FastFoodSnob.com

Price: $0.89

Availability: participating Bells

Location: 3511 W. Devon Ave., Chicago, IL 60659 (map); phone: (773) 588-9712

Rating: 3 out of 5 - acceptable

New menu items can obviously be hit-or-miss affairs, but Taco Bell’s additions have been surprisingly more pleasant than they seem to have any right to be. And while the Triple Layer Nachos didn’t stick to their Value Menu pricing as well as their Cheesy Double Beef sibling at my particular location (they’re listed at 79 cents online, though the web site does warn that prices and items may vary), the meatless combination of “nacho chips, covered in simmering red sauce, hearty beans and nacho cheese sauce” remained quite palatable — and under a dollar (even with tax).

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Price: $0.89

Availability: participating Bells

Location: 3511 W. Devon Ave., Chicago, IL 60659 (map); phone: (773) 588-9712

Rating: 3 out of 5 - acceptable

It’s interesting that when I finally got around to reviewing something from Taco Bell, there’s a new salmonella scare surrounding raw tomatoes that’s got chains around the country pulling fresh tomatoes off their menus. Taco Bell is, of course, not immune to the dangers of bad marketing (nor unfeeling as to its customers’ health), so it was fortuitous that I already wanted to check out a menu item that included no diced tomatoes whatsoever. (The additional Fire Sauce I sprinkled on later presumably uses fully cooked tomatoes in its formula.)

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Price: $2.49; paid - $1.39

Promotion: free with leap-year drink-purchase deal

Availability: breakfast hours

Location: 6740 N. Clark St., Chicago, IL 60626 (map); phone: (773) 743-6932

Rating: 4 out of 5 - good

You might have already read about the promo used on this morning menu item (linked up top), but here’s what McDonald’s says goes into its relatively new, more-premium breakfast-wrap option: “savory sausage, scrambled eggs, melted cheese[s], skillet potatoes, bell peppers & onions, authentic fire-roasted salsa, and a warm tortilla.” How authentic any of this is is not my main concern; I just want to know how to rate what you get for the money. It certainly is worth considering in the morning but doesn’t jump out at you with its $2.49 regular price tag. (See below for more of “the inside stuff.”)

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