Smashburger Opening Two New Arizona Restaurants

Denver-based Smashburger has plans for at least two more openings in our state. The first one will open a week from today on April 11 in the Desert Ridge area at 21001 N. Tatum Blvd. Phoenix, AZ 85050.  Meanwhile, another location will open in the area of 24th St. & Baseline Rd. on May 25.  Additionally, three more Smashburger restaurants are rumored to be on the way after these, the 9th and 10th locations, open in Arizona.

Smashburger was recently in the news for offering their Fresh Mex Burger and Fresh Mex Chicken Sandwich nationwide.

Burger King Introduces 10 New Menu Items

Since officially falling behind Wendy's for the first time and becoming the nation's #3 burger chain, Burger King is hoping stem the tide and reverse course.  In what's described as the chain's biggest expansion since it began in 1953, Burger King is now offering 10 new menu items.  The new items include the following:

• Garden Fresh Salads: BLT, Apple and Cranberry or classic Caesar Salad varieties are made fresh to-order, premium ingredients and topped with a choice of TENDERCRISP^® or TENDERGRILL^® chicken (suggested retail price starts at $4.99).
• Chicken Snack Wraps: Honey Mustard Crispy Chicken Snack Wrap and the Ranch Crispy Chicken Snack Wrap are flavorful snack options with less than 400 calories each (suggested retail price of $1.59).
• Real Fruit Smoothies: Tropical Mango and Strawberry Banana smoothies are made with low-fat yogurt, real fruit and juices, providing a full serving of fruit (suggested retail price of $2.29).
• Frappés: Mocha and Caramel flavors are made-to-order with a hint of coffee and ice, topped with whipped topping and a swirl of fudge or caramel (suggested retail price of $2.29).
• Crispy Chicken Strips: Premium Crispy Chicken Strips are made with white meat tenderloin chicken, marinated and lightly battered in seasoned home-style breading, served in three- or five-piece servings and perfect for dipping in one of our classic or bold new sauces, such as new Kung Pao and Roasted Jalapeño Barbecue sauces (suggested retail price starts at $2.99).

Many of you are probably thinking a lot of the new items above sound very similar to offerings at McDonald's, but Burger King has addressed that:

"Burger King doesn’t deny that its new chicken strips, caramel frappe coffees, Caesar salads and strawberry-banana smoothies sound pretty close to those on McDonald’s popular menu. But executives say the company came up with them through its research...'Consumers wanted more choices,' said Steve Wiborg, president of Burger King’s North America operations. 'Not just healthy choices, but choices they could get at the competition.'"

The AZFoodDude's only question is, did Burger King's research go a little something like this?

Dairy Queen's April Blizzard of the Month - Caramel Delight Pie

Is it easy to go from minty and Oreoy to caramel and chocolatey? By making Caramel Delight Pie the April Blizzard of the Month, Dairy Queen seems to think so.  According to Dairy Queen, the Caramel Delight Pie comes with "caramel, choco chunks and pie pieces blended with creamy vanilla soft serve, crowned with whipped topping."  

Maybe they are just April Fooling with us, but there is a hitch this month in finding out the exact nutritional information for the Caramel Delight Pie since it's not listed in DQ's nutrition calculator.  However, to give you some sort of an idea, a medium Caramel Brownie Blizzard, which also contains the caramel, choco chunks, and vanilla soft serve of the Caramel Delight Pie, but replaces the Caramel Delight's pie pieces with brownie pieces, comes in at 860 calories, 33 grams of fat (22 saturated), 96 grams of sugar, and 16 grams of protein.

Subway's April $5 Featured Footlong - Bacon, Egg & Cheese

Last month Subway promoted a kicked up lunch and dinner classic, the Jalapeño Tuna sub.  For April though, Subway is giving us a breakfast classic, that you can order any time of day, the Bacon, Egg & Cheese.  The sandwich typically comes with the bacon, egg and cheese and is pictured on flatbread, however you can order the sandwich on any bread with any toppings of your choice.  

In terms of nutrition, you can check out this Subway site and calculate how many calories, fat, protein, etc. will be in the sandwich based on how you would like your sandwich made.