Remember how fuckin' confused you were when news broke about Taco Bell introducing a taco shell made entirely of Doritos? I guess that's the mark of an auteur, someone who has mastered the craft of packaging innovation on the brink of insanity -- and Taco Bell has done it again with their Naked Crispy Chicken Taco Shells.
Photo: Peter Pham, Foodbeast.com
The unicorn shell was first spotted a few days back at a test location in Bakersfield, CA, our friend sent us a fairly crude photo, and that was enough to spark our curiosity.
We reached out to Taco Bell, considering their headquarters is but a short skip away from our office in Santa Ana, CA. We wanted to taste it. Feel it. And we had questions:
Yes, it's a taco shell made entirely of white meat chicken. It's breaded with some spunky Mexican spices.
Photo: Peter Pham, Foodbeast.com
Don't mind my pretty finger nails, focus on the meat. The taco shell is a meat-head's macro-friendly wet dream. The innards are filled with lettuce, tomatoes, cheese and avocado ranch sauce.
Much like the rest of the Taco Bell menu, you can customize it however you like -- I'll definitely be throwing more of that avocado ranch sauce on, with some bacon and that seasoned meat (why not?).
It was inspired by Milanesa -- a thin, breaded meat common in Latin American countries, and named after the city of Milano.
We asked Taco Bell's culinary team where they got the idea from, expecting them to cite Foodbeast (whatever), or more specifically, crazy Instagram chefs like Tym Bussanich. Instead, they credited an ideation session where someone expressed their interest in Milanesa, an Italian dish found throughout Latin America.
Milanesa || Photo: Wikipedia Commons
The idea became infectious amongst their culinary team. Timing was perfect, as they had been on the hunt for a new taco shell -- and the crispy chicken became an obvious choice. A year later, we have the Naked Crispy Chicken Taco.
No immediate plans for rolling out the Naked Crispy Chicken Taco nationally
We inquired about their plans to roll this out to more locations around the country, but they said they're using Bakersfield, CA as their initial test area. Their current focus is making sure their staff knows how to execute it, and awaiting feedback from customers.
Bakersfield has a population of roughly 350,00 people -- and it seems like they might hold the keys for the rest of America getting their hands on this taco shell made entirely of chicken. Or not. Whatever, Bakersfield.
