Panic (!) at The Taco Bell Party

There is not much that will get me out of my house on a Tuesday night, and there is even less that will get me out of my house and into a party at a club in Hollywood. But this was no ordinary Tuesday, and this was no ordinary party; this was the launch of Taco Bell’s new menu item the Grilled Cheese Dipping Taco, dropping this Thursday at locations nationwide. I get that kind of invitation, and I shine up my Hollywood shoes, I reserve an Uber, and I go. You would, too. The invitation came from a guy named Rene Pisciotti, and what I am going to tell you about Rene Pisciotti around 75 words from now is going to blow your mind. I met Rene a couple of months ago, when Taco Bell did a collaboration with Yeastie Boys, a popular Los Angeles bagel-based food truck. He was wearing a very official-looking apron, so I asked if he was one of the Yeastie Boys, and he said, “I’m the head chef of Taco Bell,” and then everything sort of went blurry and white for a moment as a choir of angels sang. Rene’s unofficial job title is “Taco Whisperer”; he’s in charge of menu innovations at Taco Bell, and I think we can agree that no fast-food menu has been more consistently innovative than the Bell’s. [View in Browser]( [Esquire]( [SHOP]( EXCLUSIVE [SUBSCRIBE]( [Is This a Taco Bell Party or Am I Having an Existential Crisis?]( [Is This a Taco Bell Party or Am I Having an Existential Crisis?]( There is not much that will get me out of my house on a Tuesday night, and there is even less that will get me out of my house and into a party at a club in Hollywood. But this was no ordinary Tuesday, and this was no ordinary party; this was the launch of Taco Bell’s new menu item the Grilled Cheese Dipping Taco, dropping this Thursday at locations nationwide. I get that kind of invitation, and I shine up my Hollywood shoes, I reserve an Uber, and I go. You would, too. The invitation came from a guy named Rene Pisciotti, and what I am going to tell you about Rene Pisciotti around 75 words from now is going to blow your mind. I met Rene a couple of months ago, when Taco Bell did a collaboration with Yeastie Boys, a popular Los Angeles bagel-based food truck. He was wearing a very official-looking apron, so I asked if he was one of the Yeastie Boys, and he said, “I’m the head chef of Taco Bell,” and then everything sort of went blurry and white for a moment as a choir of angels sang. Rene’s unofficial job title is “Taco Whisperer”; he’s in charge of menu innovations at Taco Bell, and I think we can agree that no fast-food menu has been more consistently innovative than the Bell’s. [Read More](   [Officially, the 8 Best Headphones Money Can Buy]( [Officially, the 8 Best Headphones Money Can Buy]( Let's get you that pair of studio-level cans. 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One of the very first rules of baseball—one of the 20 original Knickerbocker Rules adopted in 1845—was “The ball must be pitched, not thrown, for the bat.” This is a key thing to remember for today’s entry: A brief history of the walk. [Read More](   [The Best Patagonia Deals Right Now—Shop Up to 50% Off on Bestsellers]( [The Best Patagonia Deals Right Now—Shop Up to 50% Off on Bestsellers]( From now 'til August 22nd get gear for the best price of the season. [Read More]( [9 Best Coffee Makers of 2023—Tested and Reviewed by Esquire Editors]( [9 Best Coffee Makers of 2023—Tested and Reviewed by Esquire Editors]( We did the grinding, drinking, and hyper-caffeinated testing for you. [Read More](     [I Am Become Ben Affleck. Destroyer of Darts.]( [I Am Become Ben Affleck. Destroyer of Darts.]( I just got back from a week "Out East," which is what people who vacation in The Hamptons say when they know they're actually way too poor to claim they'd vacation in the Hamptons. The other thing you do when you're too poor to claim you're vacationing in The Hamptons is drink cheap liquor in a crowded bar out of small plastic cups. Ben Affleck, spotted recently on a Hamptons Vacation with his wife, Jennifer Lopez, likely did not. But he kind of looks like he did. I know it too well. I emerged from my lodgings looking similar last week. (Shout out to Montauk's The Point). Our perpetually disheveled king and my hungover-looking Hero is elsewhere being lauded for his Dunkin dedication, but what stuck out to me was that unbeknownst to the photographer, they captured him the exact moment he was experiencing the coolest stage of smoking a cigarette: when it's been lit for around ninety seconds and is hanging perfectly balanced out of your mouth. [Read More](   [ESQ 1933 Jewelry]( Follow Us [Unsubscribe]( | [Privacy Notice/Notice at Collection]( esquire.com ©2023 Hearst Magazine Media, Inc. All Rights Reserved. Hearst Magazines, 300 West 57th Street, New York, NY 10019