Taco Bell's Cantina Steak Burrito

Exhibit A

My kitchen is getting on in years and, as such, has been suffering from some of the problems of the elderly.  Leaking, cracking, arthritis...  So, at the end of last week, several large men in work clothes came by to take it apart (see exhibit A), perform some surgery and Scotch tape it all back together again.  Needless to say, there wasn't much cooking going on.

As it happens, I had also been asked to review the Taco Bell Cantina Steak Burrito from the new Cantina Bell menu.  We're not big fast food eaters, which they knew, but sometimes life gets in the way and you need a quick, convenient meal.  Given the state of my kitchen, it seems we were in just such a need.  I'm also a big Top Chef fan and had seen the Cantina menu developer, Chef Lorena Garcia, compete.

The steak burrito features citrus herb marinated steak, premium Latin rice, fresh guacamole, black beans, roasted corn and pepper salsa, creamy cilantro dressing and pico de gallo in a warm flour tortilla.  It sounded good but, I should mention that I am super picky about my steak.  Yes, I know that in the commercials, Chef Garcia is being super picky but I am really, really picky.  So much so that I usually avoid it in anything other than a steakhouse and choose chicken or vegetables instead.  So I fully expected to report that I liked the rice, beans, guac, pico and wrap but that the steak was too chewy for my standards.  Yup, that's what I expected.  But, nothing could be further from the truth.  This steak was super tender and very flavorful.  It tasted like good, slow cooked brisket.  We liked it so much we wished there were even more steak pieces in the burrito although we really can't complain about the amount we got.

All the rest of it is as I expected.  I love rice and beans and avocados and all the rest of the ingredients found in there and it was no surprise that I really liked them in the burrito.  The wrap itself was fresh and nicely toasted.  Brian and I both commented that we thought the filling was a tad under-seasoned, especially for Mexican food.  But it wasn't so egregious that it lessened our enjoyment of the burrito.

I'll also say that the burrito was generously portioned, perhaps too much so.  Certainly 700 calories is beyond my limit for any one meal so I gave half to Brian.  Overall, we enjoyed our food quite a lot.  We still might not be frequent fast food eaters but it's useful to know there's a really good option for those times when we can't cook, are on the road or just in the mood to indulge.  We'd both be quite happy to have that burrito again and maybe even try some other items on the new Cantina menu.




This post is sponsored by Taco Bell. See how great our steak is when you try the new Cantina Steak Burrito. Because when it comes to a great steak burrito, it's all about the steak.