5 Items We Want To See On The Chi-Chi's Comeback Menu

Chi-Chi's Mexican restaurant is coming back after 20 years! The family that founded the eatery is ready to give it another go: Michael McDermott, son of one of the original co-founders Marno McDermott, shared in a press release that fans of the nostalgic Minnesota-based chain can expect "an updated dining experience with the same great taste and Mexican flavor." New locations are slated to open sometime in 2025. However, no specific details have been shared about the menu items. For now, fans are left to speculate about which of their favorites might make a comeback after the long hiatus.

Chi-Chi's originally closed its restaurants due to a salsa-based hepatitis A outbreak that sank the ship back in 2004. Its return might be meant to coincide with younger generations' affinity for nostalgia. Gen Z in particular is fond of fashion, media, and music from before their time, and it seems that this propensity could extend to restaurants as well. 

Of course, folks who grew up with fond memories of visiting this Tex-Mex joint will also be excited to see what the new incarnation will hold. Will the menu pay homage to the old-school Chi-Chi's offerings from the mid-1970s, or go completely modern? Here's to hoping that the following favorites make the cut!

Vintage versions of the Chi-Chi's menu made a proud proclamation: "We Feature Chimichangas" (via Seattle Public Library). Fillings for the chain's deep-fried wraps have changed over the years, but the chimichangas always remained a fan favorite, with folks on Reddit drooling over the bygone dish and one user saying they still "occasionally crave a seafood chimi" from Chi-Chi's.

Originally, the only choices for fillings were beef-based — shredded, ground, or cubed and stewed in green chile sauce. In the chain's later years, you could order ground beef, chicken, or seafood. The meat of your choice and plenty of cheese were served wrapped up in a big old flour tortilla, fried to crispy perfection, smothered in sauce, and served alongside rice and beans. A Chi-Chi's revival would not be complete without this all-time favorite.

Chi-Chi's salsa definitely got a bad reputation before its shuttering, but you can't have Tex-Mex food without this piquant sauce. In fact, the Chi-Chi's brand — which was bought by Hormel Foods following the restaurant closures — has already done quite a bit to repair its salsa image. In a line of popular salsas you can buy at the grocery store, Chi-Chi's offers Thick & Chunky and Restaurant-Style varieties, ranging from mild to hot, with both containing many of the usual suspects, such as tomatoes, jalapeño peppers, onions, and garlic. 

Chi-Chi's also offers a red salsa with cilantro, a black bean and corn number, a salsa verde, and cheesy salsa con queso. Perhaps the restaurant will feature one or more of these products, or come up with its own distinct blends to mark a new era. Regardless, things won't be the same unless the salsa and corn tortilla chips are served in an all-you-can-eat fashion, as was the case in Chi-Chi's heyday.

Back in the day, the Chi-Chi's menu had combination plates named after various regions in Mexico. You could take a trip to the crystalline blue oceans of the Yucatán peninsula, the mountains of Durango, the dry deserts of Sonora, and more, all without leaving your booth — in theory.

In the early days, the names of the combination plates had basically nothing to do with the foods actually served in those regions of Mexico. For example, Mazatlán — a coastal city in the Mexican state of Sinaloa — is widely known for its seafood, and especially shrimp, but the Chi-Chi's plate had beef and green chile enchiladas with a sour cream topping.

Later renditions of the menu corrected this somewhat. A menu from the 2000s featured a Mazatlán platter that included both fried and grilled shrimp, as well as seafood enchiladas. Though it's not an exact replica of what you might eat in the real city, this take makes a lot more sense. With a little more direct inspiration from Mexican regional cuisines, updated versions of these iconic combination plates would be a hit.

For that sweet bite to finish a meal, Chi-Chi's has to bring back its fried ice cream. This dessert comes up time and again with fans. One Reddit user boldly proclaimed, "I've never found fried ice cream anywhere as good as Chi-Chi's."

This beloved dish featured a ball of French vanilla ice cream that was rolled in cinnamon and corn flake cereal. After being firmly frozen, the scoops were cooked very briefly in hot oil, which is why the fried ice cream doesn't melt, but the outside gets nice and crispy. It was finished with whipped cream, and of course, a neon red maraschino cherry on top. You also had a choice of dessert sauces — honey, caramel, chocolate, strawberry, or Kahlúa hot fudge. 

Newer versions of the fried ice cream were plopped on top of a crispy, cinnamon-sugar-covered flour tortilla, and older takes were