RIP Choco Taco (1983-2022)
July 27, 2022 10:11 AM Subscribe
The rumors flew for a few hours on Monday, all over social media. People claimed to have talked to people at the company. Screenshots of tweets and Facebook posts were shared. Then, it became official. Klondike (a brand of Good Humor-Breyers, a wholly owned subsidiary of Unilever) announced that it is discontinuing the Choco Taco.
Sen. Chris Murphy (D-Conn.) immediately threatened to invoke the Defense Production Act, but the very serious Task & Purpose military news website analyzes the issue and finds that, "For right now, however, it would be best to let the Choco Taco fade away".
Sen. Chris Murphy (D-Conn.) immediately threatened to invoke the Defense Production Act, but the very serious Task & Purpose military news website analyzes the issue and finds that, "For right now, however, it would be best to let the Choco Taco fade away".
Ask not what your Klondike can do for you
posted by clavdivs at 10:17 AM on July 27, 2022 [8 favorites]
posted by clavdivs at 10:17 AM on July 27, 2022 [8 favorites]
This is truly the darkest timeline.
posted by DirtyOldTown at 10:19 AM on July 27, 2022 [6 favorites]
posted by DirtyOldTown at 10:19 AM on July 27, 2022 [6 favorites]
Further proof that capitalism is not working.
posted by BuddhaInABucket at 10:23 AM on July 27, 2022 [8 favorites]
posted by BuddhaInABucket at 10:23 AM on July 27, 2022 [8 favorites]
I used to keep a choco taco in my freezer for emotional emergencies. That fell off during the pandemic when I moved in with my partner. Either she's had a soothing effect or the pandemic's been too constant an emergency for a choco taco to move the needle.
Either way if I'd realized they were so reliant on my business I would have gone out of my way to keep the inventory up. Sorry yall.
posted by Phobos the Space Potato at 10:24 AM on July 27, 2022 [25 favorites]
Either way if I'd realized they were so reliant on my business I would have gone out of my way to keep the inventory up. Sorry yall.
posted by Phobos the Space Potato at 10:24 AM on July 27, 2022 [25 favorites]
I have never had a Choco Taco. I don't think we get them in Canada?
They look delicious, though. I would definitely try one.
posted by jacquilynne at 10:27 AM on July 27, 2022 [6 favorites]
They look delicious, though. I would definitely try one.
posted by jacquilynne at 10:27 AM on July 27, 2022 [6 favorites]
🌮
posted by jeoc at 10:35 AM on July 27, 2022 [3 favorites]
posted by jeoc at 10:35 AM on July 27, 2022 [3 favorites]
For some reason all I can think of is Kool A.D. telling us how he's Chickety-chaco, the chocolate chicken
Half Choco Taco, quarter Chippewa Indian
posted by SaltySalticid at 10:35 AM on July 27, 2022 [6 favorites]
Half Choco Taco, quarter Chippewa Indian
posted by SaltySalticid at 10:35 AM on July 27, 2022 [6 favorites]
Appreciated this post, especially the Task & Purpose link!
I ate many of these when I was a child. And then I got one as an adult and I had trouble finishing it -- my tastes had changed a bit, or my appetite/capacity for giant sweets had. I just reviewed the modern nutritional info and am surprised, because the current wrapper says that one taco is 45% of your Recommended Daily Value of saturated fat, and I recall it being more like 60% or more. But maybe the recipe changed after Unilever bought it and after the Taco Bell partnership:
I ate many of these when I was a child. And then I got one as an adult and I had trouble finishing it -- my tastes had changed a bit, or my appetite/capacity for giant sweets had. I just reviewed the modern nutritional info and am surprised, because the current wrapper says that one taco is 45% of your Recommended Daily Value of saturated fat, and I recall it being more like 60% or more. But maybe the recipe changed after Unilever bought it and after the Taco Bell partnership:
A few years after its initial introduction, Choco Tacos made their way into Taco Bell, a partnership that still leads some people to think the product was invented by the fast-food chain. Not so, but the arrangement did have an impact on the recipe. The Choco’s signature “light ice cream” was originally introduced at Taco Bell’s behest, when the company was trying to reduce the fat and calorie content of their menu.posted by brainwane at 10:36 AM on July 27, 2022
They look delicious, though. I would definitely try one.
