I have been ordering both carryout and delivery from local restaurants these past few weeks to support them as much as possible. During that time, though, I’ve also ordered from some chain restaurants. Here’s a look at some of their new-ish items.
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I love Taco Bell chalupas, though I do restrain myself from eating there no more than once or twice per year. However, I couldn’t resist trying the new Triplelupa ($3.49), which is not-quite three chalupas connected to each other that you tear apart. It comes with beef–you can upgrade to chicken (+$1.30) or steak (+$1.50)–a three-cheese blend, nacho cheese sauce and chipotle sauce.
As expected, the Triplelupa is delicious, perhaps more so than the regular chalupas because of the added nacho cheese and chipotle sauces. Deliciousness does come at a price; the Triplelupa has 610 calories, 35 g. of fat and 52 g. of carbs.
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Last month, Pizza Hut brought back the Big Dipper ($12.99), a giant pizza cut into 24 breadstick-sized slices so that you can dip them in the accompanying ranch, marinara or BBQ sauce. You can order it with cheese-only, pepperoni or half-cheese, half-pepperoni.
The Big Dipper resembles in flavor the tasty pan-style pizza you’ve probably had before at Pizza Hut. Dipped in the ranch sauce, the pepperoni version reminded me of Toppers’ pepperonistix, except the crust is way better. One slice has 160 calories, 7 g. of fat and 18 g. of carbs.
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I can’t believe how busy Popeyes has been with the re-release of its chicken sandwich ($3.99). The drive-thru seems to have at least 7-8 cars at any point in the day, and the checkout lines (pre-restaurant closures) were fairly full. Well, I finally got one, and it was mostly worth the wait.
The fried chicken is crispy on the outside, tender on the inside. The flavor is enhanced with barrel-cured pickles and optional spicy mayonnaise on a buttery brioche bun. The sandwich has 700 calories, 42 g. of fat and 50 g. of carbs. I would definitely order it again, but I wouldn’t battle lines for it.
Tags: fast food
