News: McDonald's - 2012 Fall/Winter Holiday Line Up

McDonald's has quite a line up of holiday-themed desserts this year, but participation seems to vary a bit. For example, I've never seen pumpkin-anything here in the Los Angeles area, but I know they have/had the Baked Pumpkin Pie up in central California.

I've grouped the items from what I've been able to piece together. If you want to comment below if you've seen these items in your area, I'll update accordingly.

News: Hardee's - New Ribeye Steak, Egg, and Cheese Biscuit

Hardee's introduces their own take on steak and eggs with their new Ribeye Steak, Egg, and Cheese Biscuit. The sandwich features thinly-sliced ribeye steak, a folded scrambled egg, and Swiss cheese on a made from scratch buttermilk biscuit.

It's available for a suggested retail price of $2.99 for the sandwich only or in a combo with hash rounds and drink for $4.69.

Review: McDonald's - Daily Double

McDonald's Daily Double is a new Extra Value Menu item and McDouble variant featuring two beef patties, a slice of American cheese, slivered onions, a thick slice of tomato, shredded lettuce, and mayo on a plain toasted hamburger bun.

It's not nearly a value as the McDouble as it carries a price tag of $1.99.

News: Papa John's - Double Bacon 6 Cheese Pizza Returns

The Double Bacon 6 Cheese Pizza is back at Papa John's for a limited time. It is topped with Hickory-smoked bacon, julienne-cut Canadian bacon, mozzarella, Parmesan, Romano, Asiago, provolone and Fontina cheese.

As with Papa John's limited time offers, the Double Bacon 6 Cheese Pizza is offered for the promotion price of $11. With the return of the pizza, it looks like the Meatball and Pepperoni Pizza's roughly month-long run is nearing its end.

News: Taco Bell - Free Tacos for Stolen Bases During the World Series

It's not unusual for free food items to be given at sporting event to the audience if certain benchmarks are hit, like if one team scores 100 points or if the home team wins. But Taco Bell is taking it a step further this year and spreading the love by offering the opportunity for a free Doritos Locos Tacos to everyone in the U.S. if any player steals a base during the Major League Baseball (MLB) World Series. They're calling it "Steal a Base, Steal a Taco."

Here are the details:

Around the World: First Indian Starbucks Store Looks Very Aladdin-ish

Starbucks recently opened their first location in India -- the flagship store in Mumbai with two other stores to open this week.

I have to say though, when I first saw a picture of the flagship store, I immediately thought of Disney's Aladdin; it looks more like something at a Disney resort than a Starbucks no? A firsthand account from Vogue India likened the interior design to that of the Taj Mahal Hotel (Isn't it the analogue to making the European flagship store look like a castle?)

Review: Boston Market - Turkey Market Bowl

Boston Market's limited-time Market Bowls feature a bowl filled with your choice of two sides, a sauce, and one of three meats: turkey, meatloaf, or the chain's signature rotisserie chicken. I recently tried the Turkey Market Bowl with the mashed potatoes and corn topped with gravy.

The price of each bowl is $6.99.

News: Jack in the Box - Chili Cheese Curly Fries Return

For a limited-time, Jack in the Box returns Chili Cheese Curly Fries at participating locations. The dish features seasoned curly fries topped with beef chili and shredded cheddar cheese.

Chili Cheese Fries are not available in Boise and Twin Falls, Idaho (I don't know why, but Jack in the Box always has the most random market non-participation in their promotions or maybe they're the only ones that bother to list it).

News: Domino's - Free Pan Pizza Slice for Lunch on October 23

Domino's will be giving away 100 free slices of their new Handmade Pan Pizza at each participating location this upcoming Tuesday, October 23, 2012 between the hours of 12pm and 2pm i.e. lunch time.

It's not a bad promo if you happen to work/live near a participating Domino's location during lunch time tomorrow, but I'm not sure many people would go out of their way for a slice of pizza.

Review: Fresh & Easy - Pumpkin Pie Cookies

Fresh & Easy's Pumpkin Pie Cookies are a limited-time bakery item this fall and are made with pumpkin puree as well as cinnamon and nutmeg (just like actual pumpkin pie!)

A 15-ounce box of 10 cookies is $3.99.

