# I ordered tacos today **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [September 12, 2011, 10:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-ordered-tacos-today/596100 "2011-09-12T22:04:56Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 13\ **Page:** 5
**Author:** ![stegon66](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ee59a6/32.png) [@stegon66](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/stegon66)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2011, 3:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-ordered-tacos-today/596100/81 "2011-09-15T03:08:20Z")
> [@](#): > > Once went to a Dairy Queen drive-through and was told they had run out of ice cream. > > I mean, really? Granted, we were there about fifteen minutes before closing, but all we wanted was a couple of vanilla cones. And they’re out of ice cream? It’s possible. I work at another ice cream place and we have to take apart and clean our soft serve machine twice a week. Whatever soft serve is in the machine at the time is thrown away. We try not to fill the machine if it’s getting close to closing time so if we run out and it’s close to closing time I’ll let the employee in charge of the task go ahead and tear it down. Sure we could fill it but product in the machine at breakdown time has to be thrown away and you need a decent amount in there for it to function properly. Much more often than not you’d end up wasting it. Usually early breakdown isn’t a problem but occasionally you’ll get some nimrod who’ll come running in at the last minute. But back to tacos: the best tacos are homemade. And by that I mean HOMEMADE shells. Nothing beats fresh corn tortillas! ---
**Author:** ![Lacunae\_Matata](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/8491ac/32.png) [@Lacunae\_Matata](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lacunae_Matata)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2011, 3:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-ordered-tacos-today/596100/82 "2011-09-15T03:20:08Z")
> [@Acsenray](#): > > I believe that most restaurants, especially chains and franchises, are very strict about sourcing raw ingredients. Their cost structures and contracts prevent them from just going to the nearest market when they run out of something. Absolutely, and I completely understand that, but napkins, drinking straws, catsup, and bottled salad dressing aren’t raw ingredients. If the restaurant ran out of bath tissue on Sunday, no franchise agreement would require that they do without until the commissary truck on Tuesday. Most standard packaged goods are ordered from Sysco or US Foods or the local paper chemical supply. Only the proprietary stuff must come from the franchise approved vendor. ---
**Author:** ![guizot](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guizot/32/3636_2.png) [@guizot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/guizot)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2011, 3:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-ordered-tacos-today/596100/83 "2011-09-15T15:04:58Z")
> [@stegon66](#): > > But back to tacos: the best tacos are homemade. And by that I mean HOMEMADE shells. Nothing beats fresh corn tortillas! Do you mean preparing your own masa? If not, I would respectfully assert a contrary viewpoint. With tacos the purpose of the tortilla is exactly the same as the purpose of bread with sandwiches. It’s not supposed to be a “shell”–something that breaks apart, and thereby becomes less easily managed. It’s a way to hold the meat in your hand without a plate. I think the custom of frying tortillas got started only because vendors couldn’t sell tacos with day-old tortillas (kind of like making croutons out of stale bread). Then Taco Bell got hold of the idea. ---
**Author:** ![Wheelz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wheelz/32/5718_2.png) [@Wheelz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wheelz)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2011, 3:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-ordered-tacos-today/596100/84 "2011-09-15T15:16:44Z")
> [@stegon66](#): > > It’s possible. I work at another ice cream place and we have to take apart and clean our soft serve machine twice a week. Whatever soft serve is in the machine at the time is thrown away. We try not to fill the machine if it’s getting close to closing time so if we run out and it’s close to closing time I’ll let the employee in charge of the task go ahead and tear it down. Sure we could fill it but product in the machine at breakdown time has to be thrown away and you need a decent amount in there for it to function properly. Much more often than not you’d end up wasting it. Usually early breakdown isn’t a problem but occasionally you’ll get some nimrod who’ll come running in at the last minute. Still, even at one minute to closing time, you should be able to get \*ice cream \*at an \*ice cream \*place. I mean, why are the doors even open otherwise? ---
