# Taco Bell's original menu
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/taco-bells-original-menu/368312
**Category:** Cafe Society
**Created:** [August 11, 2006, 5:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/taco-bells-original-menu/368312 "2006-08-11T17:42:43Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 2
### Author:  [@Chanteuse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chanteuse)
#### Post date: [August 11, 2006, 8:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/taco-bells-original-menu/368312/21 "2006-08-11T20:36:49Z")
> [@acsenray](#):
>
> Well something changed to make the tortillas gummy.
I remember the old tortillas as being very thin and paperlike. I was _very_ glad when they changed to a softer, slightly thicker tortilla. Of course, I like a little chewiness to my tortillas–they’re more like the ones I’ve made myself.
Damn, now I wish I could remember the recipe, because those suckers are GOOD! 🙂
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### Author:  [@Backwater\_Under\_Duck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Backwater_Under_Duck)
#### Post date: [August 12, 2006, 1:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/taco-bells-original-menu/368312/22 "2006-08-12T01:22:59Z")
> [@NDP](#):
>
> I’ll go one better than the menu. Does anybody remember the old Taco Bell _commercials_ that ran sometime in the late 60’s and early 70’s? They were animated and featured a dragon (or maybe it was a dinosaur) and a Taco Bell employee extolling the goodness of whatever specific Taco Bell menu item the particular ad was promoting. At the end of each ad, after the announcer told you where your closest local Taco Bell was, you’d see the dragon (or dinosaur) eat a Taco Bell restaurant building.
It was a dinosaur. And as he ate up the little Taco Bell building (shaped in classic “Alamo” mission style) he would say, in a heavy cartoon accent - sounding as much like Boris Badenov as Jose Jimenez, “It’s nice to eat… Taco Bell.”
I still say that every time I think of T.Bell.
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### Author:  [@samclem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/samclem)
#### Post date: [August 12, 2006, 1:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/taco-bells-original-menu/368312/23 "2006-08-12T01:54:47Z")
> [@Backwater Under\_Duck](#):
>
> It was a dinosaur. And as he ate up the little Taco Bell building (shaped in classic “Alamo” mission style) he would say, in a heavy cartoon accent - sounding as much like Boris Badenov as Jose Jimenez, “It’s nice to eat… Taco Bell.”
> I still say that every time I think of T.Bell.
I’d be curious to know if that was a national ad or just early on in CA. and the West.
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### Author:  [@dalej42](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dalej42)
#### Post date: [August 12, 2006, 2:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/taco-bells-original-menu/368312/24 "2006-08-12T02:16:18Z")
Back in the early 90s, Taco Bell used to have 39 cent menu items. They were fiesta sized, mini versions of the regular item. I always had some at home in my fridge. Yum!
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### Author:  [@CaveMike](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CaveMike)
#### Post date: [August 12, 2006, 3:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/taco-bells-original-menu/368312/25 "2006-08-12T03:26:28Z")
> [@Big Bad Voodoo Lou](#):
>
> I remember when they were first starting a big nationwide push in the late '80s – at least that’s when they started rising to prominence in South Florida, where I’m from. They had several TV commercials with the likes of Willie Nelson and Little Richard singing about Taco Bell, and the majority of their items were on three separate menus, priced at 59, 79, and 99 cents. Those were the days!
Do you remember the ads leading up to Little Richard? They had some white, bearded guy singing and playing piano while being pulled on trailer. The song and prices were 39, 59, 79. They started getting popular, so they notched up the prices and “invested” in the wax-faced Little Richard. For some weird reason, I always felt bad for the original guy. He was the voice and face of Taco Bell when they needed him, then they dumped him when they hit it big. Ah Lady Bell, you are a fickle woman.
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### Author:  [@NDP](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NDP)
#### Post date: [August 12, 2006, 3:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/taco-bells-original-menu/368312/26 "2006-08-12T03:59:07Z")
> [@Backwater Under\_Duck](#):
>
> It was a dinosaur. And as he ate up the little Taco Bell building (shaped in classic “Alamo” mission style) he would say, in a heavy cartoon accent - sounding as much like Boris Badenov as Jose Jimenez, “It’s nice to eat… Taco Bell.”
> I still say that every time I think of T.Bell.
I’m glad somebody remembers those ads better than I can. I tried Google to find out more about them but came up empty.
> [@samclem](#):
>
> I’d be curious to know if that was a national ad or just early on in CA. and the West
I’m pretty sure those commercials aired mainly on the West Coast since I saw them when I was living in Sacramento around 1969 which is before Taco Bell franchises went nationwide.
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### Author:  [@HubZilla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HubZilla)
#### Post date: [August 12, 2006, 9:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/taco-bells-original-menu/368312/27 "2006-08-12T09:10:26Z")
> [@CaveMike](#):
>
> Do you remember the ads leading up to Little Richard? They had some white, bearded guy singing and playing piano while being pulled on trailer. The song and prices were 39, 59, 79. They started getting popular, so they notched up the prices and “invested” in the wax-faced Little Richard. For some weird reason, I always felt bad for the original guy. He was the voice and face of Taco Bell when they needed him, then they dumped him when they hit it big. Ah Lady Bell, you are a fickle woman.
I was living in Hawaii at that time (okay, still am), and the 39 cents stuff cost 79 cents. The other funny thing (more recently) is Carl’s Junior’s $6 burger cost _more_ than $6!!
Not that these kind of posts garner too much sympathy, besides the usual “shut up, you live in Hawaii”
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### Author:  [@Eleusis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eleusis)
#### Post date: [August 12, 2006, 9:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/taco-bells-original-menu/368312/28 "2006-08-12T09:28:47Z")
> [@AHunter3](#):
>
> The Enchiritos had black olives on top as well as sour cream back then (and they were bigger).
