Taco Bell goes for the layered look

TWO years ago, Taco Bell unveiled the Crunchwrap Supreme, which featured a crisp corn tortilla, seasoned beef, nacho cheese sauce, shredded lettuce, diced tomato and sour cream bundled and toasted inside a humongous, hexagonal, easy-to-hold flour tortilla. It was extremely successful and a whole lot of fun.

After that, T-Bell produced a Spicy Chicken Crunchwrap and even tested a Breakfast Crunchwrap, but neither captured America’s imagination like the original.

They’ve gone to the Crunchwrap well one more time. Introducing the 7-Layer Crunchwrap, with refried beans, cheese sauce, red sauce, tomato, sour cream, guacamole and red tortilla strips bundled and toasted inside the humongous tortilla. It’s a Crunchwrap that can be experienced by vegetarians, at least the cheese-eating ones, but will it capture the hearts, minds and taste buds of a fast-food nation?

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Taco Bell’s 7-Layer Crunchwrap

**Taste

You know you’re in trouble when the most distinctive flavor comes from the sour cream. Everything else is disappointingly dull. The beans are bland, the “guac” doesn’t rock, and red sauce barely registers. The tortilla strips add a nice crunch, but to make them seem exciting, they had to be dyed red.

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**Diet Watch

Just because there’s no meat doesn’t mean it’s good for you. The original Crunchwrap Supreme had only 550 calories; this one has a hefty 660, with 28 grams of fat, including 1.5 grams of that evil trans fat. There are also 85 grams of carbohydrates and 1,640 milligrams of salty, salty sodium.

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**Portability

The Crunchwrap’s shape, perfect for one-handed, car-friendly dining, is its selling point. The problem, of course, comes if you want to add extra hot sauce, which this desperately needs. Because everything’s stuffed inside, you have to put the sauce outside, which is messy and defeats the purpose.

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****Hype-o-meter

In a so-stupid-it’s-brilliant marketing promotion, people can click the “7 Layers of Love” at tacobell.com and list seven reasons why their lovers are lucky enough to be with them. One winner will have a marriage proposal appear on virtual signage behind home plate during a televised baseball game on 07/07/07, “the luckiest day of this century.” Who wouldn’t want their marriage forever linked to mediocre, limited-time-only fast food?

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* Ratings are on a scale of one (lowest) to four (best).