CHECK IT OUT! IT’S MANGO MANIA COMING MARCH 5…

Caribbean Mango Salad and the Caribbean Mango Burrito are our latest menu specials and they’re absolutely fabulous! If you love mangoes as much as I do, you’ll love this special.

Caribbean Mango Burrito: Mexican Rice, Black Beans, Blackened Chicken, Caribbean, Mango Sauce, Mango Salsa and Crisp Romaine Lettuce. Small: $6.49 Regular/Bowl: $7.29

Caribbean Mango Salad: Fresh Salad Mix, Blackened Chicken, Mango Salsa, Hass Avocado Slices, Crunchy Tortilla Strips, Juicy Roma Tomatoes, Fresh Cilantro and Caribbean Mango Sauce. $7.99

Two great healthy Mexican food options.

IT’S TRUE!

As this is shockingly the 200th issue of Taco Talk, I was going to make this a “Best Of” issue, but then I realized that it would be a very short newsletter. (The worst of Taco Talk could have gone on for days.) So instead I’ve just decided to include the Taco Talk excerpts that have gotten the biggest responses over the years. Ready?

RETRACTIONS A GO GO

After exclaiming my love for the Queen Mum the previous month, in June 2004’s Taco Talk I was forced to write this retraction after hundreds wrote in with some shocking news:

In last month’s Taco Talk I said I loved anything having to do with the Queen Mum, and in particular, I loved that she looks good in hats. Well, apparently she doesn’t look as good in hats as she used to — she’s been dead for two years now. You would have thought that being the Queen Mum fan that I am, I would have known that, wouldn’t you?

Anyway, I’d like to thank all of those readers who brought news of the queen’s unfortunate demise to my attention—your emails were that rare combination of somber, yet hilarious.

And in October 2010 I was forced to write this retraction after over a thousand readers questioned our new charity affiliation:

As many of you may recall, in my last email I wrote about how excited we were to be affiliated with Share Our Strength, a fabulous organization that’s dedicated to ending childhood hunger by 2015. At least that’s what I meant to write. What I actually wrote was that Share Our Strength is an organization dedicated to to ending childhood by 2015. That’s right—childhood in general. And it’s not just any organization—it’s a fabulous organization that’s dedicated to ending childhood. Seriously, could there be a worse typo in an email about helping children?

So thank you to all who wrote to point out my error—many of your emails were beyond funny (these tended to be from people who weren’t horrified).

MY THOUGHTS ABOUT SODIUM BICARBONATE

In August 2008 I wrote that I would give the first 10 people who could identify what I thought was the funniest line in that month’s Taco Talk a free burrito. Over 2000 people wrote in—the majority got the answer right, but many just guessed. And a few helpfully wrote in to say that they didn’t think anything I say is funny. (At least they’re still reading.)

For those who are curious, the sentence is below:

Because we’re always looking for ways to make more money, I’ve been thinking of other ways to use California Tortilla food—kind of like how Arm and Hammer started promoting baking soda as not just a baking ingredient, but as an odor eliminator as well. (How they knew I have no idea. Did people start noticing that when they made their cakes with baking soda they were less stinky?)

I’m not sure why, but I couldn’t stop laughing when I wrote the last sentence. I’m pretty sure most people didn’t think of this as nearly as funny as I did, and quite honestly it doesn’t seem nearly as funny now, but I remember at the time not being able to breathe I was laughing so hard. There’s something wrong with me.

AND THE ONE THAT GOT THE BIGGEST RESPONSE OF ALL, WITH WELL OVER 3000 RESPONSES

The first person to tell me what this says gets a free burrito. GO!

For those of you who are reading this on your phone, that sentence was written in the wingdings font and you had to figure out what it said. Had I known this would have gotten such a big response, I would have written Taco Talk in wingdings right from the beginning. Who knew?

On that note, thank you from the bottom of my heart for letting me write Taco Talk for the past 17 years. You have no idea how much I realize how lucky I am that this is my job—and how lucky I am that you’re such a funny audience. Thank you, thank you, thank you. Here’s to another 200 issues! (Doesn’t that sound like a nightmare?)

NOW A WORD FROM STACEY, OUR VP OF MARKETING

In the March 2011 Taco Talk I informed you of my obsession with my March 1st Birthday and California Tortilla’s Social Media. After an embarrassing arm wrestling match at the staff meeting, I have been allowed to declare the entire month of March as “Social Media Month” here at the Tort.

On Facebook, the number of fans through March 15th will determine which coupon for delicious free food will be posted and valid only on March 16th. The more fans we have the bigger the offer. So make sure to get your pals to “Like” us.

If we hit 20K fans then a free Chips and Queso coupon will be posted

If we hit 25K fans then a free Taco Coupon will be posted

If we hit 30K fans then a free Burrito Coupon will be posted

Twitter followers will be able to compete each day in March to win a Burrito Elito card loaded with Free Burritos for a year. All you have to do is follow @caltort and then tweet something that includes a mention about us. Such as “Wow – I love watching @Revenge while eating delicious @caltort chips and guac”. The folks here at HQ will pick the best tweet of the day.

If you are pinning on Pinterest you could win catering for 50. You can get started with images from any of California Tortilla’s boards but get creative. What images remind you of California Tortilla? Tomatoes? Queso? Maybe a group of friends watching Revenge and eating very delicious burritos? Just e-mail spunky@caltort.com a link to your Caltort themed board by March 31st. We will announce the best board in early April. The winner will get a party for 50 of their pals courtesty of 855-CALTORT.