Oh man was I pissed when they stopped using black olives. I always ordered extra, and then bang! No black olives for you! :mad:
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### Author:  [@Ivan-Osokin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ivan-Osokin)
#### Post date: [August 12, 2006, 11:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/taco-bells-original-menu/368312/29 "2006-08-12T11:19:14Z")
A quick youtube search brought this up:
[1983 commercial](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GxYHy1nyYXU)
Quite different from their current ad campaigns. Seems vaguely familiar to me - I would have been 11 or 12 years old at the time if the 1983 date is right.
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### Author:  [@DaveRaver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DaveRaver)
#### Post date: [August 12, 2006, 3:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/taco-bells-original-menu/368312/30 "2006-08-12T15:56:42Z")
“I’m in this dumb hotel, near the Taco Bell, without a hope in hell, I can’t believe that I’m still around”
- Supertramp “Gone Hollywood” (circa 1979)
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### Author:  [@Jeffr062](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jeffr062)
#### Post date: [August 13, 2006, 3:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/taco-bells-original-menu/368312/31 "2006-08-13T03:34:12Z")
This is interesting but my first brush with Mexican fast food was;
Zantigo, nothing more than 99 cents, nothing less than delicous!
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### Author:  [@blondebear](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/blondebear)
#### Post date: [August 13, 2006, 4:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/taco-bells-original-menu/368312/32 "2006-08-13T16:30:48Z")
Back in the early 80’s there was a Taco Bell just over the fence from my apartment. My roommate, who worked evenings, got home right around the time TB was closing up for the night. He occasionally bought something, but mostly, he asked for (and got) whatever they were going to throw out…there were always at least a couple of tacos or burritos sitting on the warming trays. He pretty much lived on Taco Bell for about 2 years.
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### Author:  [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)
#### Post date: [August 13, 2006, 4:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/taco-bells-original-menu/368312/33 "2006-08-13T16:43:31Z")
> [@acsenray](#):
>
> **Taco Bell’s original menu**
The flesh of captive warriors sacrificed to Huitzilopochtli, stewed with chili peppers and squash. Betcha didn’t know the chain was that old! In those days, they called it _“Teotihuacabiloctli”_ (banqueting temple of the artery-hardening victuals).
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### Author:  [@Cisco](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cisco)
#### Post date: [August 13, 2006, 8:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/taco-bells-original-menu/368312/34 "2006-08-13T20:25:25Z")
> [@Big Bad Voodoo Lou](#):
>
> the majority of their items were on three separate menus, priced at 59, 79, and 99 cents. Those were the days!
I remember the (girl singing) _fiftynine-seventynine-nine-ty-nine!!!_ commercials from 1993/'94 and thinking that was expensive, as I’m sure their tacos were 29 or 39 cents up until then (maybe I lived in a cheaper part of the country?)
Before those commercials I remember the “Border Buster” (big, reusable cup) and _Run for the Border_ commercials.
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### Author:  [@Mahaloth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mahaloth)
#### Post date: [August 13, 2006, 8:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/taco-bells-original-menu/368312/35 "2006-08-13T20:35:36Z")
I remember when the Mexican Pizza was first introduced and it was called the “Pizazz Pizza”. Anyone else remember that?
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### Author:  [@levdrakon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/levdrakon)
#### Post date: [August 13, 2006, 8:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/taco-bells-original-menu/368312/36 "2006-08-13T20:57:07Z")
When I was a kid the only place I knew to get Taco Bell was back on the West Coast, so every time I went back to visit San Diego, the very first place I’d have mom take me was TB. I’d always get a taco & a tostada. For my third item either a burrito or Bell Burger. God, I can’t believe I used to love Bell Burgers. I still love everything else though.
Later in the late 70’s a TB opened up where I was living in Wisconsin. Yay! Even better, I dated a girl who worked there and she’d get me free stuff sometimes. Yah again!
I love the regular tostadas. IIRC, you could get guacamole on it for a small extra charge. The last time I was there I ordered a tostada and got this soft folded up thing that was gross. Do they not have the old-fashioned tostadas anymore? That would depress me.
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### Author:  [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)
#### Post date: [August 13, 2006, 9:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/taco-bells-original-menu/368312/37 "2006-08-13T21:21:00Z")
No more tostadas, not even special order. They stopped carrying the flat tortillas for them a few years ago. ☹
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### Author:  [@Cisco](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cisco)
#### Post date: [August 13, 2006, 9:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/taco-bells-original-menu/368312/38 "2006-08-13T21:26:54Z")
> [@silenus](#):
>
> No more tostadas, not even special order. They stopped carrying the flat tortillas for them a few years ago. ☹
It’s been so long since I ordered a tostada at Taco Bell that I can’t say whether or not they stopped carrying the flat tortillas for a time, but I’m 100% sure they have them now. They’re in TB’s current big-push item, the crunchwrap supreme.
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### Author:  [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)
#### Post date: [August 13, 2006, 9:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/taco-bells-original-menu/368312/39 "2006-08-13T21:42:10Z")
AAMOF, they are. I wonder if that means they’re back on the special request menu?
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### Author:  [@levdrakon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/levdrakon)
#### Post date: [August 13, 2006, 9:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/taco-bells-original-menu/368312/40 "2006-08-13T21:56:08Z")
This is definitely going to require an investigatory trip to the local TB. Their main website doesn’t list tostadas, but some personal websites claiming to be up-to-date do.
No, no. It’s okay. I’m willing to do this in the name of fighting ignorance.
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