Chain also adds brunch to Colorado restaurant
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Bret Thorn
T.G.I. Friday’s has added several new appetizers, entrées and drinks to its menu systemwide and is testing brunch at one of its restaurants in Colorado.
The 900-unit chain said it has also upgraded the beef in its burgers to USDA Choice black Angus, which is served on a brioche bun with lettuce, pickles, onions and tomatoes. It also now offers a turkey burger.
Friday’s new appetizers include two “Tapa-tizer Skewers.” The Japanese Hibachi skewer has a wasabi-miso glaze and garlic & black pepper soy sauce and is served with grilled pita and ginger-lime slaw, and the Mediterranean skewer is marinated and grilled with lemon-garlic sauce and served with tzatziki sauce. Both skewers are available with black Angus sirloin or chicken, and can be ordered as an entrée with jasmine rice pilaf, a vegetable medley and grilled pita.
Also new to the appetizer menu is a spinach Florentine flatbread topped with spinach-artichoke spread, diced tomatoes, garlic and basil.
In addition, Friday’s introduced a chicken piccata pasta entrée, which features a citrus-seasoned breast with “California heirloom garlic,” artichoke hearts, roasted red peppers and capers, tossed with multi-grain angel hair pasta and lemon white wine sauce and finished with basil.
The casual-dining chain also has added to its cocktail menu with a German Chocolate Cake Sipper made with Jägermeister, Kahlúa, Bailey’s Irish Cream, Butterscotch Schnapps and Malibu Rum.
Also new to Friday’s drink menu are two lower-calorie cocktails, including a Skinny Margarita that has less than half the calories of the chain’s regular margarita. It’s made with reposado tequila and house-made agave sour mix. The Skinny Blackberry Margarita is similar, but with blackberries added. “Skinny” cocktails have been seen on a number of other casual-dining restaurants’ menus, including Applebee’s Neighborhood Grill & Bar, The Cheesecake Factory, Kona Grill and Z’Tejas Southwest Grill.
Friday’s also said it had brought back its “Oreo Madness” dessert, which consists of cookies ’n’ cream ice cream sandwiched between Oreo cookie crusts, served with caramel and fudge.
Friday’s said its restaurant in the Denver suburb of Longmont, Colo., has started serving brunch. On the brunch menu are a breakfast burrito; a ham, bacon and cheese breakfast pizza; French toast; egg, asparagus and creamed spinach Benedict; a fried egg sandwich on multigrain bread; crab cake and eggs; tostado nachos. The restaurant also offers brunch cocktails, including Mimosas, Bloody Marys and coffee drinks.
Contact Bret Thorn at [email protected].