IMO they were mediocre. Like they're still ice cream, but not really an ice cream treat. But clearly some people liked them enough to pick even when there's a whole ice cream truck full of other options!
posted by aubilenon at 10:38 AM on July 27, 2022 [3 favorites]
IMO they were mediocre. Like they're still ice cream, but not really an ice cream treat. But clearly some people liked them enough to pick even when there's a whole ice cream truck full of other options!
posted by aubilenon at 10:38 AM on July 27, 2022 [3 favorites]
What this really brings back for me is Eddie the Ice Cream Man. A WW II vet who had one of those Good Humor trucks that would play the music and me and my brothers circa 1969 would coming running out to get our Chocolate Éclair or Strawberry Shortcake. Old Eddie would talk to us for what seemed like hours but was probably 3 or 4 minutes. We loved to ask him about the war, but he would say, "Why talk about war when we can talk about ice cream!"
posted by JohnnyGunn at 10:44 AM on July 27, 2022 [16 favorites]
posted by JohnnyGunn at 10:44 AM on July 27, 2022 [16 favorites]
This all seems shady to me. Not necessarily in a nefarious way, but I'm not really buying the whole "unprecedented demand across our portfolio" angle. I mean, you can do pretty much anything with the choco-taco idea. Change ice-cream flavors, coat it in peanut butter/white chocolate/salted caramel, add nuts/sprinkles/brownie chunks...it's endless.
I'm guessing it's something in the production process or supply change that's really at the heart. Or perhaps it's the false scarcity gambit while they work on whatever process is holding things up.
This story is far from over.
posted by OHenryPacey at 10:46 AM on July 27, 2022 [8 favorites]
I'm guessing it's something in the production process or supply change that's really at the heart. Or perhaps it's the false scarcity gambit while they work on whatever process is holding things up.
This story is far from over.
posted by OHenryPacey at 10:46 AM on July 27, 2022 [8 favorites]
I like how "The Legend of the Choco Taco" in Eater discusses what's special about the eating experience of the Choco Taco, quoting inventor Alan Drazen:
Oh BTW this reminds me: a few years ago I was looking up my state's driving regulations and found out that they have a set of regulations for ice cream trucks, more formally something like "the sale of frozen desserts from vehicles" or something like that. And one of the rules is that sales can only happen while the vehicle is safely stopped. I know that this is meant to say, like, you can't stop and block an intersection while selling the ice cream. But I'm imagining someone delivering Choco Tacos by flinging them out the window onto porches, paperboy-style, and yelling "Venmo meeeeeee" as they pass.
posted by brainwane at 10:47 AM on July 27, 2022 [22 favorites]
That shape made for a whole different ice cream-eating experience. “When you eat a sugar cone, you generally eat the nuts, chocolate, and ice cream on the top, and then when you get to the cone, you’re [only] eating ice cream and cone,” Drazen says. “With the Choco Taco you’re getting the ice cream, cone, nuts, and chocolate with just about every bite.”but also people who run artisanal ice cream shops, who make desserts that pay homage to the Choco Taco:
Both Malek and Alex Stupak are quick to note that they could never re-create or technically improve on the Choco Taco, because the joy of eating them is as much about place and time as flavor. You can’t sink your teeth into a memory. “You can make it taste better, but then it’s not the childhood treat anymore, so it kind of ruins it,” says Stupak.You know? Like, what is The Good, Socrates?
“When you really think about Choco Tacos, they actually don’t taste like chocolate all that much,” he continues. “They dip it in some weird glacage that’s super low-grade cocoa powder mixed with a lot of cocoa butter, or god knows what else. We were trying to dip ours, obviously, in good chocolate. But it’s one of those things where you kind of don’t want it to be as good.”
Oh BTW this reminds me: a few years ago I was looking up my state's driving regulations and found out that they have a set of regulations for ice cream trucks, more formally something like "the sale of frozen desserts from vehicles" or something like that. And one of the rules is that sales can only happen while the vehicle is safely stopped. I know that this is meant to say, like, you can't stop and block an intersection while selling the ice cream. But I'm imagining someone delivering Choco Tacos by flinging them out the window onto porches, paperboy-style, and yelling "Venmo meeeeeee" as they pass.
posted by brainwane at 10:47 AM on July 27, 2022 [22 favorites]
Nancy Pelosi made $3B shorting Choco Taco
posted by glaucon at 10:48 AM on July 27, 2022 [13 favorites]
posted by glaucon at 10:48 AM on July 27, 2022 [13 favorites]
The Choco Taco is the quintessential "isn't as good as it looks/you remember it" treat. Prison-quality ice cream slopped in to a shell with the consistency of a swim cap.
posted by saladin at 10:48 AM on July 27, 2022 [6 favorites]
posted by saladin at 10:48 AM on July 27, 2022 [6 favorites]
RIP, familiar ice cream treat of my youth, may angels speed you to your sugary rest
posted by Kitteh at 10:49 AM on July 27, 2022 [2 favorites]
posted by Kitteh at 10:49 AM on July 27, 2022 [2 favorites]
The part that makes me sad is that a rich guy offered to buy Choco Taco and they ignored him.
posted by jenfullmoon at 10:50 AM on July 27, 2022 [2 favorites]
posted by jenfullmoon at 10:50 AM on July 27, 2022 [2 favorites]
I had my first Choco Taco as an adult in NYC. I found it kind of tasty, but really awkward to eat. Just like a real taco.
NB: I don't like tacos.
Fun fact though: we're basically the same age! Take that Choco Taco, I'm still kicking!
posted by Alex404 at 10:55 AM on July 27, 2022
NB: I don't like tacos.
Fun fact though: we're basically the same age! Take that Choco Taco, I'm still kicking!
posted by Alex404 at 10:55 AM on July 27, 2022
A WW II vet who had one of those Good Humor trucks that would play the music and me and my brothers circa 1969.
It's true. I like the side doors and Hat. We had a vet in Ann Arbor who was our mailman run one, occasionally driving. Like clock work 1:00, 3:00, 6-7:00. No looped blare but a bell.
posted by clavdivs at 10:56 AM on July 27, 2022 [1 favorite]
It's true. I like the side doors and Hat. We had a vet in Ann Arbor who was our mailman run one, occasionally driving. Like clock work 1:00, 3:00, 6-7:00. No looped blare but a bell.
posted by clavdivs at 10:56 AM on July 27, 2022 [1 favorite]
I only had a Choco Taco once, but it was under some unusually memorable circumstances.
In 1999 I did a 3-day charity walkathon; 20 miles a day for 3 straight days, starting somewhere in New Jersey and ending in Central Park. (There were support vans that would carry our suitcases from start point to end point each day, copious support tents and food stops along the way, a very clearly-marked and roped-off route, and suchlike.) This was back when I had a good deal more gumption, so I was usually at the head of the pack each day.
I tried to stop in at each of the support stops on the way - they had port-a-sans, bottled water, and occasionally snacks for the taking, and I tried to use all three. One support stop was in the parking lot of a church, and when I got there, I saw an ice cream truck at the other side of the parking lot. I grabbed my water bottle and then went over to the truck, and selected a Choco Taco; I'd never had one before.
I was one of about 10 people from the walkathon who'd lined up to see the guy so far, and he asked me, "so what's going on?"
"Oh, it's a walkathon for charity," I told him. "I thought maybe they booked you themselves, were you just here by coincidence?"
"Oh, yeah, I usually stop here on the weekend. Cool! How far are you walking?"
"We started in [town] and we're going to be in New York City tomorrow."
"Wow, that's a long way! Good for you!" I thanked him. "So it's just you guys?"
"Oh, no," I told him. "We're just the first people to make it here."
"....Wait, how many are you?"
"There are like two thousand of us," I told him with a grin. "And they're all coming behind me and they're all going to stop here."
As I was saying this, another group of about seven women were approaching the table, and they looked up to see the ice cream truck at the same time he looked up to see them all making a beeline for him. I've never seen an ice cream man look that happy.
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 11:02 AM on July 27, 2022 [47 favorites]
In 1999 I did a 3-day charity walkathon; 20 miles a day for 3 straight days, starting somewhere in New Jersey and ending in Central Park. (There were support vans that would carry our suitcases from start point to end point each day, copious support tents and food stops along the way, a very clearly-marked and roped-off route, and suchlike.) This was back when I had a good deal more gumption, so I was usually at the head of the pack each day.
I tried to stop in at each of the support stops on the way - they had port-a-sans, bottled water, and occasionally snacks for the taking, and I tried to use all three. One support stop was in the parking lot of a church, and when I got there, I saw an ice cream truck at the other side of the parking lot. I grabbed my water bottle and then went over to the truck, and selected a Choco Taco; I'd never had one before.
I was one of about 10 people from the walkathon who'd lined up to see the guy so far, and he asked me, "so what's going on?"
"Oh, it's a walkathon for charity," I told him. "I thought maybe they booked you themselves, were you just here by coincidence?"
"Oh, yeah, I usually stop here on the weekend. Cool! How far are you walking?"
"We started in [town] and we're going to be in New York City tomorrow."
"Wow, that's a long way! Good for you!" I thanked him. "So it's just you guys?"
"Oh, no," I told him. "We're just the first people to make it here."
"....Wait, how many are you?"
"There are like two thousand of us," I told him with a grin. "And they're all coming behind me and they're all going to stop here."
As I was saying this, another group of about seven women were approaching the table, and they looked up to see the ice cream truck at the same time he looked up to see them all making a beeline for him. I've never seen an ice cream man look that happy.
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 11:02 AM on July 27, 2022 [47 favorites]
Just got out of my time machine and I'm here to tell you that the 2023 reboot of ChocoTaco Classic (TM) is getting awful reviews because nothing really changed and it was always a cheap frozen treat.
Everyone was on social media with this strange mix of outrage+nostalgia+oneupmanship but hey that's the internet in 2023. There were literally 4,000+ YouTube videos of CHOCO TACO CLASSIC UNBOXING uploaded simultaneously, overloading Google's servers.
