News: Dunkin' Donuts - Heart-Shaped Donuts Return; New Dark Chocolate Drinks

Dunkin' Donuts returns their heart-shaped donuts for a limited time in celebration of Valentine's Day. In addition, they've expanded their dark chocolate offerings (first introduced last year with new Dark Hot Chocolate) to encompass coffee drinks.

New Dark Chocolate Mocha Coffees, Lattes, and Frozen Coffee Coolattas are now available for a limited time.

Head-to-Head: Burger King vs. McDonald's - Chicken Nuggets

Burger King has played second (and sometimes third) fiddle to McDonald's #1 for as long as I can remember. Most recently, BK has taken imitation to an art form with their new Chicken Nuggets, which are most remarkable in how much they resemble McDonald's Chicken McNuggets.

The two are very similar but which are the better nuggets? I decided to compare them and find out!

News: Popeyes Returns Butterfly Shrimp and Offers new Strawberry n' Cream Cheese Pie

As Lenten season rounds the corner, Popeyes returns their Butterfly Shrimp in what's become a seasonal event. But this year, they're also offering new, limited-time Strawberry n' Cream Cheese Pie.

News: McDonald's Packaging Now Sports QR Code to Nutrition Info

McDonald's has come up with a new global package design for their to-go bags and fountain drink cups that includes a QR (for "Quick Response") code that leads you to their mobile nutrition site in case you're wondering how how much Vitamin C is in that Quarter Pounder with Cheese you're just about to eat.

I came across the new packaging recently and to be helpful, I've put together a quick guide to using the code:

News: Sonic Introduces New 99-Cent Snack Happy Hour

For a limited-time, Sonic is adding another component to their 2pm to 4pm Happy Hour by offering snack-sized versions of some of their more popular sides for a discounted 99 cents each.

The items found on the new 99-cent Happy Hour Snacks menu are:

Review: Remington Trail Steaks - Maple Flavored Smoked Turkey Jerky

Remington Maple Flavored Smoked Turkey jerky (they call it "snacks" instead of "jerky") is an licensed product. The licensee is Trail Steaks, a company that specialized in steak snacks which is jerky made from premium cuts of steak cut into bite-sized pieces. The turkey is raised in the U.S. and features whole breast meat cut into strips and smoked slowly.

You can buy these online at $5.49 for a 3-ounce bag, but I received this bag courtesy of Trail Steaks.

News: Post - New Honey Bunches of Oats Greek Honey Crunch

It's official. Greek yogurt has made its way into cereal. Post's new Honey Bunches of Oats Greek Honey Crunch cereal plays on the yogurt's recent popularity by featuring two types of their distinctive honey-touched granola clusters with Greek yogurt to go along with whole grain cereal flakes.

Specifically, there are granola clusters with Greek yogurt baked into them and there are granola clusters with a creamy Greek yogurt style coating.

Review: Quaker - Chocolate and Almond Soft Baked Oatmeal Cookies

Quaker's Chocolate and Almond Soft Baked Oatmeal Cookies are made with whole grain oats and embedded with chunks of chocolate and bits of almonds.

They cost $2.99 for a 8.8-ounce box of six individually-wrapped cookies.

Around the World: Pizza Hut Singapore - New Fortune Pizza for Chinese New Year

With Chinese New Year just around the corner (February 10), the folks at Pizza Hut in Singapore offer the new Fortune Pizza shaped like an old Chinese coin or "cash", which is to say it's round but with a square hole in the center

If you're wondering why the coins have a square hole, it's because they were used to string the coins together to make larger denominations.

The sauce on the pizza is a golden pumpkin paste with bits of taro to symbolize "gold and a good year ahead." It's topped with pineapples ("for prosperity"), diced barbecue chicken, pok chui (crispy dough) and mushrooms. The crust is sprinkled with cereal flakes for extra crunch and filled with cheese a la Stuffed Crust Pizza.

