What is in this article?:
This article is part of the 2012: Year in Review series from Nation's Restaurant News, which recaps notable news from the restaurant industry over the past year. This article can also be found in the Dec. 17 issue of Nation's Restaurant News. Subscribe here.
Creative combos
Olive Garden debuted a new menu that included a lower-calorie menu, with five entrées with fewer than 575 calories each. They included a seafood brodetto, herb-grilled salmon, lasagna primavera with grilled chicken, linguine alla marinara and Venetian apricot chicken.
Also taking a lighter approach, Taco Bueno and Boston Market both introduced customizable bowls of food — Bueno Bowls and Market Bowls, respectively — as did Taco Bell as part of their Cantina Bell line. They joined Chipotle, Freshii, KFC, and Pollo Tropical in this growing food category.
California Pizza Kitchen introduced lighter items as well, such as a quinoa-arugula salad, a fire-roasted chile relleno, shrimp scampi zucchini fettuccine, grilled chicken chimichurri and cedar plank salmon.
