Do Crack Fries by any other name taste as good?

You can decide at HopCat, where the treat whose name dare not be spoken is rechristened Cosmik Fries. If you catch the homage to this 1974 Frank Zappa song, you earn classic rock cred.



Who you jivin' with these Cosmik Fries?

(Photo illustration: HopCat)

The new name is introduced this week at the group's 17 restaurants, which include Midtown Detroit, Royal Oak and five other Michigan sites. It replaces the signature side order's original tag, an allusion to the pepper-seasoned fries' supposed addictive impact. That was tossed last month in "consideration for those the drug negatively affected," explained the Grand Rapids brand's chief executive.

HopCat promotes the renamed version, plus its 11th anniversary, this Saturday at all locations. Each patron can get a free order between 11 a.m. and 5 p.m. There's also a 3 p.m. fries-eating contest with a $5 entry fee and advance sign-up. (Details here.)

Zappa, gone just over 25 years now, surely would've enjoyed the irony of seeing "Cosmik Debris" adapted as a marketing hook. Four and a half decades ago, he wrote and sang this lyric:

Look here brother

Who you jivin' with that Cosmik Debris?

Earlier coverage:

Finally, HopCat Gets Why Crack Fries Aren't a Joke and Never Were, Dec. 11, 2018