
Colorado State University’s in-house Taco Bell is a frequent pit-stop for many students and faculty throughout the school day. Besides the accommodating service and wallet-friendly bites, the fast food restaurant provides a hub for delectable, completely inauthentic Mexican food eats that combine cheese, beef, beans and sour cream to curate some of the best high munchie foods known in existence (not that you’re flying high during classes, I hope.)
Alas, although Taco Bell provides some of the most affordable and arguably most mouth-watering snacks in the fast food market, it has always owned one unmistakable fast food flaw–no fries. Until now.
As of Thursday, Jan. 25, Taco Bell will serve 1 dollar nacho fries for a limited time. That’s right, it’s not just fries they are serving, but cheesy fries. The best kind. The fries are thick, with a small crunch, and “boldly seasoned with Mexican spices,” according to a swanky article on the Taco Bell website.
The fries can also be ordered “supremed” nacho-style, with an up charge of $2.49 to grant customers with toppings on the fries such a beef, beans, pico de gallo, sour cream and nacho cheese sauce.
Although I have personally been hyped about the release of the new junk food creation after seeing advertising for the product weeks prior to its introduction into the world, the CSU community suggested the fries may be good but not exactly worth any hype.
Senior Fish Wildlife Conservation Biology Major Viktoria Pituch is not a frequent Taco Bell-goer, visiting the on-campus establishment once every few months. Pituch found herself at the on-campus location on the day of the fries’ launch completely by accident after finding she was unprepared for the hunger in her day. Although she did not plan encountering the fries on this day or let alone eat Taco Bell at all, she said she is not disappointed with her eating decision.
“They are good,” Pituch said. “I just really love potatoes.”
“I just really love potatoes.”
Viktoria Pituch
Kenya Contreras, an employee at CSU’s Taco Bell, is well-versed in the restaurant’s food and eats there about three times a week. Contreras did not participate in the hype of the fries, as she only found out about them the day before the restaurant planned to launch them, and believes they are the best in certain circumstances.
“I think it just depends on how you eat them,” Contreras said. “Because I would not just eat them by themselves with the nacho cheese. I would eat them with beef, tomato and sour cream on top.”
Brandon Mendoza is a moderate Taco Bell eater, indulging in the restaurants eats about once a week at the most, and decided to try the 1 dollar fries with nacho cheese after seeing an ad on Facebook five minutes beforehand.
“At first, I was a little confused,'” Mendoza said. “I was like, ‘Is this going to be good?’ You know, I had to go taste it. And when I did, it was pretty good. Pretty amazing.”
The junior Interantional Studies major also admitted not to being much of a “fry guy.”
CSU’s reactions to the fries ranged from slightly critical, to pleasantly surprised by potatoes, to pretty amazing, with no particularly bad reviews. Thursday’s long Taco Bell line mirrored most day’s lunch rush in the Lory Student Center, but according to Contreras, the fries were a frequent purchase.
The only let down, it seems, is that you can not actually put the fries inside any item on the menu at the Lory Student Center location or the Elizabeth St. location, despite what a video circulating Facebook insinuates. For now, we can only dream (or wait), or order one dollar fries and shove them into our chalupas.
Miranda Moses can be reached at entertainment@collegian.com or on Twitter @mirandasrad.