Fast-food news travels fast: Taco Bell is quietly testing a new "waffle taco" at three Southern California locations, including its Santa Ana restaurant on Grand Avenue. 
 
 And by 10 a.m. Tuesday, a steady stream of customers was coming in to order the new breakfast menu item in multiples -- four, six, 10 or more -- for a mere 89 cents each. 
 
 The waffle taco comes steaming in foil, a waffle folded around a thin sausage patty and a generous helping of scrambled eggs. 
 
 Squeeze the packet of Heinz table syrup over the top for a sinful morning treat. 
 
 That’s what Louise Carson, who lives near the restaurant, said she likes to do. She has been ordering the waffle tacos in the morning, and then offers them as after-school snacks to her kids. 
 
 “I pass them out in the car during pickup time and they have a bite before we go to different sports events," she said. "It’s handy, and the price is right.” 
 
 Taco Bell has begun selling breakfast items at nearly 800 outlets in 10 states as one of the latest fast-food chains to attempt to nab a bigger share of the early morning market. Because the menu item is still in the testing stage, calorie counts aren't available. 
 
 The waffle taco has become a staple for her family, Carson said, because it's so affordable. 
 
 Our take: The waffle part of the taco is mushy, and the meat has a slight rubbery texture that is not uncommon with fast-food items. But we might be in the minority. As reported earlier on the Daily Dish, Taco Bell's waffle taco already has fans buzzing on social media and an enviable hashtag: #itsdelicious. 
 
 Carson says she's a fan as well. 
 
 "It’s all about convenience and a good deal," she said. "And it’s easy to pack." 
 
 She also eyed the menu above the cash registers, noting the new fruit-topped oatmeal and chocolate-chip sandwich items being touted. 
 
 "Thumbs-up" to the chain for trying new flavors, she said, adding that tacos and waffles combine "the best" of both worlds. 
 
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 What to drink with Bludso's smoked beef brisket? 
 
 At Cliff's Edge, Vartan Abgaryan's fava hummus with tahini waffles, and ramps galore 

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 Hoping to boost breakfast sales, Taco Bell tests so-called Waffle Taco in southern California locations. 
 
 Taco Bell is testing breakfast Taco Waffle in southern California locations. (Photo: Taco Bell) Story Highlights Taco Bells is trying to make its new-product lightning strike twice 
 
 Fast-food chain wants to grow breakfast sales 
 
 Waffle Tacos tested in handful of Southern California locations 
 
 Taco Bell has figured out yet another weird way to make a taco: squish it in a waffle. 
 
 For several weeks, the nation's largest Mexican fast-food chain has been testing a so-called Waffle Taco at a handful of locations in Southern California. No, it's not made with beef, beans and lettuce, but with a scrambled egg, a sausage patty and syrup – plopped inside a waffle folded and served to look like a taco. It sells for 89 cents. 
 
 The move comes at a time when breakfast is one of the few growth categories in all of fast food, and not much more than a year after Taco Bell's new-product gurus shifted into overdrive with the roll-out of its wildly popular Doritos Locos Taco. 
 
 Until now, Taco Bell has been absolutely mum on the Waffle Taco. But it's generating a powerful social-media life, which started with a single Instagram posting. If the current test is a hit, "we'll roll it out to all of our restaurants that serve breakfast," spokesman Rob Poetsch wrote to USA TODAY in an e-mail. 
 
 While the Waffle Taco will initially raise eyebrows, it may ultimately be a dud, predicts Andrew Smith, a culinary historian and author of Fast Food and Junk Food: An Encyclopedia of What We Love to Eat. "It's really just breakfast with a taco name," he says. "What's so taco-ish about that?" 
 
 It also may not be entirely original. While there's no Waffle Taco at any major chain, several are selling or have sold various versions of waffle sandwiches, including McGriddles at McDonalds, waffle breakfast sandwiches at Dunkin' Donuts and southern California-based Jack in the Box, which launched its waffle breakfast sandwich last summer. 
 
 The Jack in the Box version is made with a fried egg, American cheese and a sausage patty and was introduced as a limited-time offer, says spokesman Brian Luscomb. "But it proved to be so popular among our guests that we added it to our permanent menu," he says. 
 
 Chains rarely do this with limited-time products unless they're instant hits. Jack in the Box also sells its waffle sandwich all day and night -- not just at breakfast. 
 
 Behind Taco Bell's Waffle Taco test is attempt to make a mark in the competitive breakfast arena, where it is slowly trying to expand nationally. The ultimate aim is to put out enough creative items that it can compete against breakfast kingpin McDonald's. 
 
 If nothing else, the Waffle Taco could move the needle in the Southern California market, suggests Smith, the food historian. "In California, anything named 'taco' would probably sell better at breakfast than anything not named 'taco.' " 
 
 Poetsch says that the Waffle Taco is one of many innovations that Taco Bell is exploring at breakfast. "We're pleased with the initial reaction from our customers," he says. 
 
 Meanwhile, the folks at Jack in the Box are all smiles. "We're not sure what inspired them to 'ideate' their new taco," says Luscomb, "unless they tried our waffle breakfast sandwich." 
 
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– After they figured out a way to turn Doritos into a taco, you knew it was only a matter of time before Taco Bell figured out a way to turn breakfast into a taco. Well, that time has come. The "Mexican food" chain is testing a Waffle Taco at three Southern California restaurants, and the Los Angeles Times reports that it's pretty popular already (or maybe just novel): On Tuesday, a "steady stream" of people ordered as many as 10 or more of the 89-cent "tacos" (a waffle folded around a sausage patty folded around some scrambled eggs, served with a side of syrup) at a time at one location. Gawker suggests we call it the "wafflaco." The Times found the waffle too "mushy" and the sausage too "rubbery," but the Instagrammer who first broke the news of the Waffle Taco tagged it, #itsdelicious. Delicious it may be, but many are wondering: Is it really a taco? The Consumerist sums it up with this headline: "Is The 'Waffle Taco' Really A Taco, Or Just A Folded Waffle With Stuff In It?" And on BuzzFeed, Erin La Rosa points out that almost anything can be folded in half and called a taco, including your hand folded around some ice cream and chocolate syrup. You may soon be able to judge for yourself: If the Waffle Taco is a success, "we'll roll it out to all of our restaurants that serve breakfast," a Taco Bell rep tells USA Today. (In other fast food news, Burger King is coming out with its own version of the McRib.)