Latest news with #CrunchwrapSupreme
Eater
16-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Eater
4 Restaurants to Try This Weekend in Los Angeles: May 16
Every Friday, our editors compile a trusty list of recommendations to answer the most pressing of questions: 'Where should I eat?' Here now are four places to check out this weekend in Los Angeles. And if you need some ideas on where to drink, here's our list of the hottest places to get cocktails in town. For a Crunchwrap Supreme that's not from Taco Bell: K Pasa When late-night cravings hit, Taco Bell is always there with a Crunchwrap Supreme ready to heal all. But now, a Koreatown taqueria is doing its own version of the signature dish that's bigger, beefier, and hits just like the original. Located next to clubstaurant Mama Lion, K Pasa serves tacos, burritos, quesadillas, taquitos, and ice-cold glass Mexican Coke, alongside specials like its Krunchy Wrap. The pliant floor tortilla comes filled with a choice of meat like carne asada, birria, Korean spicy pork belly, or Korean barbecue short ribs. Like the original Crunchwrap, cheese, refried beans, lettuce, tomato, onions, cilantro, and sour cream are added in, plus the signature crispy tostada. The Krunchy Wrap comes out almost double the size of Taco Bell's version, and, of course, toasted on the sides. The carne asada is flavorful and tender, served in hunks, the way it would be in tacos. And while K Pasa isn't open as late as Taco Bell, it is open until midnight for those late-ish night cravings. 3958 W. Sixth Street, Los Angeles, CA 90020. — Rebecca Roland, editor, Eater Southern California/Southwest For an easy Westside coffee-and-burrito brunch: Alfalfa Alfalfa in Santa Monica didn't initially seem like a place that would become a vital neighborhood hang: It was a transplant from Jersey; its millennial-pink facade felt pandering; and the menu of salads and wraps seemed less like what people wanted in 2021, when pandemic-era comfort food still reigned. Still, it swung in with two Angeleno-friendly breakfast burritos (one chorizo and one ancho-potato); a kaleidoscopic array of gluten-free doughnuts; and a harder-to-find, at the time, chicken Caesar wrap, which has since proliferated around the city. In the three years since it came to town, Alfalfa has expanded to a second location in Los Angeles's Larchmont neighborhood, and it now does a brisk business — people want those salads, salad wraps, and burritos. I get them frequently for easy breakfasts and not-so-sad desk lunches, and it was my breakfast choice this past Mother's Day when I wanted something easy and great to share with my husband and toddler. The potato breakfast burrito, available on a regular flour or pliable gluten-free tortilla, gets crisped on the flat-top and is served with red and green salsas; the Nutella doughnut holes hit the toddler palate just right. 2309 Main Street, Santa Monica, CA 90405. — Nicole Adlman, cities manager For vinyl tunes and fast Wi-Fi: Companion It's hard to find the ideal daytime working spot. Some cafes discourage weekday laptop warriors, while others just don't have very good coffee or any snacks at all. But Venice's Companion has figured out the formula for a cafe that welcomes remote workers without making the environment feel too office-y. The airy all-day cafe took over the former vegan pizzeria Double Zero, redoing the space with a white interior that feels cozy instead of cold, green tile, and shelves of vinyl records that staff switch out throughout the day. The Wi-Fi here is fast (and free), making it easy to grab a coffee and an excellent pastry and settle in at one of the tables. Unfortunately, Companion is no longer offering sandwiches during the daytime, but there are breakfast burritos on deck for something a little more filling. The only downside is that there are only a few plugs easily accessible throughout the cafe for charging, so make sure to come with a full battery or bring a mobile power bank. At night, Companion flips into a full-on restaurant and wine bar, serving pasta, pizza, salads, and more. 1700 Lincoln Boulevard, Venice, CA 90291. — Rebecca Roland, editor, Eater Southern California/Southwest For a reasonably-priced Thai lunch or dinner for one in Hollywood: Luv2eat Express There are so many times in a week that I just need a quick meal without too much thought. My mind typically goes to something like Panda Express, an easy lunch or early dinner that satisfies the entire family for less than $10 a person. But recently, I had that feeling at Luv2eat Thai Express, the new outpost of Luv2eat Thai just a few doors down from its Hollywood strip mall restaurant. The bright, spacious dining room offers a bit more in the way of creature comforts compared to the similarly delicious Northern Thai Food Club. Luv2eat Express dishes have a nice balance between familiar (chicken penang and green curry, pad kra pow) and the more obscure (sour fish stew, tamarind eggs). I really like how the food is served on pressed metal plates, like a cafeteria or quick lunch in a Bangkok back alley. Expect everything to have a relatively high level of spiciness from the start, which means those more accustomed to the sweeter, milder Thai flavors will likely find Luv2eat Express too intense. But this is Los Angeles, and everyone here graduates to a master's level of Thai food knowledge in a short time. Consider Luv2eat Express your post-grad Thai experience. 6666 W. Sunset Boulevard, Unit L, Los Angeles, CA 90028. — Matthew Kang, lead editor, Eater Southern California/Southwest Related The 38 Essential Restaurants in Los Angeles Sign up for our newsletter.