News: Jack in the Box - Limited-Edition Nut Cracker Ornaments

Jack in the Box is celebrating the 120th anniversary of the Nutcracker Ballet (and the holiday season) with new, limited-edition Nutcracker Jack ornaments.

The ornaments feature a Jack head adorned with a red shako that can be attached onto your car antenna via a pre-drilled hole or hung on your Christmas tree by its braided loop.

Review: Starbucks - Cinnamon Roll

Starbucks recently re-introduced Cinnamon Rolls to their baked goods display so I thought I'd give them a try. The new Cinnamon Rolls are pretty standard with pastry dough rolled up with cinnamon and sugar and covered with cream cheese icing.

Buying one cost me $2.45 at a local Starbucks.

News: Tastykake - New Kandy Bar Kakes

Tastykake teams up with Hershey's to offer you some of your favorite candy bars in "kake" form with new Kandy Bar Kakes.

A mix of candy and cake, Kandy Bar Kakes are available in the following varieties:  

- S'mores Kandy Bar Kake made with Hershey's Cocoa;
- Peanut Butter Kandy Bar Kake made with Reese's Peanut Butter and;
- Peppermint Kandy Bar Kake made with York Peppermint Flavor.

They each feature two pieces of cake sandwiching a creme center and covered in a chocolaty coating.

Frozen Friday: Healthy Choice - Classic Meatloaf

Healthy Choice's Classic Meatloaf meal features a meatloaf with brown gravy, whipped potatoes, a side of sweet corn, and an apple cranberry dessert.

A 12-ounce box retails for $3.99 at my local supermarket ($2.50 or so on sale).

News: Burger King - New Gingerbread Cookie Sundae and Shake

Burger King offers up the taste of gingerbread cookies this holiday season with new, limited time Gingerbread Cookie Sundaes and Shakes.

Leapfrogging the more mainstream pumpkin and egg nog flavors, Burger King goes with the lesser used gingerbread. I can't remember any of the major chains doing gingerbread really.

The Gingerbread Cookie Sundae features vanilla soft serve sprinkled with gingersnap cookie crumbles and topped with gingerbread sauce for a suggested retail of $2.49.

News: McDonald's - Cheddar Bacon Onion Sandwich

McDonald's new Cheddar Bacon Onion Sandwich is now available nationally for a limited-time. Previously tested in New York, the Cheddar Bacon Onion Sandwich comes with your choice of an third-pound Angus beef patty, or crispy or grilled chicken filet along with hickory-smoked bacon, caramelized grilled onions, two slices of white cheddar, and a creamy mustard sauce.

Around the World: Burger King Japan - New Pumpkin Burger

While pumpkin-flavored items are quite popular around this time of year, I've never heard of a pumpkin burger before... until now that is. Burger King Japan will be offering the BK Pumpkin burger for a limited time starting October 26, 2012.

The BK Pumpkin burger features two fried slices of kabocha (commonly known as Japanese pumpkin), bacon, lettuce, a beef patty and a creamy, savory nut sauce (with sesame seeds, peanuts, almonds, cashews, and hazelnuts). The sesame bun is meant to be pumpkin-shaped. The price per burger is 310 yen (~$3.90 US).

Review: Panera Bread - Pumpkin Cookie

Panera Bread's seasonal Pumpkin Cookie features a good-sized pumpkin-shaped shortbread cookie decorated with icing to look like a jack-o-lantern.

It's $1.69 for a cookie or discounted to $.99 if you buy a meal with a drink.

News: Little Caesars Offers Pizza Cones for Fundraising

Little Caesars now offers Pizza Cones nationwide, but not in any of their locations. Instead Little Caesars' Pizza Cones are only available for fundraising and are sold by non-profit organizations, including schools, churches, sports teams, etc.

The cones are available in four varieties (including sweet options) and come in kits for customers to assemble and bake the cones. Pizza Cone kits are available in: Pepperoni, Cheese, S'mores, and Apple Cheesecake.

News: White Castle - New Crave Pallet with 6,912 Sliders

For those of you throwing a really big party, White Castle now offers the new Crave Pallet of Sliders, a pallet (those things you need a forklift to move) with 6,912 Sliders.

You better hurry though because only two Crave Pallets are available. Each comes with any combination of  Original, Cheese, and/or Jalapeno Sliders. Not to worry about freshness though as the Sliders will be cooked onsite by White Castle and served fresh.

