KANSAS CITY — Booze-infused cuisine is making a splash on restaurant menus, with spirited sauces soaking up the spotlight.
Pizza Hut is betting on bourbon to boost its chicken wings. The chain is introducing Jim Beam Devil’s Cut Spicy Bourbon BBQ Sauce to spice up its WingStreet bone-in and bone-out wings.
Moonshine is in the mix at Carl’s Jr. and Hardee’s; the restaurants joined forced with Midnight Moon Moonshine to offer the new Midnight Moonshine Burger. Featuring a charbroiled, 100% Black Angus beef patty smothered in Midnight Moon Moonshine glaze, the burger is topped with pepper jack cheese, crispy garlic-pepper onion straws and thick-cut Applewood-smoked bacon, all served on the chains’ signature fresh baked buns.
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| Brad Haley, c.m.o. for Carl’s Jr. and Hardee’s restaurants |
“Branded, alcohol-flavored menu items have been popular in sit-down restaurants for a number of years now, but Carl’s Jr. and Hardee’s were the first to bring them to the fast-food industry,” said Brad Haley, chief marketing officer for Carl’s Jr. and Hardee’s restaurants. “We’ve done bourbon- and beer-flavored burgers and sandwiches before, but the rapidly rising popularity of legalized moonshine led us to start playing around with it in our test kitchens. We loved the sweet burn you get when you put a moonshine-flavored glaze on a burger.”
P.F. Chang’s is bonding booze and beef with its new offering, Red Wine & Pepper Braised Beef. The dish features marinated flank steak wok-seared with sliced potatoes, broccolini, Napa cabbage, grape tomatoes and Fresno peppers, served with a red wine pepper sauce.
