Recently, I happily accepted an invitation to try Qdoba’s new Loaded Tortilla Soup ($7.80-$8.40). Here’s the formula: Take a naked burrito, stick it into an edible tortilla bowl and add soup.

What does that taste like? Well, I mean this in a positive way: If you made chili without chili powder, that’s what you get with this soup. It’s hearty, dense and combines well the various ingredients. I do recommend adding rice to help absorb some of the flavors.

“The crispy tortilla bowl adds a dimension of indulgent flavor and texture that is really mouth-watering,” Qdoba Vice President of Menu Innovation and Strategy John Cooke said in a statement.

I have to agree. In one version I had steak, pinto beans, sauteed peppers and (free) guacamole. In the other, I had chicken, black beans, cheese and sour cream. The soup binds these toppings and takes the dish to another level. In fact, I plan on ordering this instead of the naked burritos from now on.

Regarding the shell bowl, I was impressed how it kept its shape and strength despite holding so much content. At the end, when I was breaking off parts of the shell to eat, the tortilla was surprisingly still crunchy for the most part.

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Let’s take a look at two new items from Burger King. A few months ago, the burger chain introduced the Flame Grilled Chicken Burger ($3.79). The tomatoes, lettuce, mayonnaise, ketchup, pickles and onions make this sandwich mimic the flavor of a Whopper to some extent (though this is not the old Chicken Whopper).

The difference is the patty, which is not a chicken breast, as I mistakenly thought it would be–it’s actually ground chicken formed into a somewhat-rubbery patty. Thus, if you’re looking for a chicken filet, get the Tendergrill sandwich instead.

Hot dogs are on the menu now, too. The classic ($1.99) is buried in ketchup, mustard, onions and relish on a plain bun. The hot dog itself is pretty decent–you can detect the flame-grilled flavor–but it didn’t wow me enough that I would order it again. You also can order a hot dog with chili and cheese on top (get some extra napkins if you do).

I still can’t understand why it’s so hard to find flavored Lay’s chips in grocery stores in Madison. Thus, when I saw those new chips–Kettle Cooked Greek Town Gyro, Wavy West Coast Truffle Fries, New York Reuben and Southern Biscuits and Gravy–at Subway at a recent visit, I had to grab a few.

For reference, these chips are part of Lay’s Do Us a Flavor competition. The chips were available starting on July 28, and you can buy them (if you can find them) until Oct. 18.

Both the Truffle Fries and Biscuits and Gravy mostly matched their names in terms of flavor. I really liked the former, but that’s probably because they resemble sour cream and onion, my favorite type of Lay’s. Meanwhile, I was impressed with the taste of gravy in the latter, and I could see myself eating an entire bag of these while watching football.

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It’s been about two years since McDonald’s added the Buffalo Ranch McChicken sandwich ($1.29) to its “Dollar Menu & More” list. I usually stick with burgers at McDonald’s, but I could see this sandwich making it into the rotation. Basically, the plain, boring McChicken now has buffalo sauce on it, and that alone significantly improves its flavor.

It’s just too bad that chopped lettuce on the sandwich is always so soggy, and now it’s soggier since it’s mixed with mayonnaise and buffalo sauce.

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A typical weekday breakfast for me is two cups of coffee and a protein shake. As a result, you can imagine my excitement when Starbucks rolled out 11-oz cans of Doubleshot Coffee & Protein ($2.78) a few months ago.

They taste like any of Starbucks’ iced coffee, with the only difference is the added 20g of protein (FYI: it also has 32g of carbs).

You can buy these at grocery stores, and they come in regular, dark chocolate and vanilla bean.