Yahoo
15-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
This Iconic Fast Food Chain Is Finally Firing Up In Ireland
Irish fans of American food are having a great time as of late. After a recent announcement that Popeyes will be opening up its first location in Dublin -- meaning the city will already have one more Popeyes than two U.S. states -- the European country will soon be sporting its first Taco Bell. However, unlike Popeyes, the California-based Taco Bell will not be opening standalone locations just yet. Applegreen -- an Irish gas station chain with nearly 200 locations in the country and over 600 worldwide -- recently announced it will partner with Taco Bell to bring the beloved chain to some of its Irish locations in the coming years. While no exact dates or locations have been announced yet, Taco Bell outlets should start popping up in Applegreen stations sometime this summer. Seamus Stapleton, Applegreen's managing director for the Republic of Ireland, announced the news earlier this week. "We are really excited to announce this partnership to launch the iconic Taco Bell brand in Ireland," Stapleton said (via IrishStar). "This partnership underscores our commitment to bringing world-class roadside hospitality to our customers... I'm sure Irish consumers will be very excited at the arrival of Taco Bell." Read more: Taco Bell's Decades Menu Brings Back Old Faves, And We Ranked Them While Taco Bell's upcoming presence in Ireland in partnership with Applegreen is incredibly exciting, it isn't the first of its kind. Earlier this year, Applegreen partnered with Chick-fil-A to open the chain's first two locations in Northern Ireland (which is technically part of the United Kingdom, not Ireland). As for Taco Bell, the opposite is true -- the new partnership will strictly see the chain pop up in Applegreen locations within Ireland. It's not yet known in what ways the Irish menu will differ from what's currently available in the United States and United Kingdom, but the Chick-fil-A locations at Applegreens in Northern Ireland are known to have smaller menus than other locations worldwide. It's possible you won't be able to get all the fixings of a Taco Bell Cantina when visiting the chain here, but you'll still likely be able to enjoy Taco Bell favorites like the timeless Crunchwrap Supreme. For more food and drink goodness, join The Takeout's newsletter. Get taste tests, food & drink news, deals from your favorite chains, recipes, cooking tips, and more! Read the original article on The Takeout.
The Irish Sun
13-05-2025
- Business
- The Irish Sun
Legendary US fast food chain to open first restaurant in Ireland THIS summer & five year plan promise for more locations
A LEGENDARY US fast food chain is set to open its first restaurant in Ireland this summer - and there's a five year plan for more locations. 3 Taco Bell will open in Ireland over the next few months Credit: Getty 3 And it will be coming to Applegreen this summer Credit: Alamy Live News Taco Bell is a hugely popular Mexican style fast-food chain, featuring items like tacos, burritos and the Crunchwrap Supreme. And they are now coming to an Applegreen in Ireland this This launch is part of a new partnership between Applegreen and Taco Bell, marking a major move in the chains expansion in Applegreen's Managing Director for the Republic of Ireland, Seamus Stapleton, said the company is delighted to introduce Taco Bell to Irish consumers. READ MORE IN MONEY He said: 'We are really excited to announce this partnership to launch the iconic Taco Bell brand in Ireland. "This partnership underscores our commitment to bringing world-class roadside hospitality to our customers, offering them greater choice and quality while they travel. "We are constantly investing in our locations, and I'm sure Irish consumers will be very excited at the arrival of Taco Bell.' And the plan doesn't stop at just one location. Most read in Money More Taco Bell restaurants are expected to open across Ireland over the next five years, supported by Applegreen's €1 billion New Market Lead for Taco Bell Europe Matthew Johnson said the company believes its distinctive goods will connect well with Irish foodies. Taco Bell unveils its next-generation drive-thru with a major change to how you get your orders He said: "This expansion is a testament to our commitment to growing our brand globally and delivering exceptional dining experiences to new markets. "We believe that our unique offering will resonate with consumers in Ireland, providing a new and exciting dining option that celebrates bold flavours and a fun, vibrant atmosphere.' The move into Ireland is part of a larger plan by the The company is aiming to reach 3,000 restaurants across more than 50 countries by the end of 2030. WORLDWIDE Taco Bell already operates more than 8,700 restaurants globally, and has recently expanded into UK motorway service stations through its partnership with Applegreen's Welcome Break. What's more, Wendy's is set to open up Corrib Oil Service Station has reached an agreement with the legendary fast-food chain to become its franchise partner in Ireland. And the initial site locations across the country are set to be announced later this year. It will include standalone President International of Wendy's Company, EJ Wunsch, has said that Ireland is a great market for the fast-food chain's long-term growth. He said: "With a proven track record of outstanding operations and a significant growth history, we are confident that Corrib Oil is the right partner to drive Wendy's expansion in Ireland." 