Cheese is melting all over menus this fall

The O-M-Cheese-adilla Burger is a cheesier takeoff on Applebee’s popular O-M-Cheese Burger served in a skillet on a bed of bubbling cheese. This variation features a burger topped with bacon and pepper Jack cheese in a quesadilla instead of a bun, served in a skillet of melted cheddar cheeses and queso along with tortilla chips topped with more queso, pico, and cilantro. O-M-Cheese Chicken Nachos are another line extension; they’re topped with chipotle lime chicken, guacamole, sour cream, pico, jalapeños, and cilantro, then served in the skillet with molten cheese and queso. Queso also stars in Qdoba’s Diptember promotion, a celebration of the chain’s 14 dips, salsas, and sauces. Making its debut is Queso Fundido, a limited-time dip with a base of Qdoba’s signature 3-Cheese Queso enhanced with seasoned ground beef, picante ranch, and cilantro. The dip lineup also includes Guacamole, Picante Ranch, Chile Crema, Salsa Verde, and Fiery Habanero Salsa, as well as that 3-Cheese Queso. On the sweet side, there’s a new Churro Chips Chocolate Dip.

Golden Chick is into queso, too, introducing it as a blend of melted American cheese and cream accented with green chiles, jalapeños, and red bell peppers. Customers can order the queso for $1 to accompany any favorite, but it also comes along with two new items: the Tex-Mex Tender Roll featuring a spicy chicken tender in the chain’s signature dinner roll, and Tex-Mex Fries, French fries tossed in “Lotta Zing” seasoning, served with queso and a jalapeño pepper. New Three-Cheese Lasagna Soup is a highlight of Panera Bread’s fall menu. It’s a combo of Italian-inspired sausage, lasagna ribbon pasta, and Parmesan cheese in a ricotta-tomato broth topped with Asiago cheese. Returning to the menu are Rustic Baked Potato Soup flavored and topped with bacon, and Autumn Squash Soup. New treats are also on offer, including a PB&J Cookie and Cinnamon Croissant Bites as well as the returning Chocolate Chip Bagel. Salad fans can get a taste of fall in the Harvest Medley Salad with toppings that include pumpkin seeds and crunchy beet strips. Three cheesesteak-inspired items join the lineup at Schlotzsky’s. The first is a traditional Philly Cheesesteak Sub filled with sliced marinated steak, white American cheese, roasted green peppers, and caramelized onions on white sub bread. The other two are spins on the classic: a Philly Cheesesteak Calzone with the same ingredients plus mozzarella cheese and Schlotzsky’s signature sauce folded into a flatbread, and Chipotle Cheesesteak Flatbread with the steak, two cheeses, roasted green and red peppers, and caramelized onions with chipotle mayonnaise piled on flatbread.

American cheese is in the build of all Denny’s new streamlined burgers. The Diner QP is a simple burger with a beef patty, American cheese, diced onion, pickles, mustard, and ketchup on a brioche bun — for the streamlined price of $9.99. There’s also a Double Diner QP and a Diner QP + Slider, which includes a Cheesy Bacon Ranch Slider on top of the Diner QP burger. The breakfast crowd will appreciate the Spicy All-American Slamwich made with scrambled eggs, bacon, pickled jalapeños, American cheese, and hash browns on grilled sourdough bread. Olive Garden is bringing back its Never-Ending Pasta Bowl promotion through Nov. 22, where cheese will undoubtedly play a part. A very cheesy sauce choice is Five Cheese Marinara, and the Alfredo sauce is Parmesan-centric. Pastas start at $14.99 and guests can get free pasta refills along with unlimited breadsticks and soup or salad. New this time around are fettucine with Spicy Alfredo and Crispy Shrimp Fritta, a fried shrimp add-on to any bowl. Build-Your-Own Calzones, new at Mountain Mike’s , center around mozzarella. All orders come with the chain’s signature fresh dough, garlic butter, melted mozzarella, and up to two toppings of choice, including crispy, curly pepperoni, jalapeños, artichoke hearts, and more. The customized calzones are baked and then served with dipping sauce. For a limited time, customers can add a calzone to any pizza order for an additional $7.99.

Bacon and maple flavor Sweetgreen’s Fall Harvest menu, starting with Roasted Bacon Brussels — a seasonal side featuring maple-glazed Brussels sprouts, crumbled bacon, and charred jalapeño ranch. There’s also the new Maple Glazed Salmon Plate with miso glazed salmon, maple glazed Brussels sprouts, roasted sweet potatoes, napa cabbage slaw, white rice, and garlic aïoli, and the Autumn Harvest Bowl, a combo of blackened chicken, maple glazed Brussels sprouts, roasted sweet potatoes, apples, goat cheese, roasted almonds, wild rice, shredded kale, and balsamic vinaigrette. There’s a Baconfest going on through Nov. 3 at Freddy’s Frozen Custard & Steakburgers . Bacon fans can order up a Smoky Bacon Cheddar Stack with two burger patties, sharp cheddar, four slices of bacon, and grilled onions with Smoky Fry Sauce, or a Smoky Bacon Steakburger Taco wrapped in a grilled flour tortilla. Also on hand are Bacon Loaded Tots covered in cheese sauce, cheddar and Monterey Jack cheeses, and topped with bacon. (Note the abundance of cheese!) And the Maple Pecan Concrete comes with the option of blending bacon into the frozen treat and topping it with crumbled bacon.

An updated version of Pollo Asado is back at Chipotle Mexican Grill. The new recipe features grilled, marinated chicken seasoned with garlic, Mexican spices, and cilantro, then finished with citrus and lime. New on the menu are Chili Lime Chips, an add-on for about $2.50. Cherries may sound more summer than fall, but Chili’s is extending the season with two Margaritas featuring the fruit. The Cherry Limeade Marg is made with El Jimador Blanco tequila, Triple Sec, grenadine, sour mix, and Sprite, served in a glass rimmed with citrus sugar and garnished with a lime wedge and two cherries. The Cherry Limeade Patrón Frozen Marg features a different tequila with the same mixers and garnishes, but it’s served frozen. Pineapple is the fruit flavor of choice at Popeyes. It’s available in the new Pineapple Lemonade, which comes iced or frozen, as well as Pineapple Iced Tea.

Southern-inspired Biscuit Belly is also leaning into pineapple, collaborating with Natalie’s Juices on the Piña Picante, a spicy pineapple Margarita crafted with Natalie’s Margarita Mix. The breakfast-and-brunch concept is pairing the Margarita with The Big Dipper, a birria biscuit dish geared to fall. The collaboration runs through Nov. 8. And a variation of Taco Bell’s sought-after ice cream taco launched this month at participating locations in California, Las Vegas, Houston, and Dallas. Developed in partnership with Salt & Straw, the artisan ice cream brand, the Salt & Straw Churro Ice Cream Taco has a waffle cone shell filled with churro ice cream and covered with puffed rice and dark chocolate-flavored coating. There’s also a Salt & Straw Choco-Waffle Chiller with a vanilla ice cream base blended with churro crumbles and waffle cone pieces encased in a chocolate shell and topped with whipped cream and waffle cone pieces.

For more menu news of the week, check out Menu Tracker .