November 7th, 2009, 12:35 pm by Nancy Luna, Staff Writer
The Orange County Register will launch a redesigned website Monday morning, and the makeover includes some tweaks to our blogs — including mine.
We’ve been testing the new system for a few weeks, and I hope you like it. It’s supposed to be easier to navigate and faster. Unfortunately, my original blog banner (shown above) goes away with the redesign.
I will miss it. Thank you Lisa Mertins (former OCR illustrator) for designing such a fun cartoon rendering for the Fast Food Maven, which debuted in August 2007. My plan is to save the “crown of fries” mug shot for future use.
Anyway, I just thought I’d give you guys a warning because all of our OCR blogs will change come Monday and I didn’t want anyone to be confused by the new look.
- Nancy aka Fast Food Maven
Posted in: Fast food news | 3 Comments »
November 6th, 2009, 10:24 am by Nancy Luna, Staff Writer
A round up of food news for the week:
- The Subway-Seattle’s Coffee experiment apparently went well. Starbucks, which owns Seattle’s Coffee, said Friday that it has struck a deal with the nation’s biggest sandwich chain to start serving the coffee in all Subways. By the end of the year, more than 9,000 Subway restaurants in the U.S. will offer Seattle’s Best Coffee, the chain said. The move comes a year after Starbucks said it would test serving the Seattle brand in 1,900 Subways. Read the rest of this entry »
Posted in: Cafes and Coffee • Fast food news • Starbucks • Jamba • Seattle's Best • Subway | 3 Comments »
November 6th, 2009, 6:00 am by PAUL HODGINS, THE ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER
About this time last year, when the economy first started to circle the bowl, my wife and I were entertaining her brother Ed and his wife at a very la-de-da San Diego restaurant. Ed is a high-rolling lawyer with a taste for pricey grape juice, and we had chosen this place partly because of its Rolls Royce of a wine list.
We arrived on a Saturday night at 8, prime time for such places, but it was practically deserted. Looking over the wine list, my brother-in-law mulled the Merry Edwards Olivet Lane Pinot Noir — world class, our sommelier assured us, but pricey at $120 a bottle.
The sommelier saw us hesitate. “How does half price sound?” he asked. “Sold!” said the high-priced lawyer, slamming his menu shut in glee.
Thus we discovered one of the upsides of the Great Recession: you can haggle!
Read the rest of this entry »
Posted in: Fast food news • Booze on a Budget • Charlie Palmer • corkage fee • Pinot Provence | 15 Comments »
November 5th, 2009, 6:01 am by Nancy Luna, Staff Writer
Teens picked Starbucks and Chipotle Mexican Grill as the No. 1 and No. 2 favorite places to eat, according to a restaurant survey conducted by financial firm Piper Jaffray.
Chain Leader restaurant writer David Farkus reports on the survey, conducted by one of the firm’s restaurant analysts. Besides Starbucks and Chipotle, other chains that made the Top 10 Teen Favorite list include Olive Garden, Chili’s, McDonald’s, Cheesecake Factory and Irvine-based Taco Bell. (Note: 16 was average age of those in survey; see full results.)
While some of these choices make sense, I have to question the sanity of our youth.
Read the rest of this entry »
Posted in: Fast food news • McDonald's • Starbucks • Chipotle Mexican Grill • Olive Garden • Souplantation • surveys • Tummy Stuffer | 62 Comments »
November 4th, 2009, 3:45 pm by photo_xmits
Farrell’s Ice Cream Parlour is back! After a long delay and nearly a decade of waiting, the dessert shop returned to Orange County on Wednesday.
Take a look at the grand opening scene:
Video by Jonathan Khamis, OCRegister.com
Posted in: Desserts • Restaurant openings • Restaurant openings/closures • Farrell's Ice Cream Parlour • ice cream | 1 Comment »
