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Aug 6, 2013

Taco Bell's Waffle Taco Is Beautiful and Frightening and Full of Meat

Taco Bell's Waffle Taco Is Beautiful and Frightening and Full of Meat
Taco Bell's Waffle Taco Is Beautiful and Frightening and Full of Meat. The stomach-churning world of food combinations — where the cronut reigns supreme and the ramen burger is heir apparent — is set to welcome into its ranks a Frankenstein-like meal that may entice or revolt lovers of both Mexican food and breakfast.

Taco Bell's waffle taco, which was tested in five Southern California kitchens earlier this year, will be available at 100 new locations this Thursday. Soon, residents of cities as far and wide as Fresno, Omaha and Chattanooga will be able to drizzle syrup on fried waffles stuffed with sausage and egg.

Reviews have been mixed. If you're into Taco Bell, this sounds like a good idea. If you're into not having clogged arteries, perhaps less so. Back in May, Erin Jackson at Serious Eats tried out an early version of the waffle taco and was underwhelmed. The waffle was "passably tasty," but the sausage was awful. "With its bouncy, rubbery texture, sheen of grease, and lack of any discernible animal origin (at least, from taste alone), a better descriptor would be brownmeat," Jackson wrote.

"This may be the only fast food product in history that would be vastly improved by substituting the protein component for Taco Bell's seasoned ground beef." Of her overall impression, Jackson wrote, "If they could, my taste buds would have called the cops." But at least one Instagram user had an overall pleasant waffle taco experience. "It was actually really awesome! Just don't put taco sauce on it," wrote sarah1ch5. "That was a bad idea." Good to know.