News: Applebee's - 2014 Featured Summer Menu

Applebee's 2014 Featured Summer Menu features a new steak dish as well as a new shrimp dish, new chicken dish, new salad, and more.

Here's what new for the summer:

- New Grilled Vidalia Onion Sirloin - a 7-oz grilled sirloin topped with a grilled and caramelized slice of Vidalia onion in a sweet and spicy Hawaiian BBQ sauce, served with garlicky spinach and smashed red potatoes.

News: Mimi's Cafe - Buy One Entree & Two Drinks, Get One Entree Free

French-themed Mimi's Cafe is running a coupon deal where you can buy any lunch or dinner entree plus two drinks and get a second entree (of equal or lesser value) for free.

News: Qdoba - New Mango Mojo Menu

Qdoba looks to turn up the heat this summer with the new spicy-sweet flavor of Mango Mojo. Featuring the flavor of mangos with chili peppers, the new flavor is featured in three new, limited-time menu items: the Mango Mojo Burrito, Mango Mojo Salad, and Mango Mojo Trio.

Review: Church's Chicken - Spicier Spicy Chicken Tender Strips

Church's Chicken recently brought back their Spicier Spicy Chicken and Tender Strips for a limited-time. Basically, it's a spicier version of their regular menu spicy fried chicken and strips. The company states that they're marinated for 12 hours and prepared fresh in small batches.

I picked up an order of 3 Spicier Spicy Chicken Tender Strips plus a honey butter biscuit for $2.99 on a special promo.

Around the World: McDonald's Hong Kong - German Chicken Sausage Burger Arrives

In the lead up to this year's World Cup in Brazil, McDonald's is offering the limited-time German Chicken Sausage Burger (as Germany is often one of the top teams competing in the Cup).

News: Green Burrito - New Grilled Chicken Flautas

Green Burrito, the Mexican chain dual-branded with select Carl's Jr. restaurants, offers new Grilled Flautas with Charbroiled Chicken.

The new dish features charbroiled chicken, spicy Santa Fe Sauce, and shredded Jack and cheddar cheeses rolled up in a flour torilla and grilled. Each order comes with a side of guacamole.

News: Starbucks - New Raspberry Swirl Pound Cake Slices for Summer

While Starbucks mostly did away with sliced pound cakes with the rollout of La Boulange bakery goods in favor of mini-pound cakes, they're back due to customer feedback.

Review: Pizza Hut - Blake's Smokehouse BBQ Pizza

Pizza Hut's new Blake's Smokehouse BBQ Pizza features a hand-tossed pizza with toasted cheddar cheese on the end crust and honey barbecue sauce instead of pizza sauce. It's topped with bacon, ham, and ground pork pieces. The pizza was inspired by country music artist Blake Shelton, hence the name.

I picked up a large for $11.

News: Burger King Serving Burgers During Breakfast

Burger King is now serving burgers during breakfast hours at 5,000 or so of their over 7,000 U.S. restaurants.

According to BurgerBusiness, at the bare minimum, Burger King restaurants that opt in to the program will serve a selection of lunch/dinner items including the Whopper (and its variants including the Double Whopper and Whopper Jr.), the Big King, Cheeseburgers (and Double Cheeseburgers as well as Bacon Double Cheeseburgers), the Original Chicken Sandwich, French Fries, and Apple Pie.

News: Baskin-Robbins - New Greek Frozen Yogurt

Greek frozen yogurt has been popular lately so it's no surprise that Baskin-Robbins, the world's large chain of ice cream shops, throws their hat into the ring with new Super Yumberry Greek Frozen Yogurt.

The brand's first Greek frozen yogurt product features yumberry-flavored Greek frozen yogurt swirled with a Triple Berry (blueberries, strawberries, and cranberries) ribbon. Like most Greek frozen yogurts, it contains beneficial live and active cultures.

Around the World: McDonald's UK - Great Tastes of America Returns for 2014

McDonald's UK is in the middle of their annual Great Tastes of America limited-time menu, where each week, they showcase a burger (supposedly) inspired by an American city or state that's available for that week only. The promotion features five burgers, which means it lasts for five weeks.

Basically, in five weeks, they get more limited-time burgers from McDonald's than we get in a year.

Request a Review Voting - May 2014

I thought I'd add a bit of democracy to Brand Eating by inviting you guys to submit your review requests here, as well as vote on which review requests you'd like to see.

Here's how it works:

Until the end of the month, you can submit review requests in the comment section below and upvote (or I suppose, downvote; let's try to keep it positive though, okay?) each other's suggestions. You can upvote by clicking on the upward pointing arrow below each comment.

Review: Burger King - Honey BBQ Chicken Strips

Burger King's new Honey BBQ Chicken Strips are their regular crispy-fried chicken strips tossed in a honey BBQ sauce.

It cost me $3.99 for an order of three strips.

News: McDonald's Testing Horchata Frappe Plus Buy One, Get One Deal

McDonald's is testing the new Horchata Frappe here in Southern California. The new drink is made with a new horchata-flavored syrup, coffee base, milk, and ice, topped with whipped cream and caramel sauce.

McDonald's describes the Horchata Frappe as "made with vanilla, a hint of cinnamon and coffee."

Horchata is a Mexican sweet rice drink typically made with rice, water, milk, cinnamon, and sugar (although there's a fair amount of variation).

News: Pizza Hut - New BBQ Cheddar Crust Pizzas

Pizza Hut follows up on their Garlic Parmesan Pizzas with new Cheddar Crust BBQ Pizzas.

Launching in partnership with country music artist Blake Shelton, Pizza Hut's new BBQ Pizzas come in three varieties, each featuring a toasted cheddar crust and honey barbecue sauce on their Hand-Tossed Pizza.

The three available varieties are:

Around the World: Lotteria Japan - New Triple Ramen Burger

Japanese burger chain Lotteria is set to introduce a super-carb-heavy triple ramen burger featuring three ramen noodle patties sandwiched inside of a hamburger bun come May 20th.

The official name of the burger is the "Taishoken Original Tsukemen Burger" as it was developed in partnership with Tokyo's Taishoken ramen shop.

News: McAlister's Deli - New Big Bold Cheesesteak

McAlister's Deli expands their line of "Big Bold Sandwiches" with the new limited-time Big Bold Cheesesteak.

McAlister's take on the regional sandwich features Black Angus roast beef, roasted bell peppers, caramelized onions, and American cheese sauce on a toasted baguette (if you're like me, you're wondering where the actual steak is).

Review: Lay's - Honey Barbecue Potato Chips

Lay's Honey Barbecue Flavored Potato Chips isn't stocked as widely as their other flavors (at least not in my area) but I see them here and there now and again.

I picked up a bag for $2.99.

Around the World: McDonald's Portugal Offers Their Own Take on the Portuguese Steak Sandwich

McDonald's is offering their own version on the Portuguese Steak Sandwich, the Prego, with the new McPrego in Portugal.

A prego (literally "nail" in Portuguese) is a simple steak sandwich served on a crusty roll. The steak tends to be tenderized or nailed hence the name.

News: New Blue Fusion and Red Fusion Jamba Juice At-Home Smoothies

Jamba Juice's At-Home line of smoothies adds two new fruit and vegetables smoothies in Blue Fusion and Red Fusion.

Blue Fusion features a mix of blueberry, banana, apple, blackberry, carrot, broccoli and spinach.

Red Fusion consists of red raspberry, strawberry, dark sweet cherry, purple carrot, and sweet potato.