A Chick-fil-A Chipotle?
Six hybrid restaurants we wish existed
You’ve heard of chicken and waffles, but how about wings and pancakes?
Believe it or not, the latter is now a reality. An IHOP/Applebee’s hybrid restaurant officially opened its doors in January.
The only problem with the concept? It’s in Mexico. So, if you want to eat a double blueberry shortstack with a side of four cheese penne — you’ll have to fly 137 miles east of Guadalajara.
Now, since we’re all probably never going to do that, we got to thinking: what are some other compound restaurants we’ll probably never see? Because, as far as we’re concerned, this one only exists in our dreams. Here’s what we came up with. (And, PS: Even hypothetically, all of them are better than IHOP and Applebee’s).
Pizza Hut and Charley’s Cheesesteaks
Pizza Hut is one of our favorite chain restaurants of all time, namely due to its stuffed crust. Charley’s, on the other hand, isn’t as great as the pizza giant, but it does make some pretty killer sandwiches.
So, if the two went in on a hybrid location? We’d get cheesesteak-stuffed crust pizza.
Imagine a warm, ring of crust filled with chopped ribeye, grilled onions and melted American cheese around a savory pie (topped with even more cheesesteak), and you have a basic idea of what we’re talking about.
Auntie Anne’s and Subway
For a cheap, quick meal option, Subway is pretty hard to beat. Sure, the turkey is dry and the chipotle mayo, light mayo and regular mayo are pretty much the same thing, but, for under $10? There’s not much we’d change about their loaded sandwiches.
Except, of course, putting them on warm, fresh pretzel bread made by Auntie Anne’s.
Chick-fil-A and Chipotle
Crispy chicken burritos. Enough said.
Crumbl Cookies and Cold Stone
Cookie sundaes, cookie dough-infused ice cream flavors (that aren’t just chocolate chip) and the biggest chipwiches you’ve ever seen.
All that and more at Crumbl Stone.
Playa Bowls and Chop’t
Have you ever arrived at Playa Bowls only to wish they had literally anything savory on the menu? Because, sometimes, we need actual, legitimate food to wash down our bananas and honey. Enter Chop’t.
If our favorite artisanal salad co. opened shop in the Gen Z paradise, diners would have their choice of fruit or veggie bowl — or throwing granola on top of their cobb in an irresistible sweet-salty mash-up.
Taco Bell and Panda Express
Pretty sure this is already a thing in an airport in Texas.
Locally, we call it the international aisle of ShopRite.
Kara VanDooijeweert is a food writer for NorthJersey.com and The Record. If you can’t find her in Jersey’s best restaurants, she’s probably off running a race course in the mountains. Catch her on Instagram: @karanicolev & @northjerseyeats , and sign up for her North Jersey Eats newsletter .