Dr. Pepper

This is that ridiculous old Taco Bell in an old Sambo's building I'm sure I've mentioned before.  It's a hodge podge of bad paint, old Taco Bell interior pieces, and Sambo's flooring.  The seating, which was brought in recently, is from a Taco Bell eighties decor package that was repurposed from another Taco Bell that either got remodeled or demolished and replaced.  (Not from a Taco Bell around here, mind you.  NO local Taco Bell EVER had an eighties decor package in this market.)

There are far newer Taco Bell buildings than this dump out there that have been demolished and replaced with even newer Taco Bells.

Apparently, this long-running absurdity is going to continue.  They put up a new menu board.  Or maybe it's an old menu board new to this location.  It looks completely out of place, of course.

Smiling Counter Girl is new.  So new that she has no idea how to run the register.  Big Old Biker Dude...the shift manager...is cheerfully assisting her.  "So you hit 'Taco', then you hit...no, that's actually the Combo button.  Take that off." 

She does.

"Now hit Taco...no, you hit Combo again."

This goes on so long that he announces my drink will be free for being so patient, which of course only causes MORE confusion on how to do that at the register.  By the time she's taken my money, the kitchen has already made everything.  The good news being that, as Taco Bell goes, the food is pretty well made.

After all the craziness of March (five airports, four rental cars, one auto show, major car repairs, taxes), April is a blank slate. 

I should settle in at home this month.  Maybe get some projects done.

Or maybe just be horribly lazy.

Street Cred

Place: Qdoba
Lunch: Chicken Mexican Gumbo, Dr. Pepper

Just back from a Texas weekend.  Saw Duran Duran at the previously-blogged-about WinStar in Thackerville, OK.  Got in some LTO's (Limited Time Offerings) at various chains.  Whataburger currently has strawberry pies...you know, the fast food version of a pie, deep fried burrito-shaped thingies...but with strawberry filling.  I don't normally like fast food pies, but these are the exception.  And if you find yourself near a Taco Cabana, their Shrimp Tampico Enchiladas are awesome. 

While ordering my gumbo today, I noticed Qdoba is now offering "street tacos".  I also saw "street tacos" at Taco Bueno yesterday.  Actually, it seems to me I've seen the term "street taco" a lot lately.

What's the deal?  It's the latest fad in fast food...taking what started out as a street vendor item and making it legit.  The Americanized street taco, which is actually based on the original Mexican taco concept from the days before Glen Bell invented the modern pre-fab hard shell, tends to be a soft corn tortilla wrapped around a meat filling with maybe a salsa or cilantro and onion mixture.  The meat fillings are almost never ground beef...they're shredded beef, pork, or chicken. Or maybe fish.  Some chains aren't calling them 'street tacos', opting instead for 'cantina tacos' (Taco Bell) or 'tacos del carbon' (Del Taco).

Not just tacos either.  The Wienerschnitzel bacon-wrapped street dog is similar to a commonly-sold item by hot dog vendors around stadiums according to my brother.  (I had one over the weekend.  OH MY it was good.)

I suppose I should try the food actually being sold by real street vendors, but we don't really have any of them around here.  And I get annoyed with the ones out west because the bums are constantly hanging around them panhandling unsuspecting pedestrians.  ("Hey friend!  Do you have change?  I'm only 35 cents short of a taco!")

I wonder if they're going to start hanging around in Qdobas now.