News: Arbys - New Chopped Side Salad

Arby's new Market Fresh Chopped Side Salad was unveiled today as as an alternative to French fries in its combo meals, at no additional cost. Otherwise, it carries a suggested price of $1.99.

It is currently available at company-owned locations and will roll-out nationwide in July, concurrent with the addition of a Lite Italian Dressing.

The Chopped Side Salad features a shredded blend of green leaf and iceberg lettuce, shredded cheddar cheese, chopped red onion and ripe tomatoes, with dressing served on the side. Almost all the calories in the salad comes from the cheese.

News: The Coffee Bean - Free Peach Latte or Tea on March 1st, 2011

The Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf has decided that spring is for peaches and is celebrating by offering customers a free 12-ounce cup of their limited-time Spring Peach Tea Latte, Spring Peach Iced Tea Latte or Peach FruTea on March 1st.

The promotion is for one day only (next Tuesday) and only from the hours of 4pm to 7pm (i.e. just in time for you to stop by on your drive home).

When: Tuesday, March 1, 2011, from 4pm to 7pm.
Where: Participating Coffee Bean locations in CA and AZ.
Why: Free 12-ounce Spring Peach Tea Latte, Spring Peach Iced Tea Latte or
Peach FruTea (One per person).

News: Corner Bakery Cafe - New Smoked Turkey Cobb Sandwich

Corner Bakery Cafe is debuting their new flatbread brioche bread with a new sandwich: the Smoked Turkey Cobb Sandwich.

The new bread was made to be "soft, sturdy, and slightly sweet." It's a flatbread so that it doesn't overpower the other ingredients in the sandwich.

In addition to the new brioche, the Smoked Turkey Cobb Sandwich contains a homemade avocado mayonnaise, smoked turkey breast, thick-cut applewood-smoked bacon, bleu cheese crumbles, hardboiled egg slices, green leaf lettuce and roma tomatoes.

Review: Jack in the Box - Mint Oreo Shake

Jack in the Box's new limited-time Mint Oreo Shake adds cool mint and a green color to their regular Oreo Shake. The green colored shake is enough to get you in the St. Paddy's Day spirit, no?

A 16-ounce regular cup costs $2.69 while a 24-ounce large cup costs just a tad more at $3.19.

Review: Wendy's - Chili

Wendy's Chili is a uniquely Wendy's menu item among the major fast food chains. It's a hearty soup of beans, spices, ground beef, and veggies for a reasonable price.

A fair-sized small cup cost me $1.29 with an additional $0.25 charge for shredded cheddar cheese.

Review: Sonic - Hot Fudge Shake

Sonic's Hot Fudge Shake is basically like a hot fudge sundae stuck into a blender and whipped into liquid form so that you can drink it. Like all shakes, the calories remain the same but you can eat it a lot faster and somewhat more absently. It might not be available at all Sonic's as it's not listed on the online menu.

A 14-ounce "regular" cup costs $2.79 while a 20-ounce "large" cup goes for $3.29.

News: Frito Lay - New Rold Gold Bakery-Inspired Flavors

Frito Lay set loose new Rold Gold bakery-inspired flavors this month. The new pretzel flavors are purported to "offer the classic taste of fresh bakery bread in pretzel form."

There's a total of three new flavors available now nationwide:

• Rold Gold Cheesy Garlic features pretzel nuggets flavored with cheddar and garlic.
• Rold Gold Cinnamon Raisin channels cinnamon raisin bread in the form of  pretzel twists whispering the sweet taste of raisins and cinnamon sugar.
• Rold Gold Everything Bagel seeks to take you to your local bagel shop with pretzel rings tinged with savory sesame and poppy seeds, garlic and onions.

$2.99 (may vary) will buy you a 10-ounce bag.

News: Domino's - New Boneless Chicken and Chicken Wings

Not content to rework just their pizza, Domino's has now tinkered with their chicken in introducing revamped Boneless Chicken and Chicken Wings. The new Boneless Chicken responds to customers' desire for more customization and choice while the new Wings are aimed at providing better texture and flavor.

Prices on the new items start at $5.99 for eight pieces, $9.99 for 14 pieces, and $24.99 for a party-sized 40-piece order.

Review: Subway - Raspberry Cheesecake Cookie

Subway's limited-time Raspberry Cheesecake Cookie are baked in-store with pieces of cheesecake and pockets of what appears to be raspberry jam embedded.

My local Subway charges 60 cents per cookie or three for $1.25 which is a little more than the 3 for $1.00 they charge at McDonald's. I ended up getting three: two Raspberry Cheesecake cookies and one Peanut Butter.

