Taco Bell’s latest creations are the Core Burritos. They’re kind of like meat and rice burritos stuffed with a three-cheese burrito.
Cheesy Core Burritos are available in two styles, “crunchy” and “spicy,” which contain “red strips” and jalapeño peppers, respectively. Either can be customized with a protein of choice — steak, chicken or ground beef.
Props to Taco Bell for the decently seasoned, juicy pieces of steak in the spicy, cheesy core burrito and for the abundant slices of pickled jalapeño that indeed infuse the contents with some heat. The inner cylinder of melted cheese tasted like just one nondescript type of cheese rather than the supposed three. Still, it was enjoyable, if only for the novelty.
Unfortunately, these aforementioned components were completely overwhelmed by the disproportionate amount of sour cream. Can you ever have too much sour cream? Yes. Yes, you can.
The cheesy, crunchy burrito with chicken faced similar problems, though this time the gobs of “Latin rice” and extraneous tortilla layers were responsible for throwing off the flavor balance. This item was more like a stuffed Texican breadstick than a proper burrito.
With regards to the satiation factor, neither type of cheesy core burrito is hearty enough for supper, but they would suffice for a filling if underwhelming lunch. Save your dinnertime pesos for Freebirds.
This article appears in Sep 1-7, 2016.