**Author:** ![a35362](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/3da27b/32.png) [@a35362](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/a35362)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2011, 3:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-ordered-tacos-today/596100/85 "2011-09-15T15:51:37Z")
> [@The\_Universe\_Lashes\_Out](#): > > Supervisor being a dick about an innocent mistake would have pissed me off a lot more than missing some cheese on my tacos. Isn’t it his job to teach his employees how to make the tacos in the first place? Threatening to take money out of someone’s paycheck (which I hope is not actually legal) is about as low as you can get. I got the feeling the supervisor was expressing feelings of “Britney, HOW MANY TIMES have we been over this? How hard can it be? Just do what it says on the chart with the pictures – arrrgh!” ---
**Author:** ![BetsQ](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/fbc32d/32.png) [@BetsQ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BetsQ)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2011, 7:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-ordered-tacos-today/596100/86 "2011-09-15T19:23:44Z")
I’ve ordered many a taco and burger without the meat. I think it’s pretty common. I visited New Zealand in 1999. (Excellent vacation in a beautiful country.) I’d been living in SE Asia, so I kind of thought that as NZ is more like the US than the other countries I’d been in recently, I’d be able to get some good Tex-Mex. It somehow didn’t occur to me that NZ is really far from Mexico, and the Mexican immigrant population isn’t very big. I ordered nachos, which I thought was a pretty straightforward dish. I got corn chips with baked beans poured on top! ---
**Author:** ![VOW](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/vow/32/3043_2.png) [@VOW](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/VOW)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2011, 7:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-ordered-tacos-today/596100/87 "2011-09-15T19:46:59Z")
I won’t even mention the experience of trying to find Mexican food in Germany. I am still emotionally scarred. Suffice to say, if you are in Germany, stick to the wurst and the schnitzel. I’m vegetarian now, and it was late at night and we were on the road back to our house in the middle of nowhere, NE AZ. We’d stopped in Flagstaff for a piddle break, and hit a Del Taco for something to eat on the way. I ordered the Grande Nachos, no meat. The cashier told my husband in a rather haughty tone of voice, “Our nachos don’t HAVE any meat.” Yeah, right. So, we’re tooling down I-40, Hubster eating his whatever, and I open my nacho plate. And the chips are covered with that crumbly, greasy, taco MEAT shit. I was hungry, and I ate some of it. If it hadn’t been so late, I would have gone back to Del Taco and shoved the plate of “no meat” in a very messy fashion. ~VOW ---
**Author:** ![alphaboi867](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alphaboi867/32/3898_2.png) [@alphaboi867](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/alphaboi867)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2011, 8:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-ordered-tacos-today/596100/88 "2011-09-15T20:12:14Z")
> [@John\_DiFool](#): > > There’s a local Middle-Eastern cafe that I go to 1-2 times a month, which serves some pretty good riders and such, and their fries are good too. During the lunch hour I called to preorder for pickup, only to find that fries weren’t available that day, and I wondered just how could you possibly pull that off (all you need are some potatoes and a fry slicer, and there’s a grocery store right across the street). Maybe their fry slicer was broken. I had the following converstation at Wendy’s last night after work. Cashier: Hi, for here or to go? Me: Here, I’ll have a double Bacon Deluxe combo, no onions. Cashier: Um, do you want the sandwitch or the combo? Me: The combo. Cashier: And you want two of them. Me: No, I want one double. Cashier: One number two [which is a double cheeseburger]… Me: No, the Bacon Deluxe, it’s a number 5. I want a double. Cashier: Okay, a double Bacon Deluxe combo. What size? Me: Small. Cashier: What do you want to drink? Me: Unsweetened ice tea. Cashier: Sweatened or unsweatened? Me: _Unsweetened_. Cashier: Your total is $15.42. Me: For _one_ combo? :rolleyes: Cashier: Oh, sorry. Your total is $7.62. Me: And that’s _without_ onions? Cashier: I have to start over. (she pressed one button). I handed her a $10 bill, and was surprised to get correct change back. My Bacon Deluxe came without onions and in double, but turned out to be a Baconator. The 2nd sandwhich was correct. My ice tea turned out to be sweetened, but I was too tired to say anything. ---