3 The fast food chain is a Mexican-inspired restaurant Credit: Taco Bell
Forbes
11-04-2025
- General
- Forbes
We've Got Food At Home–Why Copycat Recipes Hit Harder Now Than Ever
No kid ever wanted to hear the words 'we've got food at home' when all they wanted was a Happy Meal. It usually meant no drive-thru, no McDonald's money, and no break from family dinner. But somewhere along the way, that phrase started to shift. What once signaled denial now reflects creativity, control, and a little culinary pride—especially when what's at home is a copycat recipe for a McRib, a Crunchwrap Supreme, or the latest Starbucks drink you didn't quite want to spend $8 on. At the heart of this shift is the rise—not of the trend, but of the visibility—of copycat recipes: dishes designed to replicate well-loved branded items, often with a few tweaks for cost, taste, or dietary preferences. And while the internet is now flooded with TikToks, YouTube videos, and food blogs dedicated to reverse-engineering our favorite menu items, the instinct behind copycat cooking isn't new—it's just evolved. Today, there are entire corners of the internet ready to break down that new Starbucks drink you spotted on Instagram for when you don't want to splurge on another little grande moment. Before Taco Bell brought back its Mexican Pizza, or McDonald's revived the SnackWrap creators were reverse-engineering the famed snack from scratch to keep the craving alive. These recipes often come from a place of emotional or culinary curiosity—not controversy. Unlike handbag dupes, food copies are seen less as knockoffs and more as homage. Even so, copycat recipes aren't a novel concept. They've been around long before the internet gave us step-by-step videos. In the 1980s and '90s, publications like Gourmet, the Deseret News, and the Los Angeles Times ran reader-request columns where people wrote in asking how to recreate dishes they remembered from restaurants, theme parks, and food courts. A 1989 column featured a request for oatmeal-raisin cookies from Disneyland. In 1988, it was Medieval Times' herb-basted potatoes. By the 1990s, you could find 'homemade' versions of Sbarro's baked ziti and even shelf-stable pasta sauces like Healthy Choice. Some recipes came with fanfare, others with a sense of quiet insistence: I loved this. I don't see it anymore. Can I make it myself? We've always thought we could make it cheaper. We've always thought we could make it ours. And increasingly, brands are beginning to recognize just how powerful that impulse really is. The only thing that's changed is how—and how widely—we share that impulse. That drive to preserve something fleeting sits at the heart of the Unlimited Time Menu, a campaign launched by Knorr earlier this year that paired chef Joshua Weissman with food creator Kevin Noparvar (aka HowKevEats). The goal: to help home cooks recreate fast food's most beloved limited-time offerings year-round with pantry-friendly ingredients. But part of what makes this collaboration stand out is how differently each of them arrived at this moment. Knorr's Unlimited Time Menu is one example of how brands are leaning into the pull of copycat recipes—not as a novelty, but as a reflection of how people want to engage with food right now. By tapping into fast food dupes, the campaign speaks to a deeper cultural desire: the need to feel in control of what we eat and when we eat it. That impulse isn't just about saving money or skipping the drive-thru. It's about reclaiming the experience—bringing joy and creativity into home cooking, and making familiar flavors your own. Campaigns like this reflect something broader: a shift in how we relate to food itself. When people take the time to recreate the meals they crave, it becomes less about convenience and more about connection—whether to a memory, a moment, or a personal sense of care. In that way, copycat recipes don't just preserve a taste. They reshape our relationship to it. Weissman's path is one of early rejection followed by creative return. He went through a brief fast food phase as a kid, but since he cooked at home from an early age, he quickly started wanting to make things that tasted better. By the time he was working in restaurants, he had cut fast food out almost entirely. It wasn't until the now-iconic chicken sandwich sparked his curiosity that he reentered the fold. After reading the buzz, he thought, 'There's no way this is worth it.' But that first bite sparked a lightbulb moment: 'I'm professionally trained. I could make this a million times better at home. But honestly, anybody could.' That frustration—and the curiosity behind it—led to his But Better series, which rebuilds fast food favorites from scratch with bolder flavor and better ingredients. Noparvar, by contrast, never fully left fast food behind—but his relationship with it changed over time. 