News: Dunkin' Donuts - New Cupid's Choice Heart-Shaped Donuts

Taking a page from Krispy Kreme, Dunkin' Donuts also has a heart-shaped donut this Valentine's Day season. Dubbed the Cupid's Choice Donut and the Cupid's Cocoa Donut, each donut is available for a suggested price of 89 cents until the end of February.

The Cupid's Choice Donut is a heart-shaped yeast (AKA raised) donut filled with Bavarian cream and topped with strawberry icing and pink, white and red heart-shaped sprinkles.

The Cupid's Cocoa Donut is a heart-shaped chocolate yeast donut, filled with jelly and topped with chocolate icing and decorated with pink, white and red heart-shaped sprinkles.

Review: Jack in the Box - All-American Jack

Jack in the Box's new super-sized All-American Jack got its national introduction last night at the Super Bowl but I tried it a couple days earlier.

The All-American Jack consists of two jumbo beef patties, melting American and Swiss-style cheese, tomato, shredded lettuce, pickles, mayo-onion sauce, ketchup, and mustard on a sesame bun. It's being advertised as a combo with small fries and a 20-ounce drink for $4.99 but you can forgo the combo and just get the burger for around $3.59.

News: Jack in the Box - New Mint Oreo Shake

Joining Jack in the Box's popular Oreo Cookie Shake on the menu, Jack in the Box's new Mint Oreo Ice Cream Shake adds a little twist with the addition of mint-flavor syrup to the normal formula of real ice cream, Oreo pieces, whipped topping and a Maraschino cherry.

Like all of Jack's shakes, the Mint Oreo Shake is available in a 16-ounce regular size and a 24-ounce large. Prices are set around $2.69 for a regular and $3.19 for a large (may vary).

News: Dunkin' Donuts - New Cocoa Donuts and Chocolate Menu Items

Apparently February is "Chocolate Lovers Month" at Dunkin' Donuts and they're celebrating a new line of yeast raised chocolate donuts. While chocolate cake donuts have long been the norm at many a donut shop, a light and fluffy chocolate raised donut is a first, at least, here in the States. I'd like to try one but the nearest Dunkin' is one state over in Nevada.

Until the end of February, Dunkin' Donuts is serving several varieties of the new Cocoa Donuts at the suggested retail price of 89 cents each, including:

Review: Chips Ahoy! - with Reese's Peanut Butter Cups

Chips Ahoy! with Reese's Peanut Butter Cups came out sometime last year but are still labelled "new" on the package. They feature your typical Chips Ahoy! chocolate chip cookie (I feel like I should say "Arr Matey! or something) but with mini Reese's Peanut Butter Cups baked in.

A 9.5-ounce bag (about 4 ounces less than a normal bag) will run you about $3.69 or somewhere around $2.50 on sale.

News: Baskin-Robbins - New $2 Mini Soft Serve Parfaits

Baskin-Robbins is offering a new snack-sized ice cream dessert in their new Mini Soft Serve Parfaits which come in three flavors: Oreo, Reese's Peanut Butter Cup, and Strawberry 'n Almonds. Each flavor features a different sauce and a sprinkling of their respective toppings.

They're similar to mini sundaes but with the sauce forming a bottom layer that's topped with vanilla soft serve rather than the other way around.

Each Mini Soft Serve Parfait is available in an 8-ounce cup for a limited-time price of $2.

Review: Ruffles - Loaded Chili & Cheese Potato Chips

Ruffles limited-time new Loaded Chili & Cheese ridged potato chips comes just in time to grace your Super Bowl spread with the flavor of chili, cheese, and fried potatoes. While it's not the same as actual chili cheese fries, it does keep much better and won't get soggy.

I found this 1-and-1/8-ounce bag at my local 7-Eleven for 99 cents.

News: Krispy Kreme - V-Day Donuts

Krispy Kreme has a pretty sweet deal (pun intended) going on until Valentine's Day (February 14): along with the return of their heart-shaped donuts, they're offering a promotion where you'll get 12 Valentine's Day Cards when you buy any dozen donuts (while supplies last at participating stores).

Here's the kicker: on the back of each card is a coupon good for one free donut or one free small hot chocolate or coffee.

News: Cold Stone Creamery - New Plated Desserts

I've touched upon it before but now it's official, Cold Stone Creamery is serving new Plated Desserts: four new menu items featuring a warm, baked dessert topped with ice cream and other toppings.

The four desserts are:

• Brownie A La Cold Stone: Warm, chocolate brownies topped with French vanilla, whipped topping, caramel, hot fudge and pecans.
• Churro Caramel Crave: Crispy churros rolled in cinnamon and sugar, topped with French vanilla ice cream, caramel and whipped topping.
• Chocolate Lava Meltdown: Warm, hot-fudge-filled chocolate cake topped with French vanilla ice cream, more fudge, whipped topping and shaved chocolate.
• No Fair Funnel Cake: Freshly baked, sweet funnel cake dusted with powdered sugar, served with strawberries and topped with French vanilla ice cream, strawberry puree and whipped topping.

