Bring Back the Quesalupa, You Cowards

Taco Bell's Quesalupa is my fast-food holy grail. Gooey, cheesy, and salty with a perfect crunch and give, it is the reason I like Taco Bell — and unquestionably the chain's best menu item. So why, why, isn't it still there? It beats me. Sure, Taco Bell's been famous for shelving menu items in recent years, but fan demand (and outcry) often brings them back. So here I am, demanding (and crying out): Bring back the Quesalupa, you cowards!

How I Discovered–and Fell in Love With–the Quesalupa

It was spring of 2016 in Hales Corners, Wisconsin—finally blossom season. With the horrors of yet another frigid Midwestern winter behind us, my family and some friends ventured out to christen the returning warmth at the Boerner Botanical Gardens, a hidden gem in the Milwaukee area.

Mind you, I was 16 at the time: The flowers may have been cool, but I was hungry (and, quite frankly, had seen my fill of lilacs early on in the visit). Knowing we were near Kopp's Frozen Custard, one of Milwaukee's best burgers, my mind was set on the iconic, greasy burger and custard joint. But, Hales Corners was a bit far from home and it was a Friday, so everyone was eager to get back to our neighborhood. Instead, we struck a compromise: There was (and still is) a Taco Bell on 76th Street, one of the Milwaukee area’s largest thoroughfares. And, as chance would have it, this one happened to be perfectly perched about halfway home. In the interest of brevity and satisfaction, we stopped at The Bell for a quick bite. 

For the longest time, I didn't like Taco Bell. I don't think it had anything to do with the food, but more because I’d ended up wearing a cup of nacho cheese flung at me by my sister when we were very little. A harrowing experience, evidently, because it must have been at least 10 years since then and I hadn’t had Taco Bell once.

I was willing to change my ways, though. Enamored with Cartoon Network's slate of shows, I'd seen energetic advertisements where George Takei touted the greatness of a new menu item at Taco Bell: the Quesalupa. Maybe it was the Star Trek star's iconic, "Oh my!" Maybe it was because I'd just gotten my first proper smartphone and wanted in on the social media buzz that the commercial proudly touted. Whatever it was, I knew I had to have a Quesalupa for myself.

It was love at first bite. The Quesalupa's warm, crispy-on-the-outside-warm-and-gooey-on-the-inside shell gave way to luxuriously melty cheese that added a layer of sheer decadence to Taco Bell's standard melange of beef, cheese, lettuce, and onions. But it was the shell that made the Quesalupa truly great: Pupusa-like in texture, flavor, and stretch, it kept the cheese from getting too hard or too melty. It was genius. 

Taco Bell’s taco-adjacent creation made enough of an impact that the entire experience is burned into my memory. I remember everything from that moment: sitting with my back to the window overlooking the stretch of strip malls and department store, toying around with my first phone. An unremarkable scene was made unforgettable because of what I was eating. It’s magical when food—fast or otherwise—is capable of delivering such an impact. So, of course I've been a fan of Taco Bell's antics ever since. Except for the antics that involved taking the Quesalupa off the menu.

The Quesalupa’s On-Again, Off-Again Games

The Quesalupa remained on the Taco Bell menu for a few months before going back into the vault until it re-emerged in 2021. At that point, I was a college student confined to my four corners by the COVID-19 pandemic. Some of the most memorable meals in my old apartment in Chicago’s Printer’s Row neighborhood heavily featured this cheesy treat. Adding The Bell’s Pina Colada Freezes (that we fortified with Bacardi from our new liquor cabinet) to the meal, my roommates and I noshed on Quesalupas between games of Super Smash Bros. Ultimate and a lot of great laughs. 

And then it was gone again (May of 2021, to be exact, because you can bet I keep track of these things). And has yet to return. I still stop in from time to time, but nothing brings me in like a Quesalupa. It’s everything Taco Bell should be. Where its burritos begin and end with gummy tortillas and its hard-shelled tacos fall apart thanks to the seasoned beef’s juices, the Quesalupa defies fast food boundaries. It’s perfect and deserves to return to my world—to all our worlds.

Are you listening, Taco Bell HQ? Bring back the Quesalupa, you cowards!