If Taco Bell is the rebellious older brother who dropped out of college, spent a year trying to be a professional skater, and somehow magically found international success as a pop graffiti artist, then Del Taco is the straight-laced younger brother who went to college, graduated with a business degree, and despite a respectable career in bulk paper sales, remained in the shadow of his senior sibling his entire life.

I'm not saying Del Taco is boring. In a way, it's much more interesting than Taco Bell. Taco Bell's menu pretty much has six ingredients: meat, cheese, lettuce, tomato, beans, and tortilla. Add a dash of Dorito dust here and there, and that's basically it.

Del Taco's menu, on the other hand, contains those six ingredients plus the ingredients for burgers, fries, and tamales. Oh, and Del Taco was the pioneer of the Beyond Taco. But is the food actually good?

Some people say that curiosity kills cats, and I say that curiosity also kills food writers — slowly, with clogged arteries and elevated blood pressure. So when I went to Los Angeles, my curiosity led me to the mysterious realm of Del Taco for the very first time.