Inspired by Kevin’s recent Rubio’s post, I took a trip to my local franchise and ordered the steak taco with bacon off their gourmet menu. I just had to know for myself – would “gourmet” bacon on a taco be super Smastey™?
Here’s the menu, clearly showing three options for tacos with bacon. You can choose the Grilled Chicken with bacon, the Sirloin Steak with bacon or, if you’re feeling really saucy (and $0.30 wealthier than those steak and chicken bums) there’s the Garlic Herb Shrimp with bacon.
As a side note, this menu confirms my belief that frozen seafood really doesn’t cost more than any other frozen ingredient. Is an extra 30 cents really the difference that makes shrimp tacos profitable for the Rubio’s corporation? It must be a perceived value tactic, because they’re not exactly the biggest, freshest shrimp in the ocean. But I digress… we’re here to review steak and mushrooms.
In the picture above, we’ve got the steak taco with what looks like a flimsy little bit o’ bacon. Upon Smaste™ inspection, however, we definitely have a winner. Wow! Can you say ‘spicy’? My first bite was a doozy; steak and salsa juices mixed to create a spicy wonderland of Smastey™ greatness. I actually burned my throat a little, but I think we can attribute that to the fact that I inhaled at the same time I took my first bite, which delivered a concentrated dose of spice right to the spice receptors that apparently reside at the back of my throat.
The steak was tender and juicy. The bacon was perfectly crisp and salty. A squeeze of lime for that tangy balance and voilà, what we’ve got is steak bacon taco magic! It’s Steak-on! (No, it’s Rubio’s brand human snacks with bacon. – Watch this Beggin’ Strips commercial if that makes no sense to you.)
The final score? Rubio’s gourmet steak taco gets a monstrous 46.338 on the Smaste™ Rating Index.
– Mike