Chorizo at Del Taco? Dreams do come true.
It all started on my drive to work, passing my local Del Taco I'm always neck-craned looking over to see if they have any new menu items calling my name. Today was my lucky day, as I caught a sign I hadn't read before...something about chorizo tacos:
I arrived at work a few minutes later, the photo on my phone burning a hole in my pocket. I shot over an e-mail to Del Taco asking for more information. A few short minutes later, I received a response with the info I wanted and what was essentially a Willy Wonka-esque golden ticket invite to their headquarters in Lake Forest (a few minutes up the freeway from our office in Orange County).
Feeling like Charlie bringing the golden ticket home to show my decrepit family, I snagged fellow Foodbeasts Peter and Marc, and we went on our merry way to the Del Taco headquarters.
At Del Taco's Headquarters
We learned from their culinary team in the short hour we were there that Del Taco has been serving breakfast for over 30 years.
They gave us a quick tour of their kitchen, showing us how they grate their cheddar cheese from huge blocks every morning (damn, who'da thunk?!), and hand chop their pico de gallo, then we got right down to how the chorizo sausage is fresh grilled in every restaurant’s working kitchen (yes, Del Taco actually cooks in their kitchens), until golden brown and juicy. While the new slightly spicy chorizo sausage can be added to anything on their menu during breakfast hours (more on that later), here are the featured chorizo items:
Chorizo Breakfast Taco: fresh grilled chorizo sausage and scrambled eggs, topped with freshly grated cheddar cheese and served in a warm flour tortilla—available for only $1, this is one of six items on Del Taco’s Buck & Under Breakfast Menu.
Chorizo Half Pounder Burrito: fresh grilled chorizo sausage and scrambled eggs, freshly grated cheddar cheese, and red sauce served in a warm flour tortilla
Epic Chorizo Scrambler Burrito: fresh grilled chorizo sausage and scrambled eggs, freshly grated cheddar cheese, crispy hash brown sticks, handmade pico de gallo, and red sauce served in a warm, oversized flour tortilla
They also introduced a new coffee blend, including an iced version (not too sweet and great coffee flavor) that's available for $1 on their Buck & Under menu all day long. Currently, the Chorizo items are all available during the chain's breakfast menu hours of 11am -- 11pm. If the stuff takes off, which I hope it does, it should find its way into more non-breakfast items.
The entire squad of new items:
Left-to-right, lightest-to-heaviest:
Closeup of that Epic Chorizo Scrambler:
Inside that $1 Chorizo Taco:
After throwing around some thank yous for the exclusives, Pete, Marc and I decided we weren’t quite done with chorizo, plus we wanted to grab some grub for everyone working back at the office. So, we decided to cruise through an actual Del Taco location on our drive back.
Once we were in line, we decided to take advantage of Del Taco’s claim that "you can add chorizo to anything on the menu." Rushing to Del Taco, we made it with 20 minutes left on their breakfast timer (11 am), and proceeded to order EVERYTHING with chorizo on it, and BOLD (fries + secret sauce).
And damn did they do it, here are some of my favorites from our haul:
Chicken Soft Taco, BOLD, w/ Chorizo:
Double Del Cheeseburger, w/ Chorizo:
We didn't think they'd do this one...but they did, and it tasted better than you'd think...Chorizo Vanilla Milkshake:
So, there you have it. After our Willy Wonka-like experience, we stepped out of Del Taco’s glass elevator ridiculously full and happy. The good thing is, a golden ticket isn’t necessary to chow down on Del Taco’s new spicy chorizo, perfect for late night (which I personally love) or as a pretty damn effective hangover cure the morning after.
Created in partnership with Del Taco