Review: Wienerschnitzel - Pretzel Bun Chili Dog

I've tried Wienerschnitzel's Chili Dog before, but not on a pretzel bun so on a recent stop at a Wienerschnitzel, I tried the Pretzel Bun Chili Dog.

The Pretzel Bun Chili Dog is simple enough: a pretzel hot dog bun, a turkey hot dog, and Wienerschnitzel's trademark chili. There's an upcharge of 40 cents for the pretzel bun so that my Pretzel Bun Chili Dog cost $1.89.

News: Papa Murphy's - Jack-O-Lantern Pizza Returns

The pizza with olives for eyes is back at Papa Murphy's. The novelty Jack-O-Lantern Pizza is once again available for the Halloween season.

The pumpkin shaped pizza is decorated with fresh-grated cheese and pepperoni slices to form the jack-o-lantern's face and, like most Papa Murphy's pizzas, generally takes 12 to 18 minutes to cook in your home oven.

Review: Boston Market - Meatloaf Market Bowl

Boston Market's Meatloaf Market Bowl is a limited-time item that seems a bit gimmicky. It's just a bowl filled with your choice of two sides and either meatloaf, turkey, or chicken plus a sauce. It's basically what they normally give you on a plate, but in a more portable bowl.

Regardless of what you choose, each bowl is $6.99. I went with meatloaf, the vegetable medley, and vegetable stuffing. For sauce, I went with tomato sauce.

News: Starbucks - New My Starbucks Rewards Changes

Starting today, Starbucks introduces some changes to their customer loyalty program, My Starbucks Rewards. Some of the perks are gone, but there are some new improvements as well.

 Here's a quick list of the changes:

News: Burger King - California Whopper Returns to the West Coast

Burger King's California Whopper is back for a limited-time, but only at participating BK locations in California, Oregon, Washington, Hawaii, and, oddly enough, Colorado.

The Whopper variant features a ground beef patty, guacamole, thick-cut, hardwood-smoked bacon, Swiss cheese, sliced tomatoes, lettuce, sliced onions and mayo on a toasted sesame seed bun for a suggested retail price of $4.49.

Review: Wendy's - Bacon Portabella Mushroom Melt

Wendy's Bacon Portabella Mushroom Melt is a kinda new, limited-time burger ("kinda" because it just adds an extra slice of cheese to a previous limited-time offer). It features a quarter pound beef patty, two slices of American cheese, three slices of thick-cut applewood-smoked bacon, and portabella mushrooms in a cheddar cheese sauce.

My local Wendy's offers them for $4.39, but I received mine for free courtesy of Wendy's.

News: KFC - New Dip'ems

KFC offers up new Dip'ems. Except, similar to Popeyes, the only new thing is three new sauces: Creamy Buffalo, Orange Ginger, and Bacon Ranch.

The actual chicken strips are the same standard Extra Crispy chicken strips (they're calling them "tenders" now) that KFC has been serving for a while now.

In sum, Dip'ems is the combination of Extra Crispy chicken strips tenders plus six dipping sauces: the existing Honey BBQ, Honey Mustard, and Creamy Ranch plus the three new ones.

News: Jamba Juice - BOGO Free Smoothie in NY and CA

Jamba Juice is doing another buy one, get one free coupon deal on their smoothies. It's valid at participating locations in California and New York (but also a few select locations in Washington D.C., Maryland, and New Jersey).

The deal is good through Sunday10/21/2012 and offers a free smoothie or equal or less value when you buy any smoothie.

Review: Fresh & Easy - Iced Pumpkin Scones

Iced Pumpkin Scones are new to Fresh & Easy this fall. They usually only have blueberry and orange cranberry scones.

The scones typically go for $3.99 for a pack of 4. They go on sale for $2.99 every once in a while, but I usually get them off the bargain (i.e."sell by today") rack for $2.69.

News: Chipotle - $2 Burrito for Dressing Up on Halloween

Chipotle is once again bring back their Boorito promotion this year. Remember when they used to give away free burritos? Nowadays, it's a $2 burrito, bowl, salad, tacos, etc., but the money goes to a non-profit: the Chipotle Cultivate Foundation (up to 1 million dollars anyway), which promotes "sustainable agriculture, family farming, and culinary education."

