On a visit to a Taco Bell in Santiago, Chile, MoscaMaurer discovered that some of Taco Bell’s discontinued items still exist — provided you know where to look
The 7 Layer Burrito, which has been discontinued in only some parts of the world. Photo: Joshua Blanchard/Getty Images for Taco Bell The last few years of Taco Bell’s existence have been defined by deprivation, as the chain has purged its menu of beloved items only to add them back and purge them once more. If you are a vegetarian, you might know that this week marks two years since Taco Bell killed the 7 Layer Burrito.
We all know New York City has better Mexican food, but when I moved there to eke out a living in book publishing, I continued to lunch at Taco Bell, and many years later when I moved to the suburbs, I could order a 7 Layer Burrito at Penn Station and, in the anonymous scrum of commuters, shamelessly stuff it in my face while racing to make the train.
Which brings us to Chile. After seven months of traveling in the Bell-free realms of Mexico, Uruguay, and Argentina, I was surprised to find a Taco Bell in Santiago. A Wiki-worthy history of American intervention there hasn’t exactly instilled a love of Yanqui culture — though there are Simpsons-themed bars where you can take selfies with a fiberglass Homer. But there it was: Taco Bell in the middle of the well-to-do Providencia neighborhood. I had to walk in.
Then it arrived. I unwrapped it. It had the right heft to it, and the first bite yielded the obligatory opening salvo of either guac or sour cream — in this case, a sour cream that tasted faintly like cottage cheese. The next bite was the crucial one, in which the layers would need to fall into harmony. And they did. They really did.