Note: This is the first-ever TedQuarters post that’s not by me. I’m out of town until Thursday, but I’ve enlisted the help of some friends and interesting Internet people to keep the content flowing here while I’m gone. Because this is TedQuarters, they will all be honorary Teds for the sake of their posts. I figured I’d start you out with a Taco Bell post so you didn’t get disoriented. Seth is a reader with access to a Taco Bell test market. He also recently kept a blog about his adventures south of the equator and co-authored an  epic JonahKeri.com post. – Ted

I’m settling into my new home in Berkeley, Calif., and I noticed today that a nearby Taco Bell is selling Cantina Tacos.  Seizing the opportunity to test them out, I swung into the drive through to pick up a carnitas taco and see how they did on this whole pork thing.  I also got two taco supremes (or is it tacos supreme?) with fire sauce, because I wanted to hedge my bets.

Unfortunately, the carnitas didn’t really do it for me.  The taco has a very strong porky flavor, but it seems much more like what a focus group thinks pork is supposed to taste like, as opposed to a real pork flavor.  Nor is it, like Taco Bell beef, its own real thing.  If you can imagine the shredded pork equivalent of bacos, that comes close.  The tortillas were the right level of softness, though a bit thin, and it was served with a lime, which is nice.

I appreciate the risk they took and they effort they made, but it just didn’t do it for me.  While there is a clear distinction between a beef taco and a Taco Bell beef taco — each with its own appropriate circumstances — to me this just tasted like a bad pork taco, as opposed to the Taco Bell styled alternative.  It’s hard to see this replacing a craving for a real pork taco, or anything else for that matter.  Granted, I’m in California, where tacos grow on trees.