Frozen Friday: Marie Callender's - Country Fried Beef Steak

Marie Callender's Country Fried Beef Steak frozen meal comes with a deep fried battered and breaded ground beef patty, mashed potatoes, and glazed carrots.

They retail for around $3.99 with a sale price usually around $2.00 to $2.50.

News: Jack in the Box - New All-American Jack Combo for $4.99

Jack in the Box is leveraging the Super Bowl this Sunday for the introduction of its new All-American Jack burger. The All-American Jack features two jumbo beef patties, melting American and Swiss-style cheese, tomato, shredded lettuce, pickles, mayo-onion sauce, ketchup, and mustard.

For a limited time, starting today, Jack in the Box will be offering the All-American Jack combo for $4.99. The combo includes its namesake burger, a small order of fries, and a 20-ounce drink.

Review: Popeyes - Red Hot Popcorn Chicken

New to the Popeyes menu, their Red Hot Popcorn Chicken features bits of white meat chicken marinated in a spicy 4-pepper blend of Cayenne, White, Black, and Habernero peppers and fried with a crunchy breading.

According to their website, a Red Hot Popcorn Chicken combo with cajun fries and a biscuit is supposed to cost $2.99. Perhaps they got their wires crossed, but my local Popeyes had an order of Popcorn Chicken for $2.99 while a combo with fries, a biscuit and a drink was listed at $5.99(!).

News: Papa Murphy's Introduces S'mores Pizza for V-Day

"Take 'n' bake" pizza chain Papa Murphy's is rolling out their S'mores Dessert Pizza this Valentine's Day season. The dessert pie features Hershey's Semi-Sweet Chocolate Chips, lightly-toasted mini marshmallows, and a crisp topping on a pizza pie crust.

Price and participation varies.

News: Subway - $5 Any Regular Footlong for all of February

Subway is offering any regular Footlong sub for $5 for all of February in an event they're calling "FebruANY." You can't see but I'm rolling my eyes right now at their choice of name.

So what counts as a "regular" sub? That's any sub except for Subway's "premium" subs which basically consists of just the Big Philly Cheesesteak and the Pastrami sub (What counts as a "premium" sub might vary with location).

Review: Carl's Jr - Hand-Breaded Chicken Tender Wrappers

Left to right: BBQ, Ranch, and Honey Mustard

A bit of a Johnny-come-lately to the snack-sized chicken wraps party, Carl's Jr. nonetheless makes a good effort with their new, slightly long-winded Hand-Breaded Chicken Tender Wrappers.

The formula is familiar enough: a Hand-Breaded Chicken Wrapper, shredded cheese and lettuce, and your choice of sauces (ranch, barbecue, and honey mustard) wrapped in a flour tortilla for $1.49.

News: Church's Chicken - New Southern Style Chicken Sandwich

Church's Chicken is standing directly in Chick-fil-A's back yard with their latest menu item, the Southern Style Chicken Sandwich featuring the familiar all-white meat chicken patty, crunchy pickle slices, and toasted bun.

Pricing undercuts both McDonald's and Chick-fil-A at $1.99. The pickles seem to be quite large, enough for every bite if the picture is to be believed.

News: Domino's - $5.99 2-Topping Large Pizza

Domino's is running a short promotion (until this Saturday, February 5, 2011) where you can carryout a 2-Topping Large Pizza for $5.99 at participating U.S. locations.

News: Wendy's - New Asiago Ranch Chicken Club

Wendy's is offering a slightly different take on their previous Chicken Club sandwich with the new Asiago Ranch Chicken Club which features fancy Asiago cheese, Ranch sauce, your choice of chicken (Grilled, Homestyle, or Spicy), Applewood Smoked Bacon, tomatoes, and hand-leafed lettuce.

Price will vary but you can expect to pay between $4 and $5 for the privilege.

News: El Pollo Loco - New Fish Tacos

El Pollo Loco is serving up two new, limited-time fish tacos until mid-April 2011: the Classic Baja Fish Taco and the Spicy Avocado Fish Taco.

Both taco feature fried, beer-battered Alaskan white fish topped with shredded cabbage and cilantro wrapped in a corn tortilla. The Classic Baja Fish Taco adds a blend of yogurt sauce with El Pollo Loco's house salsa while the Spicy Avocado Fish Taco takes the same yogurt sauce and joins it with avocado salsa. Limes are available to squeeze onto the tacos.

The suggested price per taco is $1.99 with a combo of two tacos and a small drink is set at $5.29.

Review: Winchell's Donuts - Black Forest Ham Sandwich

Winchell's is a West Coast donut chain that is the only place I know of to get a good French Cruller donut. But they also make bagel and croissant sandwiches and currently offer a $5 Meal Deal where you can get any bagel sandwich, an order of chips and a drink (coffee or soda) for $5.

The Black Forest Ham sandwich is normally $4.79 so $5.00 sounded like a pretty good deal to me.