rolling new food laboratory inventions for american chain restaurants thread

remember when subway was trying to sell those flatbread pizza things? god those looked sad.

everyone had a panini or flatbread

panera, which I receive email messages from (judge me), has created a new food abomination every two weeks in the interest of business this past year

https://www.cnbc.com/2021/02/22/taco-bell-enters-chicken-sandwich-wars-with-a-taco-version.html

You fought with my father in the Chicken Sandwich Wars?!

kudos

Chicken is growing faster than beef, making it more attractive to fast-food chains.

the phrasing of this sentence makes it sound like something has gone horribly awry

https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/51BxvgUMWZL._SX337_BO1,204,203,200_.jpg

New Taco Bell Concept Coming to Minnesota

https://i.imgur.com/aRS6tHq.jpg

Above the vehicles is the Taco Bell kitchen, and orders would be seemingly dropped down to waiting drivers via a dumbwaiter system...

I mean, won't be the first time I've had to make a deposit after pulling through Taco Bell...

15" Chip Inn Meat Box with Curry Sauce pic.twitter.com/WD0o4ETJPK

— Rate My Takeaway (@RateMyTakeaway) February 28, 2021

Would eat. But I hope not all at once.

is that gyro meat?

There is no question that I would eat some of that

prob the wrong thread but i don't know where we put this stuff but here
https://www.deseret.com/entertainment/2021/3/2/22309367/reeses-all-peanut-butter-cup-no-chocolate

Hey! You put your peanut butter inside my ... peanut butter!

Vegan, plz

I tried Taco Bell for the first time a couple of months ago, and... How have any of you made a second visit?

I tried it for the first time at a young relative's birthday party a few years ago. I went back once more and tried the other menu item, the hard shell. That's enough.

yes, it's fucking awful

my brother-in-law really likes it for some reason. he's quite a good cook and a bit of a foody. i find it perplexing

The only acceptable time to eat Taco Bell is when one is very drunk. In 2015, when we were winter caretakers at the hobo museum, some friends had abandoned an old Volvo wagon on the property, and my partner got it working just enough to tool around in the small nearby town, but it was....scary.

Anyway, he was incredibly drunk, we were both incredibly drunk, and everyone on the property was incredibly drunk because we'd been partying for most of the day. But there was a 24-hr Taco Bell at the end of the .75 mile dirt road that led to the property. So he drove it through the drive-thru and purchased $50 worth of bean and cheese burritos and a few other things. In the meantime, one of the local cops pulled up behind us...

And that was the last evening that the Volvo drove! Taco Bell killed it.

Taco bell is great all the time actually, a national treasure

there was a period of about six years between age 16 and 21 where I ate taco bell multiple times a week but i'm pretty sure it's been a few decades since i last partook.

When I was in high school it was not uncommon for groups of my friends to drive 100 miles just to go to the nearest taco bell.

It's not objectively good but I still have a soft spot for it and would still absolutely choose it over the usual suite of US fast food options.

taco bell is drunk food only for me, ie midnight/2am tail end of all-day drinking epic slopfest. it soaks up the booze well. or has, the handful of times i have been in that situation

i cannot eat it sober. it’s gross.

have we discussed the current offerings at TGI Friday's? the front of their "Under the Big Top" themed menu is promoting such things as:

Famous Whiskey-Glazed Skewer: three sliders and six wings, on a stick

Whiskey-Glazed Donut Burger: cheeseburger with onions, bacon and pickles, "served on sweet, soft glazed donuts"

Flaming Donut Chicken Sandwich: same concept but with fried chicken in hot sauce plus jalapeños and Ranch. keeping the bacon too.

and the piece de resistance:

the Ooey Gooey Mozz Stick Melter: "Our famous Mozzarella Sticks, marinara & melted blend of 3 cheeses between two artisan slices of buttery bread. Skewered with two Mozzarella sticks."

you read that right: it's a three-cheese grilled cheese, plus it has mozzarella sticks inside it, and two more mozzarella sticks jammed on the top with a skewer. quarantine must have been tough on the food laboratory technicians.

