The Asia Trip: Kyoto Mochi Shop

Quite the morning crowd, no? They're all waiting to buy different types of mochi, a Japanese dessert made with glutenous rice pounded into paste and formed into a shape, usually a ball with different sweet fillings, usually some type of bean, especially red bean.

Review: El Pollo Loco - Jalapeno Grilled Chicken Sandwich

El Pollo Loco's Jalapeño Grilled Chicken Sandwich features a marinated boneless chicken breast, pepper jack cheese, sliced jalapeño peppers, a shredded blend of Romaine and iceberg lettuce, pico de gallo salsa, and a spicy Southwest sauce served on a soft, dense, grilled Telera roll. The Jalapeño Grilled Chicken Sandwich carries a premium price tag of $4.29.

News: Whataburger - Free Burger for Wearing Orange - August 3rd

Whataburger is celebrating its 60th birthday tomorrow, and is offering its fans a free Whataburger between the hours of 5pm and 8pm if they show up wearing orange. Dubbed an "Orange Night Out," the offer is available to dine-in customers only and only at participating restaurants.

When: Tuesday, August 3rd, 2010, 5pm - 8pm

Where: Participating Whataburger restaurant locations.

Why: Free Whataburger if you wear orange.

News: Jack in the Box - New Breakfast Pita

Making sure to serve eggs, bacon, ham, and cheese stuffed in all possible forms of starch, Jack in the Box now serves a Breakfast Pita. A whole grain pita stuffed with the aforementioned ingredients is yours for the eating for a suggested price of $2.69 and is served with fire-roasted salsa on the side.

As always, breakfast is available all day and all night at Jack in the Box. And, like anything with both ham and bacon in it, there's a lot of salt involved.

You can see how much after the jump.

Review: Taco Bell - Cantina Tacos

Taco Bell's new Cantina Tacos are Taco Bell's take on the street taco and are available priced at $1.49 for one, $2.79 for two, or $4.99 for three and a large drink. Like the basic street taco, corn tortillas are folded around a simple filling of your choice of meat, onions, and cilantro.

News: New "Cantina Tacos" at Taco Bell

You probably know them as street tacos or just plain tacos at any Mexican taqueria ("taco shop"), but Taco Bell has dubbed them "Cantina Tacos" and they're the newest addition to the Taco Bell menu.

Billed as their "finest taco ever," Taco Bell's Cantina Tacos pretty much come in the standard street taco with two grilled, warm corn tortillas filled with your choice of meat (marinated steak, marinated white meat chicken, or shredded carnitas), diced onions, and chopped cilantro paired with a wedge of lime on the side.

The new tacos are available individually, in a two-taco bundle, or a three-taco combo.

News: Pizza Hut Simplifies Pizza Pricing

Starting this month, Pizza Hut restaurants nationwide feature a new simplified and lower pricing scheme. The announced prices are $8 for a medium with up to three toppings, $10 for a large with up to three toppings and $2 more for any specialty pizza. There's an additional charge for Stuffed Crust that varies with location.

I guess it makes a lot of sense to just have the regular menu prices reflect promotional pricing for Pizza Hut. In my experience, there are always coupons (especially with online ordering where the coupons are part of the ordering interface) or promos for pizza to take advantage and few people I know ever buy pizza at menu price.

This new pricing structure saves people from leafing through their coupons, and makes it easier to order pizza from Pizza Hut. It'll be interesting to see how this plays out.

Sunday Funny: Jack in the Box - "Sampler Trio"

I remember this commercial from a while back. While the concept is preposterous, it's still entertaining and pretty memorable.

Review: Del Taco - Regular Taco

Del Taco's Regular Taco is similar to Taco Bell's Crunchy Taco except not as liberally seasoned, and it's 30 cents cheaper! The Regular Taco features a hard taco shell with seasoned ground beef, shredded lettuce, and grated Cheddar cheese inside. It's only 59 cents a taco and on Tuesday nights (i.e. Taco Tuesdays), you can get three Regular Tacos for $1.09 (it used to be only 99 cents but, you know, inflation and all).

Review: Baskin-Robbins - Cappuccino Blast

To me, Baskin-Robbins' Cappuccino Blast is the original ice-blended coffee drink, dating back to summers spent at my cousin's in Oregon. I would walk over to the local Baskin-Robbins and enjoy one many-a-time on a hot day. Currently (at least in the Los Angeles area), Baskin-Robbins is running a summer promotion where you can get a "small" Cappuccino Blast for $2.99 (16 oz), a "medium" for $3.99 (24 oz), or a "large" for $4.99 (32 oz!).

Review: Domino's Thin Crust Pizza

Domino's Thin Crust Pizza is very thin. I don't know why but they choose to cut it in a grid rather than the typical relatively uniform pizza slices. It's one of several crust choices at Domino's and probably my favorite out of them. The Domino's in my area was running a carryout promotion where a large 2-topping pizza was only $5.99.

They're still running almost the same promotion but pared down the toppings to one in somewhat ghetto fashion; the Domino's I've driven past just taped over the "2" with a written "1."

The Asia Trip: Skewers Galore! Tempura and Yakitori Paradise

While I was in Yokohama, I stepped into a fairly sizable (for Japan anyway) supermarket and saw a whole display of tempura (breaded and deep-fried food) and yakitori (grilled chicken parts skewers). If I hadn't felt so sick from eating too much MSG-laced ramen, I would have eaten up a storm of skewered foods.