Taco Bell is launching the US Taco Co. and Urban Taproom, its new upscale taco chain.
The US Taco Co. and Urban Taproom restaurant will feature a menu of 10 premium tacos, thick-cut fries, milkshakes, craft beer, and wine, according to Nation’s Restaurant News, an industry publication.
The first location is set to open in Huntington Beach, California, this summer.
The first US Taco Co. and Urban Taproom restaurant is set to open in Huntington Beach this summer (photo US Taco Co)
Taco Bell declined to elaborate on expansion plans.
Nation’s Restaurant News revealed some of the menu items:
- Winner Winner: Southern-style fried chicken breast with South of the Border gravy, roasted corn, pico de gallo, jalapenos, and cilantro in a flour tortilla.
- One-Percenter: Lobster, garlic butter, red cabbage slaw, and pico de gallo on crispy fry bread.
- Brotherly Love: Carne asada steak, grilled peppers and onions, roasted poblano queso, and cotija cheese in a flour tortilla.
The side of fries comes with dipping sauces including “ghost chile ketchup” and “roasted poblano crema.” One of the beer-spiked milkshakes on the menu, called the “Mexican Car Bomb”, has vanilla ice cream, tequila caramel sauce, chocolate flakes, and Guinness.
Tacos will be priced at about $4 each, and the average check size is expected to be roughly $12 with a drink.
Customers won’t be able to customize their tacos like at Chipotle, but they will be able to watch their food being made.
“Most dishes will be prepared in-house, in glass-enclosed kitchens that allow guests to see meat grilling or tacos in the works – though a few ingredients will come from outside suppliers, like the Texas smoked brisket or Southern pulled pork,” NRN reports.
The new concept is meant to attract a demographic of higher-income edgy foodies who would never step foot inside a Taco Bell.
Photographer Dario D was fed up with his fast food order not looking quite as appetizing as it did on the advert and decided to see how the food sold over the counter matched up to the promised product.
He bought burgers and tacos from some of the biggest chains in the United States and set them up in his studio for a professional standard photo shoot.
And the difference was clear to see.
Dario D found that most of the burgers he bought were not quite as tall as the adverts promised they would be.
In fact, Big Macs would struggle to fit inside their boxes if they matched their picture.
Another McDonald’s burger, the Angus Deluxe Third Pounder, would have the same trouble.
Dario D embarked on the project following: “a lifetime of disappointment, bafflement, and rage”, posting the results on his website.
He gave Burger King’s Whopper a few tries, but after slightly squashed results could only conclude: “They need to fire the guy who does his yoga on top of the Whoppers.”
In one side-by-side comparison, he showed the results of asking staff at different locations to make the Whopper look like its advert.
Photographer Dario D found that most of the burgers he bought were not quite as tall as the adverts promised they would be
“Both times, the cashiers turned and took strangely long, careful looks, as if nobody had ever requested that before,” he said.
“They said sure.”
Out of curiosity, Dario D complained about the “misleading” adverts.
A member of Burger King’s Consumer Relations Team replied: “One may find the Whopper Sandwich as pictured in commercials more attractive because during photo sessions, professional food stylists are used to ensure the consistency and appearance.”
It wasn’t just burger chains where the food failed to size up to its commercial counterpart.
In Taco Bell and Jack in the Box, the tacos were thin compared with the packed shells in the adverts.
Of the Taco Bell results, Dario D said: “Since these tacos are pretty dry and empty, I can only tolerate them with hot sauce, which, for me, is when they become good.”
With the help of a green screen and rotating chair, Dario D took each product’s photo at the most flattering angle he could before using digital software to show the advert and real product side-by-side.
Dario D said: “I gave the items as fair a chance as absolutely possible.”
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Macaulay Culkin proved that he was doing just fine as he hit the shops to get the last of his Christmas gifts on Saturday, despite starting the day by eating alone at Taco Bell.
The former child star cut a solitary figure as he wandered around New York, before stopping off at the Mexican restaurant to tuck into a tasty lunch.
While many people will be watching the festive Home Alone films over the holidays, in which Macaulay Culkin stars as a young boy accidentally left at home by himself, the star seemed quite happy to be spending his day alone, pounding the streets of SoHo.
Macaulay Culkin, 32, who dated Mila Kunis for nearly nine years, dispelled any rumors that he was undernourished by stopping off at the fast food restaurant as soon as he got into town, buying a hefty meal and sitting on his own to eat it.
After re-fueling, Macaulay Culkin set about hitting the shops, as did many other New Yorkers in the run up to Christmas Day.
Macaulay Culkin proved that he was doing just fine as he hit the shops to get the last of his Christmas gifts on Saturday, despite starting the day by eating alone at Taco Bell
Trying to go as incognito as possible, Macaulay Culkin wore a floppy grey hat over his blonde mop of hair, leaving just tuft of the trademark mane sticking out.
He also wore a pair of dark Ray Ban sunglasses and wrapped a stripy scarf tightly around his neck, pulling it up tight under his chin.
The sometimes eccentric-looking star could have passed for any other shopper in a pair of loose-fitting blue jeans and a buttoned-up black jacket.
With headphones in his ears, and puffing on a cigarette, the artist stopped by a number of high street shops, picking up some clothes in Banana Republic and a portable record player in Urban Outfitters.
