A Jones for Junk Food
Last October, the Taco Bell (affectionately referred to as "Taco Hell") was summarily removed from our local mall by the Board of Health.
We all knew it was coming. They'd been shut down twice in six months, and the scuttlebutt around the mall was that conditions weren't getting any better down there. Still, their complete removal was kind of a shock.
When you have your heart set on a Zesty Chicken Bowl and small Sierra Mist, nothing else will do. Many a nite I had to change my palate's cravings to suit the meager fare that remained in the Food Court.
So, in keeping with the ethnic diversity of the Food Court, management put in this upscale Texy-Mexy kind of place that supposedly does "prepared to order" dishes. Their menu is bigger than Taco B'Hell's, and a little more upscale (read:expensive), but I think they're having problems keeping pace with the mall traffic.
At the mall, we like our food fast and cheap. Who has time to wait for "prepared to order"?
Taco B'Hell was a smother-it-with-cheese, slap-it-in-a-shell and hope you don't get ptomaine kind of place. It was quick--no fuss, no frills. The taste of the food blandly familiar and could be altered only with large doses of Fire Sauce. It was the only place where cheese tasted like shredded Velveeta, beans were the consistency of wallpaper paste, and meat was always a mystery. Even if the outcome wasn't dependable, the initial input was always what one expected.
It's strange how, after awhile, I began to miss ole Taco B'Hell. The Texy-Mexy place doesn't cut it--too slow and frou-frou, not to mention expensive. And why are there a bunch of little Asian guys running it?
So, today, while I cruised up Boston Road, I spotted a free-standing Taco B'Hell, pulled up to the drive-thru and ordered myself a Nacho Cheese Chalupa, a Crunchy Taco, and a small Pepsi.
Who cares if a Nacho Cheese Chalupa doesn't exist in real Mexican cuisine, or if the "taco" is a combination of mystery meat and anemic vegetation passing for lettuce and tomatoes? I'm not eating at Taco B'Hell for the ambiance, the health benefits, or the authenic Mexican cuisine. I'm eating it for a particular flavor and taste that's become modern day "comfort food."
And they delivered...just what was anticipated.
"Thank you and have a nice day!"
We all knew it was coming. They'd been shut down twice in six months, and the scuttlebutt around the mall was that conditions weren't getting any better down there. Still, their complete removal was kind of a shock.
When you have your heart set on a Zesty Chicken Bowl and small Sierra Mist, nothing else will do. Many a nite I had to change my palate's cravings to suit the meager fare that remained in the Food Court.
So, in keeping with the ethnic diversity of the Food Court, management put in this upscale Texy-Mexy kind of place that supposedly does "prepared to order" dishes. Their menu is bigger than Taco B'Hell's, and a little more upscale (read:expensive), but I think they're having problems keeping pace with the mall traffic.
At the mall, we like our food fast and cheap. Who has time to wait for "prepared to order"?
Taco B'Hell was a smother-it-with-cheese, slap-it-in-a-shell and hope you don't get ptomaine kind of place. It was quick--no fuss, no frills. The taste of the food blandly familiar and could be altered only with large doses of Fire Sauce. It was the only place where cheese tasted like shredded Velveeta, beans were the consistency of wallpaper paste, and meat was always a mystery. Even if the outcome wasn't dependable, the initial input was always what one expected.
It's strange how, after awhile, I began to miss ole Taco B'Hell. The Texy-Mexy place doesn't cut it--too slow and frou-frou, not to mention expensive. And why are there a bunch of little Asian guys running it?
So, today, while I cruised up Boston Road, I spotted a free-standing Taco B'Hell, pulled up to the drive-thru and ordered myself a Nacho Cheese Chalupa, a Crunchy Taco, and a small Pepsi.
Who cares if a Nacho Cheese Chalupa doesn't exist in real Mexican cuisine, or if the "taco" is a combination of mystery meat and anemic vegetation passing for lettuce and tomatoes? I'm not eating at Taco B'Hell for the ambiance, the health benefits, or the authenic Mexican cuisine. I'm eating it for a particular flavor and taste that's become modern day "comfort food."
And they delivered...just what was anticipated.
"Thank you and have a nice day!"
posted by Tish Grier at 3:03 PM
1 Comments:
I have to agree that the worst thing to happen to Taco B'Hell was its merger with Pizza Hut under the auspices of Pepsico. Pizza Hut used to be passable pizza when there was no real Italian made pizza around. But that's not the case any more. The marriage of the two has been a disasster for both.
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