I will kick your ass*. What’s a Taco Bell Cantina Taco? I hesitate to tell you, but here it is from Nation’s Restaurant News:
Taco Bell has launched a line of street-food-inspired tacos, including one with shredded pork.
The new Cantina Tacos come in fire-grilled chicken, beef carne asada and pork carnitas flavors. Each is served on corn tortillas and topped with chopped onion, cilantro and a lime wedge.
I will only say this once: There is no reason for you to buy this bullshit. There are plenty of fine taco trucks in town where you can get the real deal. In fact, I’ve written about a few of them. “But, PAC, those trucks are so scary!” You know what? I’d be more frightened of what’s in that Taco Bell monstrosity than what I get handed to me through a taco truck window.
I can only blame myself for this, really. If it weren’t for food media folks having such a hard-on for street food, fast food chains wouldn’t be finding inspiration from the street, or (even worse) building their own trucks and carts.
I feel so dirty.
*not really [h/t]

Preach it brother PAC! Real street tacos 4 evah!!
But no, really, I refuse to eat the slop from taco hell. I’m curious on the petroleum/soy by-product content of their new “street tacos.”
Way to be a hipster elitist about this. Portland is obviously not the market for these. But if you’re stuck in living in all the fly-over states that don’t have access to this sort of thing; what’s your advice then? WHAT IS YOUR ADVICE THEN?!?!?
move.
Plus, it is not always easy or convenient to find a taco truck at 2 or 3am. I am just saying.
@kiala: The taco truck in the SE Hawthorne pod is open at that hour.
@kiala
There is nothing convenient about 2 or 3am. Deal with it! Also, you’ve been skooooled!!! There are a couple taco trucks downtown that have late weekend hours.
@Graham
Even flyover states have taquerias. Also, what eric contona said.
At least Taco Bell has running water. I don’t eat there, but I don’t eat off the street, either.
@Reymont
Well, I eat off the street, but I have the decency to brush it off first. I mean, I’m not an animal fer chrissakes.
If you live in a shitty little midwestern town and all you have is a Taco Bell then you too would be happy for a little variety. I grew up in a town that didn’t even have a Taco Bell and flyover states taquerias aren’t open late.
Wait a sec…PAC weren’t you the one lauding AMERICAN CHEESE?! http://blogtown.portlandmercury.com/Blogto…
There is nothing clean about a place where an Oregon Employee defecated in the beans.
I’m most disturbed by their use of the word “flavors” in this sentence …
“The new Cantina Tacos come in fire-grilled chicken, beef carne asada and pork carnitas flavors.”
Is there a taco truck late night finder app for the iPhone? I need that.
On a different tack, am I the only one who likes Taco Bell because it in no way approximates actual Mexican food? I mean, it’s kind of its own thing, at this point. Why are they wasting their time with this “return to authenticity” garbage!
I want tacos wrapped in other tacos! I want nachos on top of burritos! I want made up Spanish words for food that has never existed before! Bring back the CrunchWrap®!
@KIALA: IF ONLY YOU KNEW SOMEONE WHO DID IPHONE DEVELOPMENT!!!!
I go to Taco Bell because the guy in the truck laughed at me when I asked for volcano sauce.
@atomic. exactly.
Sometimes Taco Bell is just what you want. It should have nothing to do with authentic mexican food. It’s about the 17-layer nacho-relleno deluxe.
I still waiting for what ROM has to say about all this? he is the foremost expert on all things Taco Bell, as I am on all things Taco Time,and WSH is on all things creepy…
@ eric cantona
move
Greaaat….. mMre hipsters moving here for quality of life w/o a job. Guess they’ll need to build more cafes on NE Alberta.
Taco bell sux BTW
HAS NO ONE ELSE SEEN THE TACO BELL TRUCK? Was I just dreaming about that? It was parked across from the Aladdin before the Aziz Ansari show in June.
UPDATE: I could only find an image of it in St. Louis. I think there’s only one and it’s mobile.
http://www.grubgrade.com/wp-content/upload…
PAC seems to forget that we live in Portland Fucking Oregon.
You’re preaching to the choir, Padre.
Coincidentally Taco Time is also promoting Street Tacos right now.
http://www.tacotime.com/promotions/index.h…
Once I heard an argument that Taquerias are to Mexican food what Bon Scot was to AC/DC, and Taco Bell is like the Brian Johnson of Mexican food. I guess Taco Time would be the Geordie of that equation. The point is, they all rock my world. Nummer nummer…air guitar…