No longer wanting to saddle one of its most popular menu items with a drug reference, HopCat officials looked to an American music icon to rebrand its award-winning "Crack Fries."

Officials from BarFly Ventures, HopCat's parent company, announced Monday that customers will now have to ask for "Cosmik Fries" when they stop at one of the 17 HopCat locations around the country, including the one at 6280 N. College Avenue in Broad Ripple.

The fries themselves aren't changing, officials said. Their look and coating of cracked black pepper seasoning will remain.

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Mark Sellers, founder and owner of HopCat also said the name has nothing to do with outer space. Instead, it's a nod to one of his favorite artists.

“It’s more of a reference to that ‘Cosmik Debris’ song (by Frank Zappa),” Sellers said in a statement. “It’s an anti-drug song. Zappa never did any drugs, even though he was a weird guy with crazy music. ... We thought it kind of works.”

Sellers added that they will now call the secret spice “Cosmik Debris.”

The plan to change the name was first was announced in early December. At the time, BarFly Ventures CEO Mark Gray said the name was supposed to suggest that diners would be hooked on the taste.

“We chose the name more than 11 years ago as a reference to the addictive quality of the fries and their cracked pepper seasoning, without consideration for those the drug negatively affected," he said. "We were wrong.”

The name is new, but old fans of the fries are sure to remain. In 2015, Food Network Magazine put “Crack Fries” in its list of the top 10 French Fries in America.

The fries will continue to be served with a side of warm cheese sauce for dipping, and they will still be available in all of their original variations.

Sellers said he wanted a name for the new fries to be something that “fit with the company culture.”

“(Zappa) just kind of personifies our business, which is offbeat, weird, going against the grain and iconoclastic,” Sellers said in a statement. “He beats to his own drummer, and that’s how I want HopCat to be.”

Zappa died in 1993 of prostate cancer. He was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1995.

Call IndyStar reporter Justin L. Mack at 317-444-6138. Follow him on Twitter: @justinlmack