The beat goes on – with another list of premium new and returning menu items, oddball dishes, an International Alert you won’t want to miss… Plus a Pizza Hut ‘Taco’ with a wink, and a Buffalo Wild Wings double take on sweet-and-spicy BBQ Sauce…
Burger King’s new ‘Everything Seasoned’ buns. Looking good…
Shake Shack turns up the heat
It’s new Hot Ones from the Shack – a collab with the First We Feast viral YouTube series, Hot Ones. FWE provides a slate of new spicy sauces and the Shack slathers ’em on sandwiches and fries. Get set to try the new Hot Ones Burger or Chicken sammy, and/or the HOT Ones Cheese Fries – either regular or bacon. And, if you really like it hot, try the new The Last Dab: Apollo sauce, made with scorching peppers from Smokin’ Ed Currie, who bred one of the hottest peppers ever: The Carolina Reaper.
Casey’s celebrates NFL season kickoff with breakfast beer
Okay. That’s an over-simplification. But the mid-west-rooted chain (on a par with 7-Eleven or Sheetz) is celebrating the 21st birthday of its cult-fave Breakfast Pizza with a tail-gating promo in partnership with Busch Light.
The Ultimate Beer Cheese Breakfast Pizza is described as: “scratch dough, parmesan and cheddar beer cheese sauce (courtesy of Busch Light), bacon, sausage, ham, scrambled eggs, onions, green peppers, and mozzarella and cheddar cheese.” Sounds great. But hold the actual beer of you’re having it for breakfast, I think…
Burger King Testing ‘Everything-seasoned’ buns
My first impression was uncharitable. I thought, “looks like a regular BK brioche bun with handful of barnyard dirt scattered over it.” What a meanie I can be when I start writing before I’ve had my first cup of coffee in the morning! Anyway, a closer inspection revealed a generous topping of toasted seeds and seasonings, designed to complement a range of BK menu items. I’m expecting great things from the new Everything Whopper, Everything BK Royal Crispy Chicken Sandwich and Everything Breakfast Sandwich.
Pizza Hut intros ‘Italian Taco’ with a big wink
Why? ‘Because it’s always been there’, hiding in plain sight. Sort of. As a reaction to the return of the Taco Bell Mexican Pizza, the Hut is offering what it calls an Italian Taco: “A hand-tossed taco shell stuffed with a classic marinara sauce, mouthwatering melted mozzarella cheese and whichever fillings you choose from pepperoni to jalapenos. AKA a slice of pizza folded like a taco.” You can see why we mentioned ‘a wink’ in the heading.
The hut is also challenging fans to tweet a photo of ‘how you fold your pizza’ using the hashtag #nooneoutpizzasthehut. “If you try to OutPizza the Hut, we just gotta OutTaco you,” official tweet proclaims.
Cheetos Bolitas snack migrates north
Cheetos has been marketing this treat in Mexico for some time. Now, they’re finally bringing it north of the border for a gala premiere at all the usual sources, U.S. wide. Chili Cheese Bolitas are, by first accounts I’ve seen, larger than the cheese ball puff snacks you’re used to and are advertised as ‘bite-sized’. Expect a ‘uniquely soft and crunchy [product], […] packing much chili and cheese flavor’. The horrid contradiction at the beginning of that description probably translates properly as, crunchy on the outside, soft on the inside’.
Buffalo Wild Wings does sauce double-take
They call it Sauce Sauce. No, no. Really. Really. For a limited time, BWW is fearuring what it calls Sauce Sauce, in honour of New York Jets rookie pro cornerback Ahmad ‘Sauce’ Gardner. The sticky-rich brush-on-slash-dip is described as ‘a smokey, sweet and spicy BBQ sauce’ curated by Gardner who is a huge fan of sweet-and-spicy sauces.
It’s billed as a great partner for both wings and sandwiches. It’s a limited-time offering, for dine-in, takeout and deliver, when you order through the BWW website or app.
Ben & Jerry’s brings back Pumpkin Cheesecake
B&J’s is bringing back its popular Pumpkin Cheesecake Ice Cream for fall. It’s a limited-time offering, of course. When it come to Pumpkin Spice, it’s all too easy to get too much of a good thing. It’s a simple blend of rich pumpkin cheesecake ice cream with a graham cracker swirl. If PS is your fall flavour of choice, be sure to get some at selected stores, while supplies last…
Intl. Alert: Wendy’s NZ teases with Fried Mozz patties
It may not seem like much at first glance. But take it from me: when somebody in the Fast Food space offers a limited-time sandwich with a fried Mozz patty, it’s something special. Thus the limited-time Cheesenator, Chickenator and Baconator Mushroom Melt are more than worthy of mention here, on the other side of the world.
As for the patty, think of a breaded cheese patty loosely related to the famous Indian Fried Paneer or Greek Fried Halloumi. And then stick it on a great sammy. When will this creamy, dreamy menu item be available in North America and Europe???
And that’s the skinny…
… On what’s going to be making some of us a little fatter this fall and winter. See you back here in 7 for the next edition of Fast Food Week…
~ Maggie J.