Jamba Juice is offering a coupon to get their Oatmeal for $1. You can print out the coupon from their website here: http://oatmealforabuck.com/
Part of Popeye's "Big Deals" value menu (along with the Chicken Biscuit and Loaded Chicken Wrap), Popeye's Delta Mini features a chicken strip sliced into nestled in a soft, toasted mini-bun. The orange stuff is their tangy "signature" Delta Sauce.
The chicken was crunchy but still moist enough inside. The bun held up well and was pretty squishy soft but didn't deflate too much when pressed.
A cross between a baked and deep-fried apple pie, Taco Bell's Caramel Apple Empanada sells for 99 cents off of Taco Bell's "Why Pay More" Menu.
My Favorite Chain Burger
The Houston's Cheeseburger is your traditional burger done well. It features a toasted, egg-washed sesame bun, a thick (1/2 pound), juicy, charred patty of coarse-ground chuck, a slice of cheddar cheese, fresh, crisp, shredded lettuce, sliced tomatoes, pickles, and diced onions, and mustard. Everything is well-balanced (if you couldn't tell by now, I'm a big fan of well-balanced). There's a variety of textures from the squishiness of the bun to the crunchy drizzle of lettuce to the choppy bits of the juicy patty. If you want something more exotic from your burger, this isn't it. But, if you want an honest to good, hand-crafted hamburger, Houston's Cheeseburger is a fine choice as long as you can foot the bill.
To polish off what is turning to be a burrito week, this review takes a look at El Pollo Loco's BRC Burrito off of El Pollo Loco's "Loco Dollar" value menu. The BRC stands for Beans, Rice, and Cheese which means you get protein, carbs, and calcium or PCC.... haha, look I made a funny!
So how does it taste? Pretty good unless you hate bean burritos! Everything has a noticeable flavor and texture so it goes well together. Not much to complain about for a buck. It's not fancy eats but it'll do when you want a cheap burrito.
Qdoba's Ancho Chile BBQ Burrito suffered from the same defects as its Fajita Ranchera Burrito. I actually tried both at the same time because they had a discount at the time specific to my local Qdoba. I think it was buy one, get one half off plus get a free drink with a student ID (luckily, I save mines!).
Qdoba is a Mexican fast casual chain along the lines of Rubio's, Baja Fresh, and Chipotle that is owned by Jack in the Box. In terms of ingredients individually, everything in their Fajita Ranchera Burrito (basically a burrito with fajita style ingredients; in this case, grilled bell peppers and red onions) tasted fine. The problem was when combined together in a tortilla, the taste was off balance and the ingredients didn't really sing. I couldn't really get a good bite; there was too much rice and not enough meat (I picked grilled steak) to complement it.
Yum! Chicken in a biscuit. Popeyes' biscuits are a bit different from KFCs; it's less bready, has more crunch and the butter is concentrated on the top and bottom of the biscuit. It's more coarse in texture as well but still good. It's currently 99 cents as part of Big Deals Popeyes' value menu.
It's like a quesadilla except with a gordita-like flatbread! Beyond that Taco Bell's Grande Quesadilla also has a tangy sauce to accompany the melted cheese and your choice of chicken or steak.
The pillowy bread is pressed and somewhat crisp on the outside but still soft.
It's more like a sandwich really. I prefer a regular flour tortilla over the flat bread for my quesadilla but maybe I'm just a traditionalist. I chose the steak but it didn't really taste like steak, it was a bit too squishy but I don't expect much from "steak" at a fast food joint. All-in-all, I think your money is better spent on a regular chicken quesadilla.
This one was just okay. I much rather prefer the Strawberry Frutista Freeze. It's basically a lemon-flavored slush drink with some strawberry and strawberry syrup. The lemonade flavor isn't that tart, it might be that the machine was off but consistency counts! My slush seemed a little bit on the dry side i.e. not that much juice.
As you can see, it doesn't look as good either. They even skimped on the strawberries!
A cheap snack off of El Pollo Loco's Loco Value Menu, the Cheese Quesadilla features a blend of jack and cheddar cheese folded in a grilled flour tortilla. The Cheese Quesadilla is grilled with a bit of char which is quite nice. The flour tortilla is still soft but has a slight crust. They cut it up into thirds for you. You can get it spicy or regular.
Another cheap snack or small meal from Taco Bell's "Why Pay More" Value Menu. Honestly, when I'm not that hungry, I can be pretty satisfied with just one Cheesy Beefy Burrito. But usually my eyes are bigger than my stomach and the menu is just so cheap that I order at least three items. At 89 cents, it's cheaper than a bean burrito and less stinky later on to boot!
Taco Bell's Cheesy Beefy Burrito is simplicity in itself; Just a double helping of seasoned beef and nacho cheese wrapped in a flour tortilla. If you like nacho cheese and Taco Bell seasoned ground beef, you'll like the Cheesy Beefy Burrito.
On Sunday, 11/8/09, McCormick & Schmick's Seafood Restaurants are hosting their 11th Annual Veterans Appreciation Event. Veterans will be able to choose a free entree from a special menu. Selections include Cashew-crusted Tilapia, Grilled Atlantic Salmon, Seafood Fettuccini Alfredo, and Cedar-planked Salmon. 
A value option sandwich at KFC, the KFC Snacker sells for 99 cents. It is basically a KFC Chicken Strip, shredded lettuce, and pepper mayo sandwiched inside a sesame dinner roll.
For those who missed out on the free Halloween giveaway of Taco Bell's Black Jack Taco, I decided to give the gimmicky taco a go myself. At first blush, the Black Jack Taco is the basic Taco Bell Crunchy Taco but with a black taco shell (otherwise it would just be the Jack Taco and Jack in the Box would get free advertising...). Upon closer inspection, the Black Jack Taco also contains some shredded Pepper Jack and mozzarella cheese in addition to the normal cheddar and a healthy and somewhat pungent Pepper Jack sauce.
On Veteran's Day, Wednesday, 11/11/09, Applebee's is offering a free meal to all U.S. Veterans as well as current active duty military personnel. Proof of military service is required and can be show by the following:
Texas-based burger chain Whataburger is offering a free Whataburger to fans decked out "from head to toe" in the chain's signature orange for dine-in service on Tuesday, 11/10/09 from 5pm to 8pm. Whataburger has dubbed the night "Orange Night Out." The chain is privately-held so it should be valid at all 700 plus locations.
El Pollo Loco's Churro off of their Loco Value Menu places a distance third to the churros at Baja Fresh and Costco. For $1, you get two churros.
El Pollo Loco's churros are only a little bit better than the churros you can buy frozen at the supermarket (for all I know, they might be the same churros you buy at the supermarket). They are just warm and kind of chewy. It does have the requisite coating of sugar and cinnamon. But all in all, El Pollo Loco's Churro is pretty disappointing though not bad at two for $1. Then again, you can get two deep-fried apple pies for $1 as well.
