5 attention grabbers sneaking onto menus

While restaurants were making noise promoting Super Bowl and Mardi Gras specials early in February, some unique new items more quietly snuck onto menus. These five showcase trends ranging from global mashups to lots of heat.

The name alone is a grabber: Jalapeno Bottle Caps. Are they a recycling effort or are they actually edible? Fuzzy’s Taco Shop introduced these battered and fried fresh jalapeno slices as a limited-time appetizer for $3.99. They’re served in a basket with housemade avocado ranch dressing for dipping.

Another wacky name comes along with one of Biscuitville’s latest items: the Cackalacky Chop Sandwich. The Southern chain is expanding its lunch menu by highlighting local products. The pork chop recipe includes Cackalacky Cheerwine spice sauce, which combines two local specialties: a spicy sauce made from sweet potatoes, and Cheerwine, an original soda pop of the South.

Korean BBQ Meatballs, a new item from Noodles & Company, put an emerging Asian cuisine smack in the middle of the popular meatball. Noodles harnessed the sweet-spicy heat of gochujang—what many trend watchers are calling the next Sriracha—to create the meatball sauce. It’s the first launch in the chain’s Asian exploration promotion.

Chicago’s Rockit Bar & Grill fused Mexican and Indian elements into one bowl with its new Chicken Tandoori Chili. It was offered as part of the casual restaurant’s annual Chili Fest, a winter tradition in the Windy City.

The Italian lupini bean—a new ingredient in the fast-casual kitchen—stars in a new vegetarian salad at Zoes Kitchen. The protein-rich legume adds a nutritional boost to the plant-based entree, which also includes farro, zucchini ribbons, spinach and tomatoes.