Wednesday Roundup

Lotsa food and drink stuff in the news lately and not enough time to cover each and every thing in depth. So here's a quick roundup of stories that have been piquing The Hungover Gourmet's interest...

• The Senate Finance Committee is looking into a tax on vending machines, cigarettes and liquor in the hopes of finding a mix of tax increases to pay for a health overhaul. Proponents of the plan suggest slapping a $2 tax on a pack of cigarettes and a higher excise tax on alcohol. Taxing junk food, alcohol and tobacco could raise $600 billion over 10 years.
• I'm on record as a big fan of the fish tacos at Rubio's, the California fast-food taco chain. Their fish tacos make other quick fix Mexican fare pale in comparison so I was surprised they were branching out with the first ground beef menu offering in their history. I was even more surprised that the new All-America Taco features a flour tortilla wrapped around a char-grilled, beef patty seasoned with spices, topped with melted American cheese, salsa fresca, smoky garlic-chipotle mayonnaise, a jalapeno pepper and lettuce. I'm thinking Rubio's should stick to their awesome fish tacos.
• Speaking of fish tacos, I might be heading over to Baja Fresh today to try their new Taco Trio, a taco platter featuring a grilled shrimp taco, a grilled mahi mahi taco and a crispy mahi mahi taco.
• Both Popeye's and Kentucky Fried Chicken have had unfortunate PR issues in recent weeks when the establishments ran out of chicken and could not/would not honor publicized promotions.
• One person who does not seem to have been affected by the chicken shortage is producer/musician and now food blogger P Diddy (aka Puff Daddy, Sean Combs, Diddy, etc). While in the studio earlier this year Diddy decided to review the fried chicken offerings from the rival establishments. You can check out the video below: