This Taco Joint Makes Their Tortillas Using FLAMIN’ HOT CHEETOS
You know how the radio bumps the same big hit every 30 minutes? That’s how I feel about Flamin’ Hot Cheetos food right now. All I’m seeing on my social feeds is restaurants looking to score some viral Internet points by piling the ever-popular extrudates on whatever they sell — pizza, burgers, burritos, you name it.
But there’s so much more potential to work with when it comes to Richard Montanez’s brainchild. Innovating around the spicy snacks shouldn’t be the equivalent of a Snapchat filter. In the words of my main man Rahzel, “You gotta do something new!”
Paraiso Juice Bar, out in La Mirada, CA, knows what I’m talking about. They’ve channeled their inner Iron Chef and made the chips their own with a homemade taco shell imbued with plenty of Flamin’ Hot Cheetos. A twist like that is a definite 5/5 on the originality scale in my book.
To make the tacos, Paraiso grinds up bagfuls of the vibrant red Cheetos and mixes them into their masa. That then gets hand-pressed into a disc and sent to the griddle to heat and crisp up. The tacos are loaded with carne asada, cilantro, onion, tomatillo salsa, and even more Hot Cheetos crumbs because why not, the whole vessel is already made up of it anyways.
If you wanna go fully loaded on these, you can also opt for avocado, cheese, and sour cream on top.
What’s great about Paraiso’s take on the viral food fad is how their incorporation affects the flavor. With most takes on Hot Cheetos food, they’ve been drowned in enough sauce or sitting out long enough to make them taste staler than my dad jokes.
The Flamin’ Hot Cheetos tacos Paraiso produces, however, bucks that trend. You get the expected flavor and heat of the taco shell as a warm back note to all of the tasty taco meat and fixings on top. By creating their own masa, the restaurant ensures that flavor and texture is controlled for an optimum entree.
That makes Paraiso’s contribution to the Flamin’ Hot Cheetos game one that merits more than a double-tap on Instagram. Oh, AND it’s gotten the thumbs up from the Hot Cheetos inventor himself. That throws even more respect on this creative taco’s game.
I hear that Paraiso isn’t done innovating yet, though, as Takis taco shells are in the works. Hot Cheetos AND Takis?! Now that’s my jam.
