News: Panera Bread - 2013 Featured Summer Menu

Panera Bread celebrates this year's spring to summer transition with new dishes featuring shrimp or seasonal fruit (although not together). The two headliners for 2013's featured summer menu are the new Shrimp Salad Roll and Chilled Shrimp & Soba Noodle Salad.

Here's the full line-up of new and returning items this summer:

Review: Taco Bell - Beef Crunchito

You might think Taco Bell's Beef Crunchito is a crunchy burrito from the name, but it's actually a taco with a fried flour tortilla shell, filled with seasoned ground beef, shredded lettuce, and shredded cheddar cheese.

It's part of Taco Bell's current $1 Cravings Menu test and goes for $1 (surprise!).

News: Kellogg's - New Peanut Butter Pop-Tarts

According to Kellogg's, peanut butter is what teens want. So, in that vein, they've come up with new Peanut Butter Pop-Tarts under the moniker "Pop-Tarts Gone Nutty."

The new Pop-Tarts are available in two flavors: Peanut Butter and Frosted Chocolate Peanut Butter.

News: Wendy's Now Offers Frosty Waffle Cones

For those of you tired of eating your Frosty out of a cup with a spoon or a French fry, it seems Wendy's has heard you, and you can now eat your Frosty out of a waffle cone with a spoon or or fries, or with your mouth (strange I know!).

The new Frosty Waffle Cone has arrived just in time for summer and is available in vanilla or chocolate flavors.

News: Krispy Kreme - Free Donuts for Checking In on Foursquare

It looks like Krispy Kreme is cross-promoting their Foursquare partnership and Key Lime donuts with an offer for a free Key Lime donut each for both you and a friend when you "check-in" using Foursquare at participating Krispy Kreme locations on Wednesday, May 15, and again on Wednesday, May 22.

Key Lime donuts are available in two varieties: Key Lime Cake and Key Lime Cheesecake.

Review: Arby's - Potato Cakes

Arby's Potato Cakes are an available substitute side instead their Curly Fries. They're basically hash browns, which is to say they're deep-fried patties of shredded potato.

An order of two Potato Cakes is $1.79 in my area.

News: Taco Bell's $1 Cravings Menu Test Update

It looks like Taco Bell's $1 Cravings Menu is increasingly likely to replace the "Why Pay More Menu" as their value menu. Everything on the test menu is $1 rather than the .79-, .89-, and .99-cent price points of the "Why Pay More" menu. The Cravings menu has been revised and updated quite a bit since I last wrote about it last year.

While the "Beefy," "Cheesy," "Spicy," "Sweet," and "Crunchy" categories still apply, the menu items that fall under each have changed quite a bit.

Here's what the menu looks like now by categories/"Cravings" (I've added descriptions for the new stuff and links to reviews where appropriate):

News: Bruegger's Offers New Sriracha Egg Sandwich

Bruegger's Bagels adds Sriracha chili sauce to their breakfast sandwich line up with the new Sriracha Egg Sandwich. The sandwich feature egg, sausage, cheddar cheese, red bell peppers and sriracha on a choice of any bagel.

News: Oscar Mayer Introduces New Bacon Hot Dogs

While you may have heard of bacon-wrapped hot dogs, Oscar Mayer is taking it a step further with new Bacon Hot Dogs.

According to the brand, the hot dogs are the first of their kind on the market and are made with a blend of turkey, chicken, pork, and hardwood-smoked bacon.

Review: Wendy's - Fresh Baked Oatmeal Bar

Wendy's Fresh Baked Oatmeal Bar is part of Wendy's currently-shelved (but still offered at select locations) breakfast test. It's a fairly sizable bar featuring oats, blueberries and cranberries.

The Wendy's breakfast location I went to has them on the menu for $1.29 each.

A Look at McDonald's New "Dual Point" Ordering System

Earlier in April, the Wallstreet Journal reported that McDonald's would soon be rolling out a new "dual point" ordering setup nationally, as part of a larger plan to improve customer service. Basically, instead of picking up your order at/next to the same register where you ordered it, everyone picks up their order from the same area.

I recently came across the new ordering setup and snapped some pictures to share. Here's how it works:

Review: Larabar - Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Bar

Larabar is a brand of unprocessed energy bars that are gluten-free, non-GMO, and kosher according to the box. I recently tried Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Larabars, which are made with dates interspersed with dark chocolate chips and chunky peanut butter.

A box of eight 1.6-ounce bars is normally around $6.99.