News: Popchips - New Flavor by Katy Perry

As a Popchips investor/brand ambassador and famous singer, Katy Perry gets her own flavor of Popchips. No, it's not candy cane rainbows, it's new "Katy's Kettle Corn." The newest flavor in the Popchip line up features the sweet and salty flavor of popped kettle corn.

The flavor is the first sweet foray for the brand. To further enforce the Katy Perry connection, the bag features pink and purple and a stylized heart to dot the "i' in "popchips."

Frozen Friday: Burnett - Beef Bourguignon

Burnett's Beef Bourguignon features slow-cooked cuts of beef in a burgundy wine sauce with baby carrots, pearl onions, mushrooms, and pieces of bacon.

A 18-ounce box was on sale at Fresh & Easy for $3.99 (it's normally $5.99).

News: White Castle Offers Valentine's Day Reservations

White Castle is once again offering Valentine's Day dinner reservations this year, complete with table service and themed decorations at select restaurants.

Apparently the event is popular enough among the chain's fans that reservations fill up pretty fast.

News: McDonald's Now Serves Sustainable Fish Only

McDonald's commits to serving sustainably-source fish at all of their U.S. restaurants and gets a nice label to show for it. They are now the first national restaurant chain to adopt the Marine Stewardship Council's (MSC) blue ecolabel on their fish packaging. The ecolabel denotes that all fish served at McDonald's restaurants comes from MSC-certified fisheries.

Review: Taco Bell - Spicy Cheesy Roll-Up

Taco Bell's Spicy Cheesy Roll-Up is part of their $1 Cravings Menu test. It is the same as the standard Cheesy Roll-Up, but with the addition of chipotle sauce for a bit of a kick. If you've never tried or seen one, it's a flour tortilla folded over melted cheese and chipotle sauce and then rolled up into a tube.

The Spicy Cheesy Roll-Up sells for $1 each.

News: Panera Bread Unveils "Hidden Menu"

Where a few chains have so-called "secret menus," Panera Bread now offers a "Hidden Menu," because secret menus are so passe.

Where some secret menus come about by consistent customer requests throughout the years, Panera just made this one up on their own (it was "developed" by Scott Davis, Panera Bread's Chief Concept Officer) and tested in New York last November.

News: The Coffee Bean Celebrates 50th Anniversary with Free Coffee or Tea

The Coffee Bean is 50 years old and they're celebrating next week on Wednesday, January 30, 2013 by offering all guests that come by to partake in a free cup of coffee or tea.

The promotion runs all day on January 30 at participating locations (stores hours tend to vary though so you might want to call ahead to check).

Review: Arby's - Chocolate Molten Lava Cake

Arby's new, limited-time Chocolate Molten Lava Cake features warm chocolate cake filled with warm liquid chocolate and topped with cocoa crumbles.

It's priced at $1.99, but I received this one courtesy of Arby's.

A Look at McDonald's "Breakfast After Midnight" Test

McDonald's started testing a limited late-night breakfast menu last year in Ohio and apparently has expanded the test to my local 24-hour McDonald's here in Southern California. The test is also ongoing in certain locations in Utah and Massachusetts (I'm pretty surprised I was able to spell that in one try... I usually miss or add an "s" or "t").

I thought you guys might be interested in a closer look, so here we go:

The "Breakfast After Midnight" menu centers around the McMuffin (if you want biscuits, you're going to have to wait till after 4 am); probably because you just have to toast them.

News: Subway Offers Ordering App in California

Subway now has a free smartphone ordering app that lets you easily place your order ahead of pick up, but is only currently exclusive to California.

The app is available for both iOS (Apple) and Android operating systems and can be found at the Apple App Store and Android Market respectively.

Review: Burger King - Philly Original Chicken Sandwich

Burger King's Philly Original Chicken Sandwich is a limited-time offer featuring a long breaded chicken patty topped Philly cheesesteak-style with red and green bell peppers, seasoned grilled onions, American cheese, and a cheese sauce.

The sandwich sells for $4.49 at my local Burger King.