That last one is less food lab and more thing a very high cook came up with for a shift meal

those all sound pretty good

https://www.culvers.com/curderburger

https://bloximages.chicago2.vip.townnews.com/madison.com/content/tncms/assets/v3/editorial/2/d4/2d4de19f-18bf-57f2-af43-d001b492f3a8/6154a314820b1.image.jpg?resize=1200%2C900

The CurderBurger will be released for one day only, National Cheese Curd Day on October 15. Locations nationwide will have "a limited supply" of the burgers, according to the custard-slinging restaurant's announcement.

Culver's is describing the concoction as a ButterBurger "topped with a crown of golden fried cheese." Often, "crown" in culinary speak means a little on the top. Here, heavy is the head that wears the crown. That's no small amount of cheese on top. The big cheese curd topping is made with Culver's traditional blend of yellow and white cheddar, encased in seasoned bread crumbs.

appropriately, that link pulls up a "403 - Forbidden" when I click it

my local “omg bacon and jalapeños and whatever” burger place has had a nearly identical burger for some time

I may as well share their instagram with all of their burger abominations of the week
https://www.instagram.com/zombieburgerdm/

National Cheese Curd Day on October 15

STOP

xp to the things that make you irrationally angry thread

http://i.imgur.com/lBSOou9.png

augh

oh christ i just realized that motherfucker has a hello kitty human centipede tshirt on

threw up in my mouth a little

that’s actually a nice local businessman/chef (not kidding, haven’t heard anything bad and most restaurant owners are shitheads!) and all the other restaurants in the group are totally normal, if not exemplars of their types

but he thought it’d be fun to cash in on the omg bacon and zombies trend and I salute him

i mean sure, get that money but that shirt is a war crime and the burger is a crime against nature.

who did the bit about how incredibly depressing it is that every chicken nugget you see thrown to the street was an animal walking around, now reduced to useless waste? maybe rick and morty? in any case, that cow gave it's life for the worst reasons.

otm

oh christ i just realized that motherfucker has a hello kitty human centipede tshirt on

dude should be on a register for that, can you imagine his browser history?

Fans of Sonic onion rings will know that they have a particular sweetness -- I found out yesterday it's because they soak the cut onions in their ice cream mix, or at least a variation on it, before breading.

that also explains their peculiarly oniony ice cream

I suspected something like that about Sonic's onion rings! I tried them last summer and thought they were terrible.

that Curderburger thing was fucking huge here. we have 3 Culvers here (a town of about 55k) which open at 10 and apparently they all sold out by 10:30. wonder if they'd ban you for doing the sloppy steaks thing where you just order cheese curds and mash 'em on top

https://www.foodandwine.com/thmb/d_LhgdOauyK9NMh9Txvz74Yyl_g=/750x0/filters:no_upscale():max_bytes(150000):strip_icc()/Cup-Noodle-Breakfast-Ramen-FT-BLOG0323-d16d656494d34bff9a783d22b1238316.jpg

https://www.foodandwine.com/cup-noodles-releases-breakfast-instant-ramen-flavor-7373277?utm_campaign=foodandwine&utm_content=link&utm_medium=social&utm_source=twitter.com&utm_term=6425dd2ade7fbf0001510678

My wife has been addicted to these things lately. I've so far refused to try them.

https://www.kroger.com/product/images/large/front/0085001433500

i would try the puffcorn.
the pancake-flavored noodles look like a fascinating travesty

Ramen already is a breakfast dish in Japan anyway.

Boy does my friend who has lived in Japan for 30 years crave pancake breakfasts when stateside.

https://media-cldnry.s-nbcnews.com/image/upload/t_fit-560w,f_auto,q_auto:eco,dpr_2.0/rockcms/2023-06/pizza-hut-pickle-pizza-zz-230606-01-f119bd.jpg