In August, Tacorita brought back the “Crunchrita,” a popular menu item missed by many. The Crunchrita, or Chicken Bacon Ranch (CBR), is a crunchy taco loaded into a flour tortilla and grilled. They returned the item with the O.G. Beef, filled with queso, sour cream, lettuce, salsa fresca and shredded cheese. The CBR comes with fried or shredded chicken, queso, bacon, jalapeño ranch, lettuce, salsa fresca and shredded cheese. Additionally, you can also choose to build your own, selecting the ingredients you like, including one protein and four condiments.
The return of these menu items caused much fanfare on Facebook. The hype is deserved, as the CBR and OG Beef are delicious. The salsa fresca is amazing. It is a good filling, and when combined with the jalapeño ranch and the sour cream on their well liked crunchritas, is an excellent mix.
CBR: 8/10
OG Beef: 9/10
This September, Tacorita introduced a buffalo macaroni and cheese crunchrita as the September special. The buffalo crunchrita comes with either tofu or fried chicken. It is filled with their homemade queso macaroni and cheese, salsa fresca and buffalo sauce. I was excited about the new crunchrita option after seeing how good the existing items were, but I was disappointed with what I got. The queso was great but wasn’t as much as I had hoped. Instead, I got a crunchrita that was dripping with buffalo sauce. The buffalo sauce on my crunchrita overtook any salsa fresca, chicken and cheese flavors. The combination of flavors, emphasized best by the salsa fresca, is what made the previous iterations so delightful. Overflowing with sauce, I could not finish my crunchrita, which started making me sick. I am a big fan of their sauces, but this time, the sauce overpowered what could have been a great monthly special. Now, I am waiting until October for a different special to replace this item. If the ingredients had been better balanced, I think it would have been great. The first bite I had of the crunchrita, which had queso sauce, was quite good. It tasted really good with the taco shell and macaroni. Unfortunately, that is not what I got. Instead, I was served a menu item that was lost in the sauce.
Buffalo Mac and Cheese Crunchrita: 4/10
Tacorita is open seven days a week from 11:30 a.m. to 9 p.m. They also deliver through Doordash during their open hours. Tacorita has a huge array of menu items in the middle tier of price range, with prices ranging from $4-$12. They’re located in downtown Orono, on Mill Street, which is right off Main Street. The restaurant has friendly staff and quick service, depending on the time of day. Sadly, they just missed the mark with this new special. My go-to order normally is a custom burrito with fried chicken, mango habanero salsa, guacamole and queso sauce. My favorite aspect is the customizability of the menu items you have, so I would recommend asking for light sauce with the buffalo mac and cheese crunchrita.