The Unilever marketing department has admitted it was all a stunt and mostly because Carl lost the keys to the WaffleFolder2000 that made the thing in the first place.
posted by JoeZydeco at 11:10 AM on July 27, 2022 [15 favorites]
Everyone was on social media with this strange mix of outrage+nostalgia+oneupmanship but hey that's the internet in 2023. There were literally 4,000+ YouTube videos of CHOCO TACO CLASSIC UNBOXING uploaded simultaneously, overloading Google's servers.
The Unilever marketing department has admitted it was all a stunt and mostly because Carl lost the keys to the WaffleFolder2000 that made the thing in the first place.
posted by JoeZydeco at 11:10 AM on July 27, 2022 [15 favorites]
Choco Taco will be on the desert menus of every trendy hipster restaurant soon enough, but hand-made, with quality ingredients, and $17.
posted by Keith Talent at 11:17 AM on July 27, 2022 [2 favorites]
posted by Keith Talent at 11:17 AM on July 27, 2022 [2 favorites]
Mark my words; if we don’t stop this madness now, the creamsicle will be next.
posted by TedW at 11:24 AM on July 27, 2022 [4 favorites]
posted by TedW at 11:24 AM on July 27, 2022 [4 favorites]
The part that makes me sad is that a rich guy offered to buy Choco Taco and they ignored him.
I imagine the logic was something like: "It's a good offer, but if he succeeds we'll look like assholes. Pass."
posted by Lentrohamsanin at 11:25 AM on July 27, 2022
I imagine the logic was something like: "It's a good offer, but if he succeeds we'll look like assholes. Pass."
posted by Lentrohamsanin at 11:25 AM on July 27, 2022
I'm sure that Fox News will find a way to spin this as another failure of the Biden administration.
posted by milnak at 11:27 AM on July 27, 2022 [2 favorites]
posted by milnak at 11:27 AM on July 27, 2022 [2 favorites]
I had never heard of Choco Tacos but then I never really liked ice cream or chocolate much. The day that changed was one of the best days of my life.
I hit 30 days of sobriety while I was in rehab and had gained some appetite after not really eating for a few years. A guy walked into the unit, tossed a Choco Taco at me, and said "Happy 30 days; here's to the next 30!" I remember everything about that Choco Taco being magical. I have fewer than one Choco Taco a year now, but it's still a magic every time, just flashing back to that day when things looked like they might be ok.
My wife is in Malawi right now and not near cell or WiFi service, but when she heard the news yesterday (yes this story got to her by word of mouth in Africa) she found working service to text me the story with a "Nooooooooooo" and my oldest kid bought a bunch at the store last night to keep in the deep freezer. Choco Tacos really aren't that great, but those 30 days of sobriety turned into thousands and they still taste like magic to me.
posted by Clinging to the Wreckage at 11:27 AM on July 27, 2022 [75 favorites]
I hit 30 days of sobriety while I was in rehab and had gained some appetite after not really eating for a few years. A guy walked into the unit, tossed a Choco Taco at me, and said "Happy 30 days; here's to the next 30!" I remember everything about that Choco Taco being magical. I have fewer than one Choco Taco a year now, but it's still a magic every time, just flashing back to that day when things looked like they might be ok.
My wife is in Malawi right now and not near cell or WiFi service, but when she heard the news yesterday (yes this story got to her by word of mouth in Africa) she found working service to text me the story with a "Nooooooooooo" and my oldest kid bought a bunch at the store last night to keep in the deep freezer. Choco Tacos really aren't that great, but those 30 days of sobriety turned into thousands and they still taste like magic to me.
posted by Clinging to the Wreckage at 11:27 AM on July 27, 2022 [75 favorites]
Alas, chocolate + taco doesn't have any results in Emoji Kitchen.
posted by meowzilla at 11:31 AM on July 27, 2022 [1 favorite]
posted by meowzilla at 11:31 AM on July 27, 2022 [1 favorite]
My refined palate prefers Chippy Chip Chocolate Chip Cookie Sandwiches, a fine product of Mister Cookie Face Incorporated. The secret ingredient? It's the fingers!
(Seriously tho chipwiches are so much better)
posted by phooky at 11:32 AM on July 27, 2022 [1 favorite]
(Seriously tho chipwiches are so much better)
posted by phooky at 11:32 AM on July 27, 2022 [1 favorite]
I still like Drumsticks, so I think I might be amenable to trying a Choco Taco now (and you always have to use the full name), whereas it was too chocolatey for me when I was a kid. And yes, I'd expect one to be about as much real ice cream and chocolate as Taco Bell is Mexican food.
Old Eddie would talk to us for what seemed like hours but was probably 3 or 4 minutes. We loved to ask him about the war, but he would say, "Why talk about war when we can talk about ice cream!"
Our Ice Cream Man drove a truck emblazoned "Debbie's Ice Cream," and Debbie looked like this.
posted by rhizome at 11:35 AM on July 27, 2022 [4 favorites]
Old Eddie would talk to us for what seemed like hours but was probably 3 or 4 minutes. We loved to ask him about the war, but he would say, "Why talk about war when we can talk about ice cream!"
Our Ice Cream Man drove a truck emblazoned "Debbie's Ice Cream," and Debbie looked like this.
posted by rhizome at 11:35 AM on July 27, 2022 [4 favorites]
Choco Taco will be on the desert menus of every trendy hipster restaurant soon enough, but hand-made, with quality ingredients, and $17.
It's $8 here in Chicago and let me tell you: it's delightful.
posted by quadrilaterals at 11:37 AM on July 27, 2022 [10 favorites]
It's $8 here in Chicago and let me tell you: it's delightful.
posted by quadrilaterals at 11:37 AM on July 27, 2022 [10 favorites]
It's $8 here in Chicago and let me tell you: it's delightful.
posted by zamboni at 11:40 AM on July 27, 2022 [6 favorites]
HORCHATA ICE CREAM, PEANUT-PRETZEL CRUMBLEYou have my attention, friend.
posted by zamboni at 11:40 AM on July 27, 2022 [6 favorites]
I come to bury Choco Taco, not to praise it. The nostalgia that brands inspire lives after them; the meh is often interred with their logos. You all did love it once, largely without cause; what cause withholds you, then, to eat a real frozen treat?
By-and-large, packaged ice cream bars and cones are trash-tier food. Insipid light ice cream, greasy "chocolatey coating", rubbery cone. Three exceptions:
posted by uncleozzy at 11:44 AM on July 27, 2022 [11 favorites]
By-and-large, packaged ice cream bars and cones are trash-tier food. Insipid light ice cream, greasy "chocolatey coating", rubbery cone. Three exceptions:
- Häagen-Dazs mini bars, preferably chocolate
- Chipwich
- Classic mushy-chocolate-wafer ice cream sandwich that's like $8 for 25 at the supermarket
posted by uncleozzy at 11:44 AM on July 27, 2022 [11 favorites]
I thought of Kool A.D., and I also thought of MC Paul Barman's 'Old Paul':
'Had I made a mockery of a culture like a Choco Taco/posted by box at 11:46 AM on July 27, 2022 [8 favorites]
Was I to rap as France was to Morocco?
Was I colon rap colon colon France colon Morocco?'
uncleozzy, I disagree with you but you put a huge smile on my face with your first paragraph. Thank you.
posted by brainwane at 11:55 AM on July 27, 2022
posted by brainwane at 11:55 AM on July 27, 2022
Like, what is The Good, Socrates?
I just realized that this should have been "Chocrates"
posted by brainwane at 11:56 AM on July 27, 2022 [19 favorites]
I just realized that this should have been "Chocrates"
posted by brainwane at 11:56 AM on July 27, 2022 [19 favorites]
The wise philosopher realizes the Good Humor is one that is in balance.
posted by zamboni at 12:02 PM on July 27, 2022 [3 favorites]
posted by zamboni at 12:02 PM on July 27, 2022 [3 favorites]
Good lord, this news has made it BY WORD OF MOUTH TO AFRICA?!?!
posted by jenfullmoon at 12:19 PM on July 27, 2022
posted by jenfullmoon at 12:19 PM on July 27, 2022
Choco Taco was always one of those things I meant to try, but didn't for whatever reason. Maybe they were too expensive for my parents to buy us?
Anyway RIP.
posted by emjaybee at 12:25 PM on July 27, 2022
Anyway RIP.
posted by emjaybee at 12:25 PM on July 27, 2022
Blessed be the Choco Taco, for being the repeatedly stolen lunch at that teenage job that didn't pay me enough.
Eventually you fired me, Showcase Cinemas. But not for that. Not for that.
posted by greenland at 1:44 PM on July 27, 2022 [6 favorites]
Eventually you fired me, Showcase Cinemas. But not for that. Not for that.
posted by greenland at 1:44 PM on July 27, 2022 [6 favorites]
Our Ice Cream Man drove a truck emblazoned "Debbie's Ice Cream," and Debbie looked like this.
Dude. I hate to break this to you but I suspect that if you gave "Debbie" a $20 bill and asked for extra napkins that you probably would have gotten ... something very different.
posted by ensign_ricky at 1:52 PM on July 27, 2022 [3 favorites]
Dude. I hate to break this to you but I suspect that if you gave "Debbie" a $20 bill and asked for extra napkins that you probably would have gotten ... something very different.
posted by ensign_ricky at 1:52 PM on July 27, 2022 [3 favorites]
They're good, but not that good: beloved because they're a cheap, familiar treat. Perhaps something like a 99p flake? Or a Cornetto, eaten lengthwise?
Anyway, let me know when someone develops the technology to taco-fold a stroopwaffel.
posted by bartleby at 1:53 PM on July 27, 2022
Anyway, let me know when someone develops the technology to taco-fold a stroopwaffel.
posted by bartleby at 1:53 PM on July 27, 2022
But I'm imagining someone delivering Choco Tacos by flinging them out the window onto porches, paperboy-style, and yelling "Venmo meeeeeee" as they pass.
