It’s a big week for mashups, with restaurant chains combining or “fusing” two popular formats or two cuisines in one menu item. Fusion gets a bad rap, but when mashups launch as LTOs with a short window, they can create positive buzz. Also trending this week are chicken sandwiches, a personal pizza, and several new beverages, some boosted with energy.
The All-American Burgertaco at Del Taco is a combo of the brand’s Double Del Cheeseburger and its Big Fat Taco. The mashup features two grilled beef patties, two slices of American cheese, tomato slices, shredded lettuce, diced onions, and signature burger sauce wrapped in warm toasted flatbread shaped like a taco shell. Five flavors of Dirty Del beverages also return, the fast-food chain’s take on dirty sodas.
Ziggi's collab with Philadelphia cream cheese on the Philadelphia Everything Bagel Latte.
Speaking of beverages, Ziggi’s Coffee is merging a bagel flavor with a latte. The Philadelphia Everything Bagel Latte, created in collaboration with Philadelphia Cream Cheese, starts with an iced latte that’s topped with cream cheese cold foam and finished with everything bagel seasoning. The savory coffee drink is available for one week only, through Aug. 17. After that, fans can make the latte at home, as Ziggi’s provides a recipe card online.
Pumpkin spice season starts in August on restaurant calendars, and along with the abundance of beverages, doughnuts, and muffins, IHOP is doing Pumpkin Cheesecake Pancake Tacos. The item is composed of three silver-dollar sized pumpkin spice pancakes filled with cheesecake mousse, topped with whipped cream and cinnamon sugar, then folded into a taco shape and served in a taco rack. It’s a blend of a popular flavor with a popular format.
The Butter Chicken Pizza at Zalat Pizza is a fusion of Italian and Indian in one pie. The pizza is topped with butter chicken sauce, seasoned chicken, mozzarella cheese, red onions, minced garlic, and crushed red pepper, then finished with more butter chicken sauce and cilantro.
Butter chicken tops a pizza for an Italian-Indian mashup at Zalat.
Velvet Taco is a mashup expert, often crafting its Weekly Taco Feature (WTF) with flavors and ingredients from different global influences. This week, there’s a Potsticker Taco boasting Chinese flavors in a Mexican flour tortilla. The WTF filling includes seasoned ground pork prepared smashed burger style, scallions, Sriracha aioli, sesame slaw, and sesame vinaigrette.
Tinned fish stars in Sweetgreen’s latest limited-time salad, which has an interactive DIY component. The Sweetgreen x Fishwife Summer Niçoise includes romaine lettuce, spring lettuce mix, summer vegetable medley, tomatoes, pickled onions, roasted sweet potatoes, fried onions, and a hard-boiled egg, dressed with a lemon tarragon vinaigrette. It’s served with a custom co-branded tin of Fishwife albacore tuna with Spanish lemon packed in olive oil, which guests open and add themselves. The LTO was developed in collaboration with Fishwife and is only available until Aug. 24. But permanently on the menu is the Omega Glow Bowl with miso-glazed salmon, romaine, rice, corn salsa, carrots, cabbage, cilantro, and almonds with miso sesame ginger dressing.
Returning to Whataburger’s menu on Aug. 18 is the Bacon Wrangler Double, a substantial burger made with two beef patties layered with American and Monterey Jack cheeses, bacon, crispy onion strings, pickles, and smoky chipotle aïoli on a toasted bun. It’s joined this year by the Bacon Wrangler Chicken; it has the same build but is anchored by a fried or grilled chicken filet.
The Chicken & Waffles Sandwich at Chick-fil-A comes in breakfast and lunch size.
A new chicken sandwich has arrived at Chick-fil-A, too. The Chicken & Waffles Breakfast Sandwich features a choice of original, spicy fried, or grilled chicken breast with bacon and honey butter spread sandwiched between two maple-flavored waffles. After 10:30 a.m. customers can order the Chicken & Waffles Sandwich — a larger version of the breakfast item. Beginning Aug. 24, beverage aficionados can order a S’mores Milkshake and S’mores Frozen Coffee.
And A&W is doing chicken sandwiches for the first time, and they will remain on the permanent menu. On hand are a basic Crispy Chicken Sandwich — a breaded and fried chicken breast with pickles and mayo — as well as the Deluxe Crispy Chicken Sandwich with lettuce and tomato, and the limited-time Nashville Hot Crispy Chicken Sandwich. All are served on a bun.
The personal-size pizza has arrived at Domino’s — and it’s in the iconic shape of a domino. The Detroit-style rectangular pie has a base of a buttery-flavored dough encrusted with Parmesan cheese then topped with two layers of provolone and mozzarella, a choice of five sauces — ranch, tomato, honey barbecue, garlic Parmesan, or Alfredo — and up to three toppings, then finished with garlic seasoning. It’s on the permanent menu starting Aug. 31.
Swig's new lineup of energy drinks.
Dirty soda pioneer Swig is getting into the energy drink game, enhancing seven beverages with Swig Energy, a sugar-free blend of caffeine and B vitamins. The permanent lineup includes Lemon Berry Bliss; Weekend Dream (with coconut cream, peach, raspberry, strawberry, and watermelon flavors); the mango-centric Cabana Colada; Coastal Kiss with lime, blue raspberry and coconut flavors; Aloha Horizon, a tropical blend; Sweet Skies, a blue raspberry-vanilla combo; and Passion Swirl, with mango purée, passion fruit, peach, and strawberry flavors.
A kind of dirty soda shake has arrived at Portillo’s through a collaboration with Dr Pepper. Called the “Dr Pepper Shake,” it is a blend of the chain’s vanilla shake with Dr Pepper’s signature soft drink, which now comes in 23 flavor variations. Customers can also order it as a Cake Shake, which adds a slice of Portillo’s chocolate cake into the Dr Pepper vanilla shake, then blends the ingredients until thick and creamy.
Pumpkin spice is already trending in baked goods, but Nothing Bundt Cakes is going in a different flavor direction. The dessert chain is returning its Biscoff Cookie Butter Cake and debuting two new individually sized Bundtlet flavors — Galactic Brownie Cake and Apple Pie Cake — timed to back-to-school season. The Biscoff Cookie Butter Cake, launching Aug. 17 and running through Oct. 11, is a spice cake with cookie butter baked into the batter and drizzled on top; Biscoff cookies are layered on the bottom and placed on top. The Galactic Brownie Cake Pop-Up has a shorter window (Aug. 24-Sept. 6); the fudgy chocolate Bundtlet is decorated with colorful rainbow sprinkles. And the Apple Pie Cake Pop-Up, running Sept. 14-27, is a spice cake Bundtlet layered with cinnamon apples and topped with brown sugar streusel.
For more menu news and trends of the week, check out Menu Tracker.
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