Panera Bread has a new Asian citrus salad and the first of what the chain says is a whole calendar of new soups. The new Thai Chicken Soup will be followed by Mexican Street Corn Chowder this summer followed by Cajun Shrimp & Andouille Sausage, Greek Lemon Chicken & Farro and Cuban Black Bean & Poblano.
Usually chains don’t announce new items that far in advance, but there you have it.
Burger King, which periodically offers a patty melt on sourdough, is testing new iterations of sandwiches on toast: Whopper melts in Toledo, Ohio, and breakfast melts in Buffalo, N.Y.
Pokeworks is testing a plant-based version of Spam.
In other meatless news, Wienerschnitzel has new veggie dogs and Blimpie has a meatless meatball Parmesan.
Arby’s has the meats, of course, and just launched two sandwiches made of them that are so spicy they come with a free vanilla shake.
PDQ has a chocolate cake shake that celebrates the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
Miller’s Ale House has a new burger topped with pimento cheese, Ford’s Garage has a chili cheeseburger as part of its limited-time comfort food menu, Hopdoddy has a lamb burger and Hard Rock Cafe has one named after soccer sensation Lionel Messi, suitably named the Messi Burger.
Krystal has a tiny burger dressed in country gravy, as well as new sausage & gravy bites.
Lime Fresh has new beef empanadas.
You can get couscous as the base of your bowl as Sajj Mediterranean now, Lion’s Choice has tomato soup and Tropical Smoothie Cafe has a new smoothie that’s supposed to taste like a Hurricane cocktail.
Bojangles has reworked its salad, and Sweetgreen has seasonal ones.
Round Table Pizza has a stuffed-crust pepperoni pizza and Your Pie has a pepperoni pizza topped with hot honey.
Zaxby’s has a new sauce, Slim Chickens has a barbecue chicken sandwich, Andy’s Frozen Custard has a chocolate chip cookie sundae and Dairy Queen’s seasonal Blizzard treat has Oreo cookies and coffee.
Applebee’s has two seasonal $5 cocktails and Velvet Taco’s Weekly Taco Feature is inspired by the French dip.
Contact Bret Thorn at [email protected]
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