I'd argue that one should use one of those t-shirt guns they have at various sportsball games. I suggested to my wife using that to deliver candy to kids that during the first COVID Halloween. Needless to say I am still without my coveted t-shirt gun.
posted by ensign_ricky at 1:57 PM on July 27, 2022 [2 favorites]
I'd argue that one should use one of those t-shirt guns they have at various sportsball games. I suggested to my wife using that to deliver candy to kids that during the first COVID Halloween. Needless to say I am still without my coveted t-shirt gun.
posted by ensign_ricky at 1:57 PM on July 27, 2022 [2 favorites]
I have many fond memories. But, I bought one with a friend recently after twenty years. . . and. . . I'm okay with letting it go.
The pink panther stick pop with hard bubblegum eyes is still going, right?
posted by eotvos at 2:14 PM on July 27, 2022 [1 favorite]
The pink panther stick pop with hard bubblegum eyes is still going, right?
posted by eotvos at 2:14 PM on July 27, 2022 [1 favorite]
I agree that Choco Tacos are, objectively, crap. But like many of you, Choco Tacos are a memory key to an era of my life. My high school band would stop at a gas station convenience store to pick up Choco Tacos on the way to band practice. I don't remember why that was the thing, but it was, even in the middle of winter. Eating Choco Tacos in a cold garage and learning how to play in a band. We had Choco Tacos to celebrate when we finished recording our album. We all scattered after high school and I moved away from my home town for years. In the meantime, the gas station where we used to buy them closed and the building turned into a Pizza Hut/KFC, then a laser tag arena, then, and in its final form, a dilapidated storage facility for a dog mushing team. I lived in different places, played in other bands, and eventually found my way back to my home town and started a family. I drive past that old building a few times a week and think "Choco Taco" every time. Two of my old band mates also moved back and one of them started a family, too. I play music with them again and our final band member is coming to visit next week. Hopefully we'll all get together, maybe play some of the songs we wrote together as teenagers, maybe some new songs too. I'll have to try to round up some of the last Choco Tacos in town.
posted by otolith at 2:19 PM on July 27, 2022 [15 favorites]
posted by otolith at 2:19 PM on July 27, 2022 [15 favorites]
I remember enjoying them occasionally when they were a Taco Bell thing, but at least in my area they stopped carrying them years and years ago, and I don't know that I've seen one anywhere since.
posted by tavella at 2:29 PM on July 27, 2022
posted by tavella at 2:29 PM on July 27, 2022
When my group of friends and I staged a free ice-cream giveaway at Burning Man...many years ago now...we purchased all kinds of ice cream novelty treats. We must have purchased several hundred dollars of these things, all by case. All almost inconceivably cheap. Choco Tacos were one of the first items we ran out of on the Playa.
posted by Insert Clever Name Here at 2:50 PM on July 27, 2022 [2 favorites]
posted by Insert Clever Name Here at 2:50 PM on July 27, 2022 [2 favorites]
There was some post recently about the range of ice cream treats we had to choose from when we were kids, and I showed it to my wife. We talked a bit about it, and she picked out the Choco Taco as one that sounded really good but that she'd never tried. Though I noted I wasn't overly fond of them, she was sad she'd missed out. I spent the next few weeks keeping my eyes peeled for them, finally finding one while we were driving cross-state. She quite liked it, actually.
I'm glad I was able to find one for her before this news broke!
posted by Four Ds at 3:12 PM on July 27, 2022 [3 favorites]
I'm glad I was able to find one for her before this news broke!
posted by Four Ds at 3:12 PM on July 27, 2022 [3 favorites]
> I have never had a Choco Taco. I don't think we get them in Canada?
$20CAD, same as in town.
posted by sebastienbailard at 3:32 PM on July 27, 2022 [2 favorites]
$20CAD, same as in town.
posted by sebastienbailard at 3:32 PM on July 27, 2022 [2 favorites]
I don't think we get them in Canada?
Mmm. Now I want a BeaverTail, folded the long way and filled with a banana sized cylinder of cheap vanilla ice cream.
Like the 'footlong' version of a Choco Taco.
Ooh, or Ice Cream Poutine. A dish of churros, with several small scoops of ice cream, and your choice of hot fudge or caramel sauce 'gravy' on top?
posted by bartleby at 4:09 PM on July 27, 2022 [1 favorite]
Mmm. Now I want a BeaverTail, folded the long way and filled with a banana sized cylinder of cheap vanilla ice cream.
Like the 'footlong' version of a Choco Taco.
Ooh, or Ice Cream Poutine. A dish of churros, with several small scoops of ice cream, and your choice of hot fudge or caramel sauce 'gravy' on top?
posted by bartleby at 4:09 PM on July 27, 2022 [1 favorite]
NooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooOooooooooooooooooooooooooOOOOOOOOOoooooooooooooooooooooooOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOooooooooooooooOOOOOOOooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo!!!