Review: Nabisco - Ritz Munchables Pretzel Thins Spicy Chipotle Cheddar

Nabisco's new Ritz Munchable Pretzel Thins Spicy Chipotle Cheddar flavor are an interesting take on the common pretzel. They're a cross between a pretzel and a Ritz cracker.

$3.49 buys you a 12.25-ounce box. Sale price will typically range from $2.00 to $2.50.

Review: Nabisco - Heads or Tails Oreo

Do you like Oreos and are indecisive or have a Two-Face complex? Then the fine folks at Nabisco has got you covered with Heads or Tail Oreos. Each cookie has two easily discernible sides consisting of one regular chocolate-flavored Oreo half and one Golden vanilla-flavor Oreo half sandwiching a double helping of white frosted filling.

They retail for around $2.99 for a 15.25-ounce package with sale prices running around the $2.00 mark.

Frozen Friday: Banquet - Cherry Berry Pie

While Banquet has been making various meat pot pies for as long as I can remember, last year, they began a foray into sweet pies which included this Cherry Berry Pie (they also come in Apple and Peach) that I recently tried. At $1 a pop, they're certainly easy on the wallet.

News: Papa John's - New Hearty Italian Meats Pizza for $11

Papa John's newest limited-time deal offers either a new large Hearty Italian Meats pizza or regular menu Spinach Alfredo pizza for $11.

The new Hearty Italian Meats pizza is topped with a blend of mozzarella, provolone, Fontina and Asiago cheeses, Italian salami, spicy Italian sausage, Italian ham, and pepperoni.

It is not to be confused with the fairly similar Papa John's Spicy Italian pizza which boasts pepperoni and a double portion of spicy Italian sausage instead of Italian salami and ham.

Review: Yoshinoya - Chicken Bowl

Yoshinoya is famous for their Original Beef Bowl but a fair amount of people also order the Chicken Bowl which is a fairly typical rendition of your common Chicken Teriyaki Bowl: grilled chicken thigh (skin-on unless you specify otherwise), broccoli, carrots, and cauliflower, and teriyaki sauce over a bed of steamed short grain rice.

A regular-sized bowl costs $3.59.

Review: Pollo Campero - Yuca Fries

Pollo Campero is a Guatemalan fried chicken fast food chain and the largest fast food chain in Latin America. They made landfall in the U.S. in 2002 and have since expanded to 50 U.S. locations including one at Downtown Disney in Orlando. Guatemalan fried chicken offers a different flavor and seasoning than the southern style we're more used to but today I write about one of their more unusual sides--Yuca Fries!

Review: Subway - Steak & Cheese Sub

Subway Steak & Cheese Sub has been an on again, off again menu item that is now a permanent fixture on the menu. Like all Subway subs, it features your choice of bread, cheese, condiments, and veggies and a specific meat, in this case, steak. Since cheese is free on all Subway subs, they really should have just called it the "Steak Sub" but I guess that's just not as catchy.

Since it's "FebruANY," it'll only cost you $5 for a Footlong this month but is normally $6.25.

Review: Wendy's - Asiago Ranch Chicken Club

Wendy's new Asiago Ranch Chicken Club replaces their previous chicken club with a more bolder version. The new club sandwich replaces Swiss with a more trendy Asiago and takes out the mayo for a more interesting Ranch sauce. The rest of the ingredients are the same familiar bacon (thicker and Applewood-smoked now), iceberg lettuce, tomato, and your choice of chicken (homestyle, spicy, or grilled) on a premium soft bun.

Suggested retail price is $4.79 but it goes for $4.99 at my local Wendy's.

Review: Keebler - Fudge Shoppe Jumbo Peanut Butter Sticks

Keebler's Fudge Shoppe Peanut Butter Sticks now come in a new Jumbo size. Each fudge-covered wafer stick with peanut butter filling is individually wrapped and can be bought in a box of six for a retail price of around $3.49 with a sales price ranging around the $2 mark.

Review: 7-Eleven - 7-Select Onion Rings

In more recent years, 7-Eleven has been expanding the number of items it produces under its own label, 7-Select, including such things as bread, juice, and snacks. 7-Eleven's Onion Rings appear similar to a favorite of mine, Frito Lay's Funyuns. They're onion-flavor fried rings made of corn meal sold at 79 cents for a 1.625-ounce bag.

News: Subway - "Free" Cookie Day - February 14, 2011

Subway is offering a free cookie with any purchase on this upcoming Monday, February 14th i.e. Valentine's Day. Besides having to buying something, you'll also have to print out this coupon. I don't know... do you really need a coupon for a cookie that normally costs 50 cents?

Beyond the inconvenience of printing out a coupon, it's not bad to pick up a free cookie with your morning coffee or if you're stopping by at Subway for lunch anyway especially since virtually all their footlong subs are $5 this month.