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Menu Tracker: New items from Taco Bell, Denny’s, and Panda ExpressMenu Tracker: New items from Taco Bell, Denny’s, and Panda Express

Plus innovation at Another Broken Egg Cafe , Applebee’s Neighborhood Grill & Bar, California Pizza Kitchen, Checkers & Rally’s, Denny’s, El Pollo Loco, Fogo de Chão, Häagen-Dazs, Kura Sushi, Lazy Dog Restaurants, Lenny’s Grill & Subs, Lion’s Choice, Maggiano’s Little Italy, Miller’s Ale House, O’Charley’s, Pei Wei Asin Kitchen, Red Lobster, Taco Time, Ted’s Montana Grill, Tender Greens, TGI Fridays, Veggie Grill, Tim Hortons, Velvet Taco, and Ziggi’s Coffee

Bret Thorn, Senior Food Editor

November 17, 2023

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Taco John’s made national headlines this summer after Taco Bell (which makes headlines all the time) “convinced” the smaller chain to relinquish its trademark of “Taco Tuesday.”

Is Taco John’s responding to that by mimicking the larger chain’s Mexican Pizza? You be the judge.

Taco Bell, for its part, has a new iteration of its Nacho Fries, among other things, and Taco Time has a new quesadilla.

Fogo de Chão has added pork belly to its churrasco menu for what it says is the first time, and Panda Express is testing its spiciest entrée yet.

Denny’s and Kura Sushi have added a bunch of items to its permanent menu and there are many seasonal specials at Lazy Dog Restaurants, Miller’s Ale House, Tender Greens, and O’Charley’s, and TGI Fridays has many new drink specials (and some dinner combos).

There are new minty items from Häagen-Dazs, Lion’s Choice, and Ziggi’s Coffee. Other holiday specials can be found at Another Broken Egg Café, Applebee’s, Red Lobster (which has a whole Lobster & Shrimp Celebration going on), Maggiano’s, and Tim Hortons.

California Pizza Kitchen has new pizza and pasta, Checkers & Rally’s have new burgers and Lenny’s Grill & Subs is sort of joining the Nashville hot chicken bandwagon.

Pei Wei, meanwhile, has expanded its lineup of wings.

Ted’s Montana Grill has nachos, Veggie Grill is now using mushrooms as a meat substitute, and the Weekly Taco Feature at Velvet Taco is inspired by bánh mì.

 

Contact Bret Thorn at [email protected] 

About the Author

Bret Thorn

Senior Food Editor, Nation's Restaurant News

Senior Food & Beverage Editor

Bret Thorn is senior food & beverage editor for Nation’s Restaurant News and Restaurant Hospitality for Informa’s Restaurants and Food Group, with responsibility for spotting and reporting on food and beverage trends across the country for both publications as well as guiding overall F&B coverage. 

He is the host of a podcast, In the Kitchen with Bret Thorn, which features interviews with chefs, food & beverage authorities and other experts in foodservice operations.

From 2005 to 2008 he also wrote the Kitchen Dish column for The New York Sun, covering restaurant openings and chefs’ career moves in New York City.

He joined Nation’s Restaurant News in 1999 after spending about five years in Thailand, where he wrote articles about business, banking and finance as well as restaurant reviews and food columns for Manager magazine and Asia Times newspaper. He joined Restaurant Hospitality’s staff in 2016 while retaining his position at NRN. 

A magna cum laude graduate of Tufts University in Medford, Mass., with a bachelor’s degree in history, and a member of Phi Beta Kappa, Thorn also studied traditional French cooking at Le Cordon Bleu Ecole de Cuisine in Paris. He spent his junior year of college in China, studying Chinese language, history and culture for a semester each at Nanjing University and Beijing University. While in Beijing, he also worked for ABC News during the protests and ultimate crackdown in and around Tiananmen Square in 1989.

Thorn’s monthly column in Nation’s Restaurant News won the 2006 Jesse H. Neal National Business Journalism Award for best staff-written editorial or opinion column.

He served as president of the International Foodservice Editorial Council, or IFEC, in 2005.

Thorn wrote the entry on comfort food in the Oxford Encyclopedia of Food and Drink in America, 2nd edition, published in 2012. He also wrote a history of plated desserts for the Oxford Companion to Sugar and Sweets, published in 2015.

He was inducted into the Disciples d’Escoffier in 2014.

A Colorado native originally from Denver, Thorn lives in Brooklyn, N.Y.

Bret Thorn’s areas of expertise include food and beverage trends in restaurants, French cuisine, the cuisines of Asia in general and Thailand in particular, restaurant operations and service trends. 

Bret Thorn’s Experience: 

Nation’s Restaurant News, food & beverage editor, 1999-Present
New York Sun, columnist, 2005-2008 
Asia Times, sub editor, 1995-1997
Manager magazine, senior editor and restaurant critic, 1992-1997
ABC News, runner, May-July, 1989

Education:
Tufts University, BA in history, 1990
Peking University, studied Chinese language, spring, 1989
Nanjing University, studied Chinese language and culture, fall, 1988 
Le Cordon Bleu Ecole de Cuisine, Cértificat Elémentaire, 1986

Email: [email protected]

Social Media:
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/bret-thorn-468b663/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/bret.thorn.52
Twitter: @foodwriterdiary
Instagram: @foodwriterdiary

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