| Twenty years ago this summer, something momentous happened in the annals of Southern California. |
| I'm not talking about Antonio Villaraigosa becoming L.A.'s first Latino mayor in over a century. Or the Lakers rehiring Phil Jackson as their head coach to embark on one final championship run with Kobe Bryant. No, history will look at those achievements as mere blips compared with the debut of Taco Bell's Crunchwrap Supreme. |
| A flour tortilla wrapped around a ground beef tostada and stuffed with lettuce, tomatoes, nacho cheese and sour cream, the item has become essential for American consumers who like their Mexican food cheap and gimmicky — which is to say, basically everyone (birria ramen, anybody?). The Times has offered multiple articles on how to make your own version at home. Celebrity chefs like Matty Matheson have shot videos praising Crunchwrap Supremes while hawking their own takes. Its June anniversary will soon get the star treatment in a national publication for a story in which I was interviewed because I'm literally the guy who wrote the book on Mexican food in the United States. |
| But there was a slight problem that needed to be rectified before I sounded off on the legendary dish: I had to try a Crunchwrap Supreme for the first time. |
| Hell, before a few weeks ago, I had only visited Taco Bell thrice in my life. |
Taco Bell captured a shift in L.A.'s taco psyche |
| During the 1980s and 1990s, Southern California underwent momentous shifts. The white middle class was fleeing the state as the defense industry and blue-collar factories collapsed; immigrants from across the globe came in to replace them, jolting the region's politics. |
| Meanwhile, the ideal taco in the Angeleno psyche was transitioning from the hard-shell topped with a blizzard of yellow cheese eaten since the 1930s into the one we all love today: a tortilla — usually corn — stuffed with something and baptized with a sprinkle of salsa. |
| (A quick etymological aside for the kids: Tacos made with non-deep-fried tortillas used to be called "soft" tacos to differentiate them from hard-shell tacos, which were just called "tacos." Now, it's the reverse — progress!) |
| So my childhood wasn't spent at Taco Bell, Tito's Tacos or even Del Taco, whose half-pound bean-and-cheese burrito remains the world's best fast-food item. My tacos were the ones at King Taco when visiting relatives in East L.A., or the Taqueria De Anda chain in Orange County back when it was still good. |
| I had no reason to go to Taco Bell, even as it went worldwide. Nor did it entice me to visit with its half-racist TV ads like the Taco Bell Chihuahua dog or the ones that ended with the slogan "Make a Run for the Border." I didn't go to one until the early 2000s, and I can't remember what my cousins and I ordered except it was bland, limp and too salty: A bunch of regret dabbled with nada. |
| I stopped in only twice more: when the Irvine-based company debuted its Doritos Loco taco in 2012, and when I forced the late Times food critic Jonathan Gold to go through a Taco Bell drive-thru for an episode of the hit Netflix show "Ugly Delicious." Both times, the experience was like my first. |
The Crunchwrap Supreme did not win me over |
| I ordered one at a location in Santa Ana near my wife's restaurant, where I unveiled the dish. While looking as sleek and tightly folded as a dumpling, it was far smaller than I had expected. The tortilla had no flavor; the tostada which supposedly offers textural counterpoint — the whole idea, according to its advocates, like Times newsletter jefe Karim Doumar — was soggy. |
| And once again, Taco Bell's Achilles' heel was its ground beef, which was as pebbly as gravel. I squeezed some of Taco Bell's hot sauce to try and save my lunch, but it tasted like insulin dusted with black pepper. |
| You're better off buying two of Del Taco's half-pound bean-and-cheese burritos for the same $6 price. |
| I am no snob or purist — I think Jack in the Box's hard-shell tacos are magnificent. And I can see the Crunchwrap Supreme working with better ingredients. But the dish is hardly worth the hype. Besides, Mexicans have a far better dish that combines the soft with the crunchy to create something sublime. They're called chilaquiles — ask my fellow columnista Steve Lopez about them sometime. |
Today's top stories |
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| (Jason Armond/Los Angeles Times) |
Tensions over the raids are heating up |
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The raids are changing California |
- ICE flights out of the L.A. area have more than doubled in the last month.
- The Adelanto ICE Processing Center is filling so rapidly it is reigniting longtime concerns about safety conditions inside the facility.
- The agency also wants to expand detention capacity in California. This new facility will be the largest in the state.
- Daily life has been significantly altered around immigration hubs because of the fear and panic around the ongoing immigration raids.
- Farms, hotels and restaurants have pressed Trump to exempt their businesses from raids.
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Trump retains control of the National Guard |
- The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals decided Thursday to leave troops in Los Angeles in the hands of the Trump administration while California's objections are litigated in federal court.
- "While the court did not provide immediate relief for Angelenos today, we remain confident in our arguments and will continue the fight," Atty. Gen. Rob Bonta said in response to the ruling.
- The questions at the heart of the case test the limits of presidential authority, which the U.S. Supreme Court has vastly expanded in recent years.
- Trump administration lawyers are digging deep to find statutes that can justify the ongoing federal crackdown — including constitutional maneuvers invented to enforce the Fugitive Slave Act of 1850.
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What else is going on |
- Price-gouging charges slowly mount after the fires, but some say it's not enough.
- As Los Angeles faces budget crisis, legal payouts have skyrocketed.
- The contentious Dodgers-Padres series ended with benches clearing and managers ejected.
- Arab and Gulf nations fear a U.S. attack on Iran would destabilize the region.
- No more fireworks? A big change is coming to the Fourth of July at Pasadena's Rose Bowl.
- Tell us your 2025 Emmy predictions with our reader poll.
- Policies to ban plastic bags may be paying off, with fewer showing up during coastal cleanups.
- Efforts to reduce dust kicking up from the dry bed of Owens Lake are helping, a new report found.
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Commentary and opinions |
- Archbishop Gomez starts to stand up for L.A. right when the city needs him, Gustavo Arellano writes.
- Trump could sabotage L.A.'s World Cup and Olympics, Michael Hiltzik argues.
- Social Security is still in good shape but faces challenges — from Trump, Hiltzik said in another column.
- Secret police have no place in L.A. or democracy, columnist Anita Chabria writes. "But here they are."
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This morning's must reads |
| | | The dueling litigation is the latest in a string of legal battles that Priscilla and the Presley heirs have been involved in since Elvis died nearly 50 years ago, leaving a financial legacy as messy and fraught as the King's life. | | | |
Other must reads |
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| Keep up with California | Your support helps us deliver the news that matters most. Subscribe to the Los Angeles Times. | | | | | |
For your downtime |
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| A crowd stands at Surf Beach just outside Lompoc, waiting for a rocket to launch from Vandenberg Space Force Base. (Keith Plocek / For the Times) |
Going out |
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Staying in |
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And finally ... your photo of the day |
| The Black faith community, along with people of faith from across Los Angeles County, marched in solidarity through the streets of downtown L.A. Wednesday for a peaceful interfaith prayer walk for family unity. |
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| Protesters march toward the Roybal Federal Building in downtown Los Angeles. (Genaro Molina / Los Angeles Times) |
Have a great day, from the Essential California team |
| Gustavo Arellano, California columnist
Kevinisha Walker, multiplatform editor
Andrew Campa, Sunday writer
Karim Doumar, head of newsletters |
| How can we make this newsletter more useful? Send comments to essentialcalifornia@latimes.com. Check our top stories, topics and the latest articles on latimes.com. |
