The Subtle Vegetarian

Taco Bell just added three new vegetarian entrees to their menu:

• The cheese roll-up is a tubular quesadilla
• The triple-layer nachos have beans, red sauce, and nacho sauce
• The caramel apple empanadas are McDonald’s apple pies in disguise

Yeah, fast food is sometimes in demand. And Mexican is often veggie friendly. Combine them and you get Taco Bell – Yum! Brands’ “Mexican” chain. It’s not actually good (or all that Mexican), but it’s something to eat in a pinch…

As I mentioned the other day, Taco Bell’s web site doesn’t include the word, “vegetarian”, but parent company Yum does have some information. Here’s the deal: The rice is vegetarian (specifically), as are the (refried) beans. The pizza sauce contains “natural flavorings” which is sometimes code for meat, and the stores use the same fryer for the potato bits and meaty stuff.

Now what do I like to eat there? Best is a modified Mexican Pizza – no meat, add sour cream. Costs a lot, but actually tasty! Also, the bean burritos (I get them without the nasty red sauce) and new special bean and rice burrito aren’t bad.

Not a destination. But lunch.

In my endless quest to locate veggie-friendly options, I’ve searched the web sites of many restaurants to find out what they have to say on the subject. Unfortunately, the following restaurants have nothing at all to say on the subject – the word, “vegetarian”, simply does not appear on their web site!

• Applebee’s (no surprise)
• Taco Bell (really!)
• Burger King (Mickey-D’s does…)
• Wendy’s (too bad!)
• Ruby Tuesday (yeah, whatever)
• Bertucci’s (a Massachusetts chain!)
• Starbucks (seriously!)

I guess I’ll eat somewhere else, then…