Sunday Funny: Snoop Dogg Parodies Himself for Hot Pockets

In a marketing coup that's sure to generate buzz, Snoop Dogg shills for Hot Pockets with a parody of his hit song, "Drop It Like It's Hot," entitled "Pocket Like It's Hot." Instead of Pharell Williams, the parody, which comes complete with a music video, features comedian/rapper Andy Milonakis and Youtube personality/rapper DeStorm (pronounced "day-storm") Power as well as the Funkasaurus, WWE wrestler Brodius Clay (who used to work as one of Snoop Dogg's bodyguards).

The video plays up on some of the sparse aesthetics and motifs of the original version. Check it out below:

Review: Entenmann's - Pumpkin Donuts

Entenmann's Pumpkin Donuts are new and made with real pumpkin. I'd never seen pumpkin donuts at any of my local supermarkets, so I picked a box of these up.

It's not cheap at $4.99 for a box of 8 donuts, but a sale knocked the price down to $2.50.

News: Jelly Belly - New Tabasco Flavored Jelly Beans

For those who like a lot of heat with their sweet, Jelly Belly has just the thing for you: new Tabasco flavored Jelly Beans.

Jelly Belly describes the flavor like this: "the pungent taste of red peppers, Avery Island salt and distilled vinegar, coupled with a subtle sweetness – but not too sweet – undertone from the jelly bean itself."

It sounds like "ow! my tongue is burning!" to me though.

Frozen Friday: Healthy Choice - Beef and Broccoli

Healthy Choice's Beef and Broccoli is billed as "a fresh take on an old favorite" and features chunks of beef with diced onions and red peppers over whole grain brown rice with a teriyaki sauce and broccoli on the side.

These normally sell for $3.99 at my local supermarket ($2.50 or so on sale).

News: Krispy Kreme - Pumpkin Spice Donut Returns Plus New Pumpkin Treats

Krispy Kreme returns the Pumpkin Spice Cake Donut this fall along with a slew of other pumpkin treats.

The Pumpkin Spice Cake Donut is an old-fashioned cake donut made with pumpkin flavor and spices, and glazed in Krispy Kreme fashion. It is available through November 22, 2012 at Krispy Kreme donut shops.

Also at participating Krispy Kreme locations, the Pumpkin Spice Latte is available hot or iced and topped with whipped cream.

News: Starbucks - Free Verismo Lattes on October 15

Starbucks is giving away free lattes made from their new Verismo one-touch, coffee pod machine at select stores this upcoming Monday, October 15, 2012, from 4pm to 6pm.

The promotion is meant to promote the new Verismo machine (they're going with "Verismo System" as the name, but that sounds more like a speaker system to me). The machines are meant to provide at-home convenience for Starbucks customers who want the same drinks from Starbucks in their own home.

Review: Domino's - Bacon and Jalapeno Stuffed Cheesy Bread

Domino's Bacon and Jalapeno Stuffed Cheesy Breadsticks feature baked breadsticks stuffed with cheese, bacon, and jalapeno peppers, covered in a melted blend of mozzarella and cheddar and finished with a dusting of garlic, parsley and Romano cheese.

It's $5.99 for an order.

News: Subway - New Chopped Salads

Subway now has a new Chopped Salad option where any 6" sub or double meat sub of your choice can be had as a salad (sans the bread of course).

News: Wendy's Unveils New Logo

A lot of changes going on at Wendy's lately. There's the recent revamps of their fries, burgers, and bacon, but there's more... Coming in March 2013, you also be seeing a new Wendy's logo.

Where the old logo was classic and played to the chain's roots, Wendy's new logo is meant to reflect "innovation and fresh thinking" as the chain moves forward into the future.

The new logo is the most drastically different of the five previous logos the chain has worn. Gone is the "Old Fashioned Hamburgers" tagline and red and yellow box. While Wendy's trademark face remains, it's a slightly more mature (and better drawn) face.

Around the World: Pizza Hut Canada - New Hot Dog Stuffed Crust Pizza

First it was the U.K. and now Canada: Pizza Hut introduces the new Hot Dog Stuffed Crust Pizza in Canada for a limited time starting October 15, 2012.

The pizza's main feature is that Angus beef hot dogs are rolled up into the pizza crust.

It will be offered at the same price as a regular Pizza Hut Stuffed Crust Pizza and will be available in medium or large sizes. Each pizza will come with a Heinz Ketchup Dip and Squeeze and Heinz Honey Mustard Dip.

