Chefs Reuben Asaram, Jennifer Hwa Dobbertin, and Lawrence Smith developed the new handhelds
Taco Bell sampled three new versions of its Crunchwrap Supreme at two pop-up food trucks in New York City on Wednesday. The new griddled wraps were developed in collaboration with independent chefs.
The Indian Buffet Crunchwrap Supreme was developed with Reuben Asaram, a Philadelphia-based chef who operates pop-ups under his Reuby brand, serving Indian-Mexican tacos. His Crunchwrap is made with roasted chicken in tomato curry along with cucumber mint sauce, spiced rice, lettuce, and pico de gallo. Like all Crunchwrap Supremes, it's enclosed in a tostada shell, wrapped in a flour tortilla, and griddled.
The Crispy Thai Noodle Crunchwrap Supreme, developed in collaboration with Jennifer Hwa Dobbertin, chef of Best Quality Daughter, an Asian-American restaurant in San Antonio, is made with grilled chicken in khao soi aïoli, crunchy wheat noodles, reduced-fat sour cream, onions, cilantro, and avocado basil ranch sauce.
Khao soi is a curry soup from northern Thailand made with crunchy wheat noodles.
The Southwest Hot CHX Crunchwrap Supreme was developed with Lawrence “L.T.” Smith of Chilte, an award-winning Mexican restaurant in Phoenix. It’s made with fried chicken nuggets in salsa macha with Oaxaca-style mozzarella and Monterey Jack cheeses, purple cabbage slaw, cilantro, apricot hot sauce, and reduced-fat sour cream.
Whether those three specialty items see broader exposure at Taco Bell locations across the country depends on the feedback from consumers during Wednesday's giveaway in Manhattan’s Washington Square Park, and on North 6th Street in the Brooklyn, N.Y., neighborhood of Williamsburg, according to a release from Taco Bell.
The test items are the first to be introduced as part of Taco Bell’s TBX program, through which the quick-service chain is reaching out to independent chefs who are then invited to work with its development team in menu item creation.
Dobbertin said Taco Bell first contacted her and the other two chefs in November, so it took just under a year to bring the new items to fruition.
All three of the chefs said that, at first, they didn’t believe that it was really Taco Bell that had contacted them.
“I literally thought it was a scam,” Asaram said, but he went along with it just to see what would happen, and of course, it turned out to be real.
“I asked so many questions upfront,” Smith said. “I was like, I’m not getting on this [Zoom] call until you tell me what’s up.”
Dobbertin said they spent much of the year working with Taco Bell in research & development, and said of the R&D team, “They’re amazing.”
She added that she learned from them insights into maintaining consistency at her own restaurant.
“You’re cooking for real in the test kitchen,” Smith said, “and then how they translate that to their line in every Taco Bell is so cool.”
Asaram said he was impressed by the team’s creative process. “I’ve always been interested in how they come up with new stuff, because I have such a chaotic brain. I wake up at 3 in the morning and write things down, but for them it’s a team effort.”
To promote the TBX initiative, Taco Bell is inviting its loyalty program members systemwide to get creative with their own Crunchwrap innovations.
Rewards Members can add up to $3 worth of their own customizations to a Crunchwrap Supreme order through Oct. 21.
It’s also being supported with limited-edition TBX-branded merch such as caps and t-shirts.
The Crunchwrap Supreme was launched in 2005 and is made with seasoned beef, nacho cheese sauce, lettuce, tomatoes, reduced-fat sour cream, and a tostada shell wrapped in a warm flour tortilla that is then folded hexagonally and griddled.
You can read more about Asaram, Dobbertin and Smith here.
Contact Bret Thorn at [email protected]
