It’s been all over the news recently that Taco Bell is about to roll out a nostalgia menu for a limited time, where they will be bringing back menu favorites…one “favorite” from each decade. The list includes:
- The Tostada representing the 1960s
- The Green Burrito from the 1970s
- The Meximelt of the 1980s
- The Beef Gordita Supreme representing the 1990s
- The Caramel Apple Empanada of the 2000s
While this is a pretty good list and a pretty neat concept, it’s missing a lot of my personal favorites. I really wish they would bring back pricing that is more closely aligned with the old days as well. And even though they are bringing back some old menu items, the part that is extremely hard to recapture is the feeling one used to get from the whole Taco Bell experience. Well, at least for me it is.
In my rural area, we didn’t get our first Taco Bell until the late 1980s. I grew up loving Old El Paso taco nights at home, so when the local Taco Bell opened, my mom and I were very excited and went to try it the first week. We made several trips over the next several weeks and sampled much of their menu. We enjoyed everything and it became a regular stop for us when we were out shopping on Saturday afternoons.
Fast forward a little bit to when I started driving, and Taco Bell became even more of a staple for me. It was the fast food place that was deemed the “coolest” by my everyone at school, and if you were hanging out, odds are you would probably find yourself at Taco Bell at some point during that outing. The other reason, we frequented it so much was the cheap prices. With just a little cash in your pocket, you knew you could go to Taco Bell and fill up easier than you could at other chains.
Taco Bell was also the place I knew I couldn’t go wrong with on date night. If it was a first date, and I wasn’t sure what she did or didn’t like to eat, going to Taco Bell was the safest bet. It was also a great late-night stop after going to the movies, or bowling, cruising town, or a Friday night football game. Hell, even a quick trip out to town almost always resulted in a quick trip to the drive-thru to get a quick snack whether I was hungry or not just because everything tasted so good.
It’s hard to describe the atmosphere of the place though. In the ’90s, it had its vibrant purple, pinkish, and teal color scheme that we loved so much, and the tables outside to sit out while we dined and talked about the important events of the day like the newest albums coming out, the latest turns in the Monday Night War, or the big upcoming game between the San Francisco 49ers and the Dallas Cowboys. It probably wasn’t the atmosphere of the place as much as it was the company of the people I was with and the times we were having that I miss.
But back to the nostalgic menu…I’m certainly ready to have a Meximelt again, as I’ve been craving one since they pulled them from the menu several years ago. And I was almost to the point of riot until they finally brought back the Mexican Pizza recently. It was always my favorite item on the menu, and I no longer take it for granted and pick one up every other week or so just in case it gets pulled again.
I’ll indulge in another Tostado while the nostalgia menu is in place too just for the memories, as well as a Beef Gordita Supreme. But there are several other old Taco Bell favorites I’d like to see make a comeback at some point as well. Let me start off by mentioning The Chilito…or Chili Cheese Burrito.
What was not to love about The Chilito with its chili sauce they had partnered with shredded cheddar cheese and wrapped securely in a warm flour tortilla? That’s a rhetorical question by the way. My friends and I capped numerous of our evenings off by downing bags of these things, regardless of the consequences we were sure to face the next morning because of it.
The Double Decker Taco is another old favorite that I’d gladly welcome back to the menu. Just look at that image, and gaze upon the beauty that was created by melding two different tacos together with some beans. Other than the Mexican Pizza, the Double Decker Taco may have been Taco Bell’s most perfect creation.
No longer did you have to decide between hard or soft tacos…you could have both. And of all the items they’ve removed from their menu over the last several years, this one confuses me the most. They keep all of the ingredients needed to make this on hand, so why not just keep it on the menu? Curious.
The Bacon Cheeseburger Burrito was a short-term offering from the mid-90s and was my obsession until I completely burned myself out on them.
The thing was loaded with beef, lettuce, tomatoes, bacon, and a cheese sauce. It was wonderful.
I ate so many of those things when they were available, I burned myself out on them by the time they were gone. Even though I got burned out on them way back then, I find myself craving them now, and would probably burn myself out on them again if given the opportunity.
And I’ll stop my list with this one…The Texas Taco Sandwich. The Texas Taco Sandwich hit the market in 1995 with a fun commercial starring Jack Palance. Palance was coming off a resurgence thanks to the movies City Slickers and City Slickers II, so he lent credibility to Taco Bell’s latest offering with a Texas flair. I was driving by the time this came out, so as soon as I saw the first commercials, I was making my run for the border to try one.
The Texas Taco Sandwich was a change from the norm due to its thicker and breadier shell. We know now that this was just the forerunner to the Gordita that was to come in 1998, but at the time it was a unique item that captured my attention, as well as my taste buds while it was on the menu. I do seem to remember it being larger than the later Gordita, but it probably had to be since it was marketed as being associated with Texas. Everything is bigger in Texas I hear.
While all of my favorites aren’t returning as part of this nostalgia menu they are rolling out, I’m sure a lot of other people’s favorites are. But just the announcement of such a menu was enough to get me very nostalgic for Taco Bell, and I’m sure that’s the point of it all. So kudos to you Taco Bell for this, and I hope it does very well, as it could lead to more iterations of it in the future. Who knows, maybe the next time they roll this out I’ll find myself able to binge on Chilitos and Double Decker Tacos once again.
And that’s the way it was,
Mick
mick, if you were in charge of McDonalds Nostalgic menu, what items would you pick of each decade?
There’s probably too many for me to name, but a couple off the top of my head would include the Arctic Orange Shake from the early ’80s, the original McDonaldland Cookies, the Western Omelette McMuffin of the early ’90s, and the Super Hero Burger from the mid-90s.