Taco Bell "Chilito" 1986

I have always loved Taco Bell. I do not recall the first time I ever ate there, but I do recall my first taste of the famous, "chilito."

It was a summer Sunday evening in 1986. I was in the youth building at my home church, Liberty Baptist, located on 4th street in St. Petersburg, FL. There's a Taco Bell just a block down.
A few of my buddies and I were hanging out prior to the evening services playing ping-pong, and decided to make a quick "Run For The Border."

We all took off on foot and hit the drive-thru (yeah, we thought it was funny to "walk" thru the "drive" thru ... Gen X nerds!). My normal order in those days would have been 2 soft tacos and a small drink for just under $2 total. (some may recall Taco Bell's big promo in those days was their 59/69/79 menu where every menu item was either $.59 $.69 or $.79.

Anyway, this particular evening they had just rolled out a promo for the new "chilito" for $.79.
Interestingly enough, in 1986, the whole "Value Meal" concept had not yet been adopted by the Taco Bell chain; they were still into promoting individual items.
I decided to give it a try and I ordered 2 chilitos.
That was the beginning of a taste-bud obsession that still exists today!

The chilito is the simplest form of Mexi-Fast food. It is a super-soft flour tortilla, lots of melted cheese, and some chili-flavored meat. Add a little mild taco sauce, and you're in taste bud heaven!

To this day, I never order anything else from the Bell. When I am "thinking outside the bun," I'm dreaming of gobs of melted cheese and chili inside a multi-layered tortilla.

Here's some trivia for you:
Currently, the chilito is named the "chili cheese burrito" because the word "chilito" means "penis" in certain slang Spanish dialects! Ha!
Also, you will very rarely find the chili cheese burrito advertised on the actual published menu at your local Taco Bell. In fact, according to this interesting website: www.chilicheese.org, only 12% of Taco Bells nationwide will even make one for you. I believe this figure to be a bit low because I buy them quite frequently at stores located in Indiana and Illinois.

I will say, however, that it is NOT listed on the published menu. I've had to ask for it by name, and in some cases, the kid at the register has had to get a manager to confirm what a chili cheese burrito actually is, it's availability, cost and how to ring it up!

Why has the chilito been sent to the literal back burner in the Taco Bell world? Some speculate that it just was not popular enough. Others think it's due to the bad press over the reference to the male member. Still others conclude its fat content is too high for today's health conscious fast food consumer. (read that again and see it that is funny to you as it is to me! LOL)

To "wrap" this up...if you all could share with me two things:

(1) do you like chili cheese burritos?

(2) what do you pay for them in your state or town? I find the prices range from $1.29 to $1.49.