"CarlsJr." news and stories

Each Thursday, we round up a selection of scrumptious links from our friends over at YumSugar. Here's what they've got cooking this week:

Next Food Network Star winner Melissa d'Arabian wants to save you money for Thanksgiving -- $20 for gobble grub!

We know you've been procrastinating -- rustle up a Thanksgiving menu on the fly and with facility.

Do you believe in utilizing bird innards?

What's a better complement to turkey: cranberry sauce or gravy?

Skip the fowl, make penne with mushrooms.

Kim Kardashian makes Carl's Jr. sexy.

Diddy offers party-hosting tips, because, you know, you'll definitely want to throw a post-turkey-day shindig.

The marketing world is a-changing -- at least as far as fast food is concerned. These days, we've got Facebook apps suggesting that we drop friends for burgers, and now -- Carl's Jr. is curing common crabs.

There's one thing I think of when I read "common crabs," and it is not the cuties we pound with a mallet and eat. It's the itchies that reside in the lower hemisphere of some very unlucky people. While I'd be both shocked and (slightly) impressed with a company claiming crab curing as a marketing tool, looks can be deceiving.

From the press release: "When men don't eat between meals, they get hungry, irritable and crabby. Today, Carl's Jr. is pleased to announce that it has found the cure for these common crabs, the new Green Burrito Crisp Burritos." You know that crabbiness isn't the first thing anyone will think of with this campaign. Anyway, what will cure these crabby men? A burrito that "features a flour tortilla, filled with a mixture of ground beef, cheddar cheese and jalapeños, then deep fried to a golden brown for quick, satisfying consumption."

You can read the press release, which even jumps on the bandwagon of Christian Bale teasing, after the jump.

How do you honor a fast-food toilet shot down in the prime of life? If you're Carl's Jr., you hold a brief memorial and offer customers free toilet cleaner.

A 26-year-old accidentally shot the commode on Jan. 14 at the Centerville, Utah, restaurant. According to police, the man's licensed and concealed .40-caliber handgun slipped out of his pants as he pulled them up, going off when it hit the floor, shattering the toilet and scaring a female employee using the adjacent bathroom.

The seven stages of grief move at short-order speed in the world of fast food as it took just a few days for the company to capitalize on the bizarre incident and arrange the memorial, which will take place Friday at 10 a.m. at the Centerville store.

"By all accounts, it was a good toilet; reliable and well liked by customers and crew members alike," said Brad Haley, executive vice president of Carl's Jr. marketing, memorializing the unsung worker on the chain's Facebook page. "So, it seems only fitting to have a formal service to let everyone say goodbye to such a critical member of our team that was in very close contact with the public each and every day."

The first 50 mourners get -- ha, ha, ha --- Kaboom. Why not free food? The loss must still be affecting Carl's Jr.'s appetite.

[via: The Salt Lake Tribune]

A breakfast sandwich is always a filling, satisfying way to begin the day--or, occasionally, end the night. One of the things I truly missed when I left New York City was the glory of the corner bodega breakfast sandwich. So, I'm always interested when one of the local West Coast, drive-thru, fast food franchise joints comes up with a new combo of bread, egg and cheese. The two most recent entries, Dunkin' Donuts' Egg White Turkey Sausage Flatbread Sandwich and Carl's Jr.'s Monster Breakfast Sandwich lie proudly at opposite ends of the spectrum. A clear-cut rivaly of health vs. indulgence, but what of taste?