'When I was a little kid, I ate fast food,' he said, 'but then my mom went on this insane run of only letting me eat her home cooking.' Years later, through creating content on TikTok, he rediscovered it—trying long-forgotten chains and menu items with fresh perspective. That journey back became part of his appeal: What happens when you revisit the foods you once took for granted? 'Some of the most surprising things came from places people didn't expect—like Arby's,' he said. Weissman approaches food like a technician; Noparvar comes to it like a storyteller. One rebuilds flavor from the ground up, the other tracks how it shows up in real life. That shared lens—the desire to understand, recreate, and connect—sits at the heart of what makes copycat recipes matter. While the tools and tutorials for recreating fast food meals stretch far and wide across the internet, Weissman offers something that feels approachable and practical for first-timers: a framework. He explained that most fast food items really come down to two steps. First, figure out what the food item is and identify the components. Then, make those components at home. For him, it's not about memorizing recipes—it's about thinking modularly. 'If you want to make a chicken nugget sandwich,' he said, 'look up a chicken nugget recipe, look up a sandwich recipe, and combine the two.' The goal is to break it down and then build it back up. Noparvar, while not a chef, brings a valuable takeaway from the home cook's point of view. He's spent years eating across the country, building a Rolodex of what great fast food should taste like. Seeing how things were recreated in the kitchen sparked something for him: a reminder that it's not as hard as it looks. 'There are a lot of forums that share what to do, and if you make it, I think people would really be surprised how easy it is to follow,' he said. 'It turns out almost exactly the same.' That kind of accessibility is part of the magic—it's what makes the copycat moment feel less like a gimmick and more like an entry point. But what's happening here goes beyond kitchen tips—it reflects a broader cultural shift in how we interact with food, memory, and scarcity. Fast food has always thrived during moments of economic uncertainty. It's convenient, familiar, indulgent—and consistent. But in 2024 and beyond, it's not just about affordability. It's about how fast food has become part of a much bigger hype cycle—one that mirrors the drop culture we see in fashion, sneakers, and streetwear. Menu items debut like seasonal collections, disappear without warning and generate FOMO-fueled buzz. A new launch might trend for 48 hours and vanish by next week. That kind of scarcity creates urgency—but it also exposes how much of the fast food calendar is driven by financial decisions, not necessarily by consumer need or emotional resonance. That's why copycat recipes hit differently now. They're not just saving you money or offering a workaround. They're a quiet form of rebellion against that limited-time-only logic. They let people savor the food they love without depending on a brand to keep it available. You're no longer at the mercy of a marketing calendar or quarterly rollout—you're recreating the experience on your own time, in your own kitchen. When the item gets pulled, the line's too long, or the budget gets tight, you've still got the recipe—or at least a copycat recipe that hits close enough to satisfy. In a moment where food has become performance, copycat cooking reclaims it as memory, ritual, and choice. We got food at home. And this time, it's on purpose.
Washington Post
01-04-2025
- General
- Washington Post
Taco Bell's crunchwrap is a fan favorite. Our version reigns supreme.
Taco Bell's Crunchwrap Supreme is a fast food icon. For the uninitiated, it features seasoned beef, nacho cheese sauce, lettuce, tomatoes and a crunchy tostada, wrapped up in a flour tortilla that is then griddled on both sides to hold it all together. Introduced as a limited-time offering in the summer of 2005, 'the Crunchwrap Supreme was a runaway success, quickly becoming Taco Bell's most successful product introduction ever,' according to QSR Magazine. It became a permanent fixture of the chain's menu the following year.
