I had been wondering why there were always cars parked at the Taco Bell on Whitney Way/Odana Road each morning as I drove by. Well, I recently saw this commercial and it all became clear:

I have to say, Taco Bell does a pretty mean breakfast. I’d still rank it behind McDonald’s, but it’s certainly better than Burger King’s and Arby’s. Everything is pretty cheap, too. I ordered essentially everything on the breakfast menu, and it came to a total of $13.88.

Here’s a rundown of the new menu, which is served as early as 6:30 a.m.

• Breakfast burrito ($1.69 with sausage or bacon; also a steak burrito). This was a pretty average burrito filled with meat (barely any bacon), eggs and cheese. It desperately needed something else, like tomatoes, onions and/or green peppers, to liven it up–in other words, it needed to be more like McDonald’s breakfast burrito.
• A.M. grilled taco ($1 with bacon or sausage) was the worst of all the breakfast items. It’s pretty much the breakfast burrito pressed into a taco. Thank goodness for Taco Bell’s fire sauce.
• Cinnabon Delights (2-, 4- or 12-pack). These moist, cinnamon sugar balls are dangerously delicious. You could easily polish off a 12-pack, only to then realize you just consumed 930 calories, 53 grams of fat and 104 grams of carbs.
• Premium hot coffee ($1.49). I was surprised by how good this coffee was. I hate to admit it, but it’s as good as the coffee at Dunkin’ Donuts.
• Hash brown ($1). Crisp and firm, just the way I like it. The flavor reminded me of the potato oles at Taco John’s, minus the seasoning.
• Waffle taco ($1.99 with bacon or sausage). It was odd how bland this taco was, especially the waffle, but then I poured in the accompanying syrup, and suddenly the taco became alive.
• A.M. crunch wrap ($2.69 with bacon or sausage, $2.99 with steak). Taco Bell simply stuck a hash brown into its A.M. grilled taco and added seasoning, and those two upgrades made this into my favorite item on the breakfast menu.
• Sausage flatbread melt ($1). I thought this was a good value. Both the sausage and flatbread were tasty, although it seemed like it needed more filling.

Subway introduced recently a couple of new menu items. The Fritos Chicken Enchilada was publicized during the Super Bowl. It’s a nice balance of soft and crunchy, with the tender pulled chicken drenched in a surprisingly tasty enchilada sauce topped by half an individual-sized bag of Fritos (which reminds me of Cliff Huxtable adding potato chips to his hoagies). With the southwest chipotle sauce I added, the sub was bursting with diverse flavors, and I would order it again.

On the other hand, the Flatizza was a one-and-done for me. The flatbread was tasteless, and it’s pretty skimpy on toppings. You can choose a plain cheese Flatizza, pepperoni, spicy Italian or veggie, or you can select your own toppings.

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Pizza Hut consistently makes a good crust. I like its pan style, and the stuffed crust is nice and cheesy. And now Pizza Hut has the hand-tossed pizza. The crust is lighter, a bit sweet, brushed with garlic butter and topped with seasonings. If pan style is too thick for you, then this is the pizza for you.

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McDonald’s rolled out its Mighty Wings last fall for a limited time. I really liked them for their meatiness and slight spiciness, and I hope McDonald’s brings them back, although at a lower price. Each wing was priced at about one dollar (three for for $3.69, five for $5.59 and 10 for $9.69), making them too expensive for most consumers. That’s apparently the reason why McDonald’s has an extra 10 million pounds of Mighty Wings to get rid of.

I have to admit that I was initially skeptical of Burger King’s new Satisfries, which are touted as having 40 percent less fat and 30 percent fewer calories than McDonald’s fries. My concern was that they would taste like the disgusting chips made with Olestra back in the 1990s. Well, those fears dissipated after my first bite. If you weren’t told you were eating a different kind of french fry, you’d probably have no idea–they’re that similar.

I ordered both the Satisfries and the regular fries, and other than the shape–the former looks like Ore Ida fries–they’re hard to distinguish. I would say the Satisfries do taste “lighter” compared to their counterparts, but not in a bad way. My only disappointment was that I think my order was slightly undercooked, as the Satisfries wasn’t as crispy as fries normally should be  (or how they appear in advertisements). Also, many regular fries were in my bag of Satisfries, which made me wonder about cross-contamination. Oh well, it is Burger King after all.

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This summer, Popeye’s introduced chicken waffle tenders, which are simply chicken strips coated in waffle batter and then deep fried. Sound good? You betcha. These tenders really did combine the flavors of fried chicken and waffles. Each bite was both slightly sweet and slightly salty. I actually didn’t use any dipping sauce, as the tenders were that good on their own.

The chicken waffle tenders were limited-time menu items, and according to Popeye’s, will be brought back depending on its success. No word yet on their popularity.