Fast Food Review: War of the Shrimp Tacos!

During the two years in exile when I lived in Santa Ana, much of that time spent working for OC Weekly, I was a frequent attendee of a local hotspot called Memphis, which specialized in Southern food reinvented with a modern sort of SoCal twist. On one of the earlier occasions I ate there with a colleague, I ordered the shrimp tacos, primarily because they’d been enthusiastically consumed by another colleague of ours named Nick. I took that as a solid recommendation, until my dining companion informed me that Nick ALWAYS ordered shrimp tacos, no matter the venue.

In Santa Ana, this is actually a good idea. It is a great town for shrimp tacos, both at Memphis and Taco Adobe, another frequent Weekly hangout. Since the Weekly moved from Santa Ana, those businesses just might have taken a huge hit. Wouldn’t be surprised.

So this column goes out to Nick, on the offchance he takes a road trip somewhere, and is forced to eat fast food at rest stops, where nouveau-Mexican sit-downs are scarce, but pseudo-Mexican crustacean delights just happen to be in vogue at a couple of major chains.

It was less than a month ago that I wrote about the way fast food chains adapt to Lent, and noted that “Del Taco is bringing back the shrimp taco, lazy-ass Taco Bell is adding nothing new except a big sign that points out which of its regular menu items have no meat, and the burger joints are busting out the fried fish sandwiches.” I’d love to think Taco Bell is actually reading me, but know better than to flatter myself too much. At any rate, it seems like just this past week they set out to prove me wrong by introducing the Pacific Shrimp Taco. Whether I influenced that or not, it is a happy call.

It is also a surprising call – I would have expected them to revive their long-dormant fish tacos first. Why? Because more people are allergic to shellfish than ordinary fish. And now you have shellfish touching everything. Selfish shellfish.

As regular readers know, Del Taco just might be my favorite of all the fast food chains, and definitely takes the crown if you exclude the slightly upper-tier joints like Rubio’s or Baja Fresh. And they’ve been doing shrimp tacos for Lent a lot longer. They also do shrimp and fries, which thankfully they are actually calling “fries” this year; that one time they called it “Shrimp and Papas” was stupid and counterproductive, as even the least-assimilated Mexican immigrant knows what “fries” are. Not that I’ve surveyed them all.

So how do they stack up? I don’t usually rate food items on a point system, but let’s just go ahead and do that right now in an arbitrary number of categories:

Price: Taco Bell’s is $2.79, and Del Taco’s $1.89. BUT...but but but...Del Taco’s related combo is $5.99 for two tacos with fries and a regular drink. Taco Bell gives you two of its tacos and a LARGE drink for $5.99, less than the cost of two tacos a la carte (prices may vary, of course). So Taco Bell wins on combo, but Del Taco wins a la carte. Winner: Tie.

Value For Money: Taco Bell’s taco contains six big, grilled shrimp that are lightly spiced. Del Taco’s contains four, which are lightly breaded. The Del’s breading isn’t as dominant as in years past, and the shrimp a bit less tiny that they used to be...but would you pay 90 cents more for plumper, tastier shrimp? Most would, I think. Winner: Taco Bell.

Ingredients: Misperception number one about shrimp tacos is that they’re basically the same as fish tacos. FALSE. The best shrimp tacos I’ve had nearly always come with Monterey Jack cheese. Now, can fast food chains use the excuse that Jack cheese is too expensive? No, they cannot, because of Del Taco’s Spicy Jack Chicken Quesadilla, one of the greatest food items ever created. There is no cheese in either the Bell’s or the Del’s. Both have salsa and cabbage, while Del has the standard yogurt-like fish taco sauce, and Bell goes with a cilantro-lime thing. Bell wins on creativity...though in fairness, if they had an existing fish taco sauce like Del does, I bet they’d have used that. Del gives you an actual lime wedge, but this, again, is simply auto-programming from their fish taco routine. Winner: Taco Bell.

Tortillas: Both go with flour, which is as it should be with shrimp. Winner: Tie.

It’s a surprise victory here, as I usually favor Del Taco on everything – but maybe the competition just tried harder this time. Taco Bell’s Pacific Shrimp Tacos are clearly the choice for our pal Nick, should he be driven to dining at drive-thrus.

 

More LYT Fast Food Reviews may be found at this link