**Author:** ![Push\_You\_Down](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/push_you_down/32/9095_2.png) [@Push\_You\_Down](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Push_You_Down)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2011, 9:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-ordered-tacos-today/596100/89 "2011-09-15T21:09:50Z")
> [@Duke](#): > > I went to a KFC at about 6pm and they were out of chicken. ALL chicken. I had this happen at Roscoe’s Chicken and Waffles. A KFC is right next door. I wanted to order waffles to go and then just get some chicken from KFC and call it a day. ---
**Author:** ![Frank](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Frank](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frank)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2011, 12:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-ordered-tacos-today/596100/90 "2011-09-16T00:23:04Z")
> [@guizot](#): > > With tacos the purpose of the tortilla is exactly the same as the purpose of bread with sandwiches. It’s not supposed to be a “shell”–something that breaks apart, and thereby becomes less easily managed. It’s a way to hold the meat in your hand without a plate. Yeah, probably so. That doesn’t mean that the corn tortillas I fry up at home fall apart anymore than my grilled bread sandwiches with cheese, tomato, and onion do. I really don’t understand this fixation some have against “crispy” tacos. ---
**Author:** ![guizot](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guizot/32/3636_2.png) [@guizot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/guizot)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2011, 1:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-ordered-tacos-today/596100/91 "2011-09-16T01:26:29Z")
> [@Frank](#): > > Yeah, probably so. That doesn’t mean that the corn tortillas I fry up at home fall apart anymore than my grilled bread sandwiches with cheese, tomato, and onion do. And for that matter, the better the sandwich, the more likely it is to fall apart, in my experience–so it’s a trade off. ---
**Author:** ![MPB\_in\_Salt\_Lake](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/c0e974/32.png) [@MPB\_in\_Salt\_Lake](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MPB_in_Salt_Lake)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2011, 2:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-ordered-tacos-today/596100/92 "2011-09-16T02:31:37Z")
I haven’t eaten meat for many years, but I still enjoy crappy fast-food “Mexican” joints on occasion, (rare occasion, but once in a while it does the trick) but a while back I went to Taco Bell (I was with my parents, both in their 80’s, and as far as they are concerned, Taco Bell’s fare may well be as authentic as anyplace found on the beaches of Ensenada or Vera Cruz) and I ordered a couple of soft taco’s for myself, asking them to use rice instead of ground beef. They were very happy to accommodate, and it was actually pretty tasty, for what it was, but afterwards I noticed that my food was 2X as expensive as my parents (who had just ordered regular ol’ soft tacos w/meat) so I was in effect charged double to substitute rice for meat. I swear it WAS NOT the extra couple of bucks that grated, but even a moral degenerate like myself knows that rice is certainly much less expensive than even the Korean War-surplus “meat” (shudder) that Taco Bell passes off for ground beef, so when I called the place up, politely told them that I thought charging an extra dollar for a tiny scoop of rice was excessive, particularly since they still had my allotment of meat to inflict on another customer (in other words it was a substitution, not an addition) I was pleasantly surprised that they promptly agreed with me, and cheerfully offered me a refund. I politely declined, but the woman was insistent that I provide my address; Not wishing to incur the wrath of someone deep in the bowels of Taco Bell’s Global Lair (shudder) I acquiesced and less than a week later I received $20 worth of Taco Bucks in the mailbox. Still not much of a fan of Taco Bell’s food (admittedly the bean & cheese burrito w/onion is rather tasty) but I thought the way they responded to my complaint was first-rate, and I still take Mom & Dad there every couple of weeks. (I am usually the guy not actually eating, just drinking a soda and watching my parents enjoy their lunch…:)) ---
**Author:** ![psychonaut](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/psychonaut/32/4655_2.png) [@psychonaut](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/psychonaut)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2011, 12:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-ordered-tacos-today/596100/93 "2011-09-16T12:36:34Z")
> [@PeskiPiksi](#): > > Once went to a Dairy Queen drive-through and was told they had run out of ice cream. > > I mean, _really_? [Until recently Dairy Queen was legally prohibited by the FDA from calling its soft serve “ice cream”.](http://www.dairyqueen.com/us-en/faq/) When the drive-through operator told you they had no ice cream perhaps they were just being overly legally prudent… [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-ordered-tacos-today/596100.md?page=4)