Around the World: McDonald's Arabia Offers "The French" Burger

Offering a "taste of the world" is a common promotion for McDonald's. Not in the US, but globally, menus, or menu items, inspired by other locales and countries seem to pop up quite a lot. Currently, McDonald's Arabia is offering "The French," which is a hamburger patty in a black pepper sauce (like a pan sauce maybe?), served simply with slivered onions on a bun. I think they're going to a steak au poivre kind of feel.

Previously, McDonald's Arabia offered similarly-themed burgers with names like "The Asian," "The Mexican," and "The Turkish."

Review: Taco Bell - Shredded Chicken Mini Quesadilla

Taco Bell's new Shredded Chicken Mini Quesadilla is part of their new, updated $1 Cravings Menu test and offers hope to those who aren't fond of the more citrusy chicken offered at Taco Bell. It features marinated shredded chicken, along with a 3-cheese blend folded, and pressed inside a small flour tortilla (think soft taco-sized)

Like the rest of the menu, a Shredded Chicken Mini Quesadilla will set you back $1.

News: Burger King - 2013 Featured Summer Menu

Burger King's limited-time Summer BBQ menu features a new Rib Sandwich that immediately brings to mind McDonald's McRib.

Also notable for this year's summer menu are a slew of Oreo desserts and the return of several items from last year's menu, such as the Memphis BBQ Pulled Pork Sandwich and Sweet Potato Fries.

Review: Starbucks - Sweet Lemon Cake Pop

Starbucks' Sweet Lemon Cake Pop features vanilla white cake and lemon butter cream covered in white chocolate icing and colorful sprinkles.

They're $1.50 each or two for $2.50.

News: California Pizza Kitchen - Limited-Edition Wine-Sauce Pizzas

California Pizza Kitchen's frozen-pizza line has been offering two limited-edition pizzas showcasing wine-based sauces. There's the Grilled Chicken Pizza with Cabernet Sauce and the Roasted Vegetables Pizza with Chardonnay Sauce. Both pizzas come on a crispy thin crust.

The Grilled Chicken Pizza comes topped with a Cabernet marinara sauce, grilled white-meat chicken, spinach, roma tomatoes, rosemary, black pepper, mozzarella, parmesan, and gouda.

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.

News: Nestle Crunch Girl Scout Candy Bars Return and Available for Pre-Sale

Like the cookies they're inspired by, Nestle Crunch Girl Scout Candy Bars are back and available for pre-sale prior to their June launch. First introduced last year, the candy bars are offered in three varieties designed after the three most popular Girl Scout cookies: Thin Mints, Caramel & Coconut, and Peanut Butter Creme.

Frozen Friday: DiGiorno - Pizzeria Primo Pepperoni Pizza

Pizzeria (stylized as "pizzeria!") is DiGiorno's latest line of pizzas meant to offer a pizzeria-style crust that you can bake at home. The Primo Pepperoni is topped with "premium" pepperoni and promises a "crispy outside, soft & airy inside, drizzled with extra virgin olive oil" crust.

An 18.7-ounce pie cost $5.49 at Target. I was actually hoping to pick up a Supreme, but this is the only variety they had.

News: Dunkin' Donuts - Three New Coolattas To Usher in the Summer

As summer starts to bare its sunny head, Dunkin' Donuts is offering three new flavors of their ice-slush Coolatta beverages: Berry Blast, Raspberry Lime, and Minute Maid Orange.

They're also offering a deal where you can get any small-size Coolatta for $1.99 throughout this month.