Monthly Feature
Melissa brings you the latest from the world of fast food!

Growing up in a household with a teacher for a mom and a farmer for a dad, let’s just say the money wasn’t rolling in. We always had plenty of food, new clothes and shoes for school and we got to go on vacations and do fun stuff with our friends. My mom sacrificed a lot so we would never feel left out or behind. But money was tight and some things just weren’t in the budget. Like light-up BK’s for example.

For those who don’t know, the British Knight shoe company was the first to come out with light-up tennis shoes. I was in the 5th grade and all the cool girls had them. And I wanted a pair. Bad. But with two younger sisters there was no way my mom would buy me some without buying them for my sisters as well. And they were pricey. So the answer was no every time I asked my mom. And I asked a lot. Looking back I feel sorry for my mom having to put up with me. I could be really persistent when I set my mind to something. I still am that way I suppose. But instead of light-up BK’s I want for things a bit more practical. Like a weekly maid service, a vacation home on the river and a Shake Weight.

So, when it was time for me to go off to college I knew I was going to have to pay for it myself. No biggie. I tapped into my friend Sallie Mae and she took care of my tuition. But to afford living expenses, books, and Thursday night bar tabs at Northgate, I needed a job. Several in fact. At one point in my college career I held 5 jobs at once. My friends who had their college expenses paid for by their parents just couldn’t fathom how I could hold down so many jobs and still go to school. But I’d been working since I was 15 years old so for me it was a non-issue. I worked so I could eat regularly and not have to live in my car.

One of the longest jobs I held was at the Shammy Car Wash. I was the cashier, receptionist, corporate accounts manager, complaint department and janitor. Basically, if my boss didn’t want to do something, I did it for him.

One of the best parts of working at the Shammy was Rosa. Rosa came by every morning with a car load of homemade breakfast tacos. She would get up at 5:00 a.m. to make 300 breakfast tacos and then drive around town selling them. They were the best tacos I’ve ever eaten. She’d have potato and egg, bacon, egg and cheese, jalepeno egg and my all-time favorite, chorizo. Her chorizo was homemade and had the best flavor. It was never grisly or greasy. I would see her little blue Ford Fiesta pull into the parking lot and my mouth would start watering. I couldn’t get out of the door fast enough to get my tacos. I would get at least 3 every day. 5 if I was trying to get rid of a nasty hangover.

So when I heard Whataburger had added Chorizo Taquitos to the menu I had to go check it out. Here’s the low-down:

Overall taste: 7
While certainly not up to Rosa’s caliber, the Chorizo Taquito was fine. I was disappointed in the amount of chorizo actually used. It had good flavor but the pieces of chorizo were really small and ground to a pulp. While chewing, I really didn’t get a good bite of chorizo. It was all egg. But I ate the whole thing so it wasn’t that bad.

Visual Appeal: 8
The Chorizo Taquito is your basic breakfast soft taco. A pretty little package all rolled up nice and neat. It held up pretty well while I ate it and didn’t make too big of a mess.

Health Rating (Scale of 1-10): 4
I knew going into this one that the health factor wasn’t going to be great. We’re talking about chorizo here, people. Chorizo is not light on the calories. Whataburger’s website health information is pretty detailed. Good if you’re eating one of their salads. Not so good if you’re not. The Chorizo Taquito is high in everything: fat, calories, cholesterol and sodium.

After Effects:
Other than the fact I was still hungry after finishing it, none to speak of. Whataburger should offer a double taquito option. One is not enough to satisfy.

Would you eat it again?
I would, but it wouldn’t be my first choice. Like I said, the Chorizo Taquito had a good flavor but the amount of chorizo was lacking. If they loaded up the chorizo and lightened up on the egg, I’d be a lot happier. But all in all it was pretty good.