Review: Yoshinoya - Beef Yaki Udon Bowl

Yoshinoya's Yaki Udon is a new noodle dish for the Japanese beef bowl chain. I recently tried the Beef Yaki Udon Bowl which consisted of sliced beef stir-fried in a wok with a mix of fresh vegetables (zucchini, bok choy, cabbage, snow peas, onion and garlic), udon noodles, and Yoshinoya's special sauce.

It cost me $6.69 for an order.

Around the World: McDonald's - New Grilled Halloum on Ciabatta in Kuwait

In a bit of localized flavor, McDonald's is offering a new, limited-time Grilled Halloum on Ciabatta breakfast sandwich in Kuwait.

If you're like me and saw the picture, you'd think it was just an egg white sandwich right? But it's actually a thick slice of cheese.

Around the World: KFC Offers to Deliver Soggy Hash Browns? ...in Singapore

KFC Singapore recently introduced the KFC Cheese Hash Brown as their latest new menu item. It's a fried up hash brown patty drizzled with cheese sauce, mayonnaise, and topped with spring onions. Might be good right?

So here's the weird part: they're only offering Cheese Hash Browns via delivery only, which, theoretically, gives plenty of time for the cheese sauce and mayo to turn the hash brown into mushy potatoes. Yay for soggy hash browns?

Review: Panera Bread - Roasted Turkey & Cranberry Panini

Panera Bread's Roasted Turkey & Cranberry Panini sandwich is new this fall and features all-natural, roasted turkey slices layered in a fresh-baked ciabatta bread with a garlic and herb cheese spread, cranberry chutney, and fresh spinach.

It's fairly pricey at $8.79 a sandwich, though it does come with a choice of chips, apple, or baguette on the side.

News: Krispy Kreme - Halloween Donuts are Back

Krispy Kreme returns their spate of Halloween Donuts this month. The Krispy Skremes donut line up includes Pumpkin, Spider Web, and Halloween Sprinkle.

The Pumpkin donut is a jack-o-lantern-shaped donut with a face of black icing atop orange icing.

The Spider Web donut features a chocolate-iced donut with Kreme filling decorated with a web of white icing.

Review: Subway - Tuscan Chicken Melt

Subway's new, limited-time Tuscan Chicken Melt is a "$6 Footlong Special" they're offering this month in addition to their Featured $5 Footlong. It features strips of chicken breast tossed in a zesty herb seasoning, served with your choice of melted cheese, veggies, and bread and finished with a balsamic vinaigrette.

I went with pepper jack cheese, lettuce, spinach, onions, tomatoes, and the Italian herbs & cheese bread. It cost me $6 for a footlong.

Around the World: Domino's Australia Offers Pancakes

Domino's Australia now offers new Mini Dutch Pancakes for a limited time on their menu.

Specifically, they're offering poffertjes, which are small, fluffy and puffy pancakes (they look like fat, little flying saucers). Poffertjes are typically made in a specialized pan and served with butter and powdered sugar.

News: Pei Wei - New Sriracha Chicken and BOGO Offer

Pei Wei Asian Diner incorporates the fiery-red Thai chili sauce, Sriracha, into their latest limited-time dish, Sriracha Chicken.

The ingredient was selected by fan voting and features the spicy kick of Sriracha joined with "cooling ingredients" such as tomatoes, long beans, and  pineapple.

Review: Panera Bread - Pumpkin Spice Latte

Like Starbucks, Panera Bread also offers a Pumpkin Spice Latte around this time of year. Panera's version consists of espresso, steamed milk, and pumpkin spice syrup topped with whipped cream and a drizzle of caramel sauce.

The nutritional information online lists the drink at 11-ounces, but the one I bought looked to be about 16-ounce and there weren't any other sizes offered. The price was $4.29.

Around the World: Kit Kat Variations

Here in the U.S., we pretty much only get the plain regular Kit Kat bar with some very slight variations (dark chocolate, white chocolate), but the world is vast, so I thought it'd be interesting to look at what Nestle has done with Kit Kats worldwide (in the U.S., Hershey's produces Kit Kats, but for the rest of the world, it's made by Nestle, which might explain our lack of variety here).

In several countries, there's Kit Kat Ice Cream with bite-sized balls of Kit Kat embedded in it, but that's not all...