[Sobs uncontrollably as her childhood is finally murdered]
posted by [insert clever name here] at 4:12 PM on July 27, 2022
[Sobs uncontrollably as her childhood is finally murdered]
posted by [insert clever name here] at 4:12 PM on July 27, 2022
It's so sad, my youngest kid just found out about ice cream trucks like last week and I told her the yummiest thing from the ice cream truck is Choco Tacos and now she'll never have one.
I do absolutely welcome the inevitable rise of the high end Taco de Choco soon to arrive at your local Whole Foods for 8.50 a pop though! Soon to be available in dulce de leche, Mexican chocolate, and blackberry flavors.
posted by potrzebie at 4:24 PM on July 27, 2022 [1 favorite]
I do absolutely welcome the inevitable rise of the high end Taco de Choco soon to arrive at your local Whole Foods for 8.50 a pop though! Soon to be available in dulce de leche, Mexican chocolate, and blackberry flavors.
posted by potrzebie at 4:24 PM on July 27, 2022 [1 favorite]
I've never even heard of these things. It looks like they didn't come out until my years of chasing after the ice cream truck were over, and if I'm gonna get some kind of frozen treat at the grocery it's just gonna be some ice cream, not something in the sandwich zone like this.
posted by egypturnash at 4:41 PM on July 27, 2022
posted by egypturnash at 4:41 PM on July 27, 2022
Always chose the standard ice cream sandwich over all the fancy stuff…
posted by Windopaene at 5:20 PM on July 27, 2022 [1 favorite]
posted by Windopaene at 5:20 PM on July 27, 2022 [1 favorite]
"THEY LIVE" GUY LOOKS:
Choco Taco!
"THEY LIVE" GUY PUTS ON GLASSES AND LOOKS AGAIN:
Klondike manipulates nostalgia-driven elder millennials into flooding social media with free advertising for the eventual return of the Choco Taco "by popular demand."
posted by AlSweigart at 6:21 PM on July 27, 2022 [8 favorites]
Choco Taco!
"THEY LIVE" GUY PUTS ON GLASSES AND LOOKS AGAIN:
Klondike manipulates nostalgia-driven elder millennials into flooding social media with free advertising for the eventual return of the Choco Taco "by popular demand."
posted by AlSweigart at 6:21 PM on July 27, 2022 [8 favorites]
Choco Taco will be on the desert menus of every trendy hipster restaurant soon enough, but hand-made, with quality ingredients, and $17.
Shoot, we briefly had the actual plain old Choco Taco on the menu at my friend's trendy hipster bar for a while but we served them a little fancy by cutting them in half, plating them on a small mound of canned whipped cream and crumbling Oreos over them.
Mainly because the owner had never had one before and her BF is all about them, and he kept buying them by the flat at Costco and throwing them in the chest freezers and he had this thing about the whipped cream and crushed Oreos, which he wasn't wrong about, and he liked to hand them out to staff or favored guests when it was hot and the place was busy. If you were working you were allowed and encouraged to go help yourself to a Choco Taco to cool off and get some cheap sugar energy going.
I think we only charged a few bucks for them and they sold like crazy even though we had fancier local ice cream and other items. People went bonkers for them during the summer.
Honestly I miss that menu. We we're doing some real farm-to-table, local, and mostly plant based pub and bar food along with some super low brow basic comfort junk food like tater tots from the fryer. You could have a very nice salad or rice bowl with a side of salty junk food.
posted by loquacious at 6:37 PM on July 27, 2022 [5 favorites]
Shoot, we briefly had the actual plain old Choco Taco on the menu at my friend's trendy hipster bar for a while but we served them a little fancy by cutting them in half, plating them on a small mound of canned whipped cream and crumbling Oreos over them.
Mainly because the owner had never had one before and her BF is all about them, and he kept buying them by the flat at Costco and throwing them in the chest freezers and he had this thing about the whipped cream and crushed Oreos, which he wasn't wrong about, and he liked to hand them out to staff or favored guests when it was hot and the place was busy. If you were working you were allowed and encouraged to go help yourself to a Choco Taco to cool off and get some cheap sugar energy going.
I think we only charged a few bucks for them and they sold like crazy even though we had fancier local ice cream and other items. People went bonkers for them during the summer.
Honestly I miss that menu. We we're doing some real farm-to-table, local, and mostly plant based pub and bar food along with some super low brow basic comfort junk food like tater tots from the fryer. You could have a very nice salad or rice bowl with a side of salty junk food.
posted by loquacious at 6:37 PM on July 27, 2022 [5 favorites]
> Old Eddie would talk to us for what seemed like hours but was probably 3 or 4 minutes. We loved to ask him about the war, but he would say, "Why talk about war when we can talk about ice cream!"
Eddie's key role in the war:
Eddie's key role in the war:
An ice cream barge was a vessel employed by the United States Navy in the Pacific Theatre of World War II to produce ice cream in large quantities to be provisioned to sailors and Marines. The craft, a concrete barge acquired from the U.S. Army and worth $1 million,[1][2] was able to create 10 US gallons (38 l) of ice cream every seven minutes, or approximately 500 US gal (1,900 l) per shift, and could store 2,000 US gal (7,600 l).[3][4] It was employed in the USN's Western Pacific area of operations, at one point anchored at Ulithi.[5] These ships were intended to raise the morale of U.S. troops overseas by producing ice cream at a fast rate.posted by sebastienbailard at 9:32 PM on July 27, 2022 [3 favorites]
You can never bite into the same Choco Taco twice.
-- Herachocus
posted by riverlife at 12:33 AM on July 28, 2022 [1 favorite]
-- Herachocus
posted by riverlife at 12:33 AM on July 28, 2022 [1 favorite]
quadrilaterals: "Choco Taco will be on the desert menus of every trendy hipster restaurant soon enough, but hand-made, with quality ingredients, and $17.
It's $8 here in Chicago and let me tell you: it's delightful."
Wait, where the hell was THIS place when I lived in Chicago?? That's right up the street from my old job. Seems like maybe a pilgrimage from Michigan is in order, if for no other reason than a glorified Chaco Taco with *drool* horchata ice cream...
posted by 40 Watt at 7:29 AM on July 28, 2022
It's $8 here in Chicago and let me tell you: it's delightful."
Wait, where the hell was THIS place when I lived in Chicago?? That's right up the street from my old job. Seems like maybe a pilgrimage from Michigan is in order, if for no other reason than a glorified Chaco Taco with *drool* horchata ice cream...
posted by 40 Watt at 7:29 AM on July 28, 2022
This is giving me Steven Universe laments the end of Cookie Cat vibes.
posted by DirtyOldTown at 7:37 AM on July 28, 2022 [4 favorites]
posted by DirtyOldTown at 7:37 AM on July 28, 2022 [4 favorites]
Klondike manipulates nostalgia-driven elder millennials into flooding social media with free advertising for the eventual return of the Choco Taco "by popular demand."
That's actually the rumor I heard. And, it's specifically being discontinued so when it returns it can return "Exclusively to Taco Bell."
posted by a non mouse, a cow herd at 7:54 AM on July 28, 2022
That's actually the rumor I heard. And, it's specifically being discontinued so when it returns it can return "Exclusively to Taco Bell."
posted by a non mouse, a cow herd at 7:54 AM on July 28, 2022
The taco shell part tasted like wet paper to me. It's way better on paper and in your mind than actually eating one.
posted by The_Vegetables at 8:51 AM on July 28, 2022
posted by The_Vegetables at 8:51 AM on July 28, 2022
“I bought [a Choco Taco] at the liquor store and 3D scanned it”
Stay for the replies with musical accompaniment.
posted by uncleozzy at 2:12 PM on July 28, 2022
Stay for the replies with musical accompaniment.
posted by uncleozzy at 2:12 PM on July 28, 2022
jenfullmoon, that is a cool thing. I wonder though, why they didn't just top it with Magic Shell and then sprinkle nuts on before it hardened. Seems like much less work for the same effect.
posted by DirtyOldTown at 8:55 AM on July 29, 2022
posted by DirtyOldTown at 8:55 AM on July 29, 2022
Well, that didn't last long....
Grudgingly refuels the time machine to go back and close up the last few loose ends I left behind
posted by JoeZydeco at 3:13 PM on July 29, 2022 [1 favorite]
While Unilever-owned Klondike insists that the announcement that it would discontinue Choco Tacos wasn’t a publicity stunt, a post on the treat’s Twitter page (yes, of course Choco Taco has its own Twitter feed) now says “stay tuned.”
Grudgingly refuels the time machine to go back and close up the last few loose ends I left behind
posted by JoeZydeco at 3:13 PM on July 29, 2022 [1 favorite]
Gee Klondike, what a bunch of free publicity from news articles chiming in about how the uproar will now save the choco taco...
As per the "Under the Influence" podcast from Terry O'Reilly, a savvy organization can use the newsmedia/internet to turn a relatively small marketing budget into something that catches the attention of many more people - S4E15 'Tourism Marketing' (the infamous contest to become an Queensland Australian island caretaker...)
posted by rozcakj at 10:52 AM on August 4, 2022
As per the "Under the Influence" podcast from Terry O'Reilly, a savvy organization can use the newsmedia/internet to turn a relatively small marketing budget into something that catches the attention of many more people - S4E15 'Tourism Marketing' (the infamous contest to become an Queensland Australian island caretaker...)
posted by rozcakj at 10:52 AM on August 4, 2022
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posted by Countess Elena at 10:14 AM on July 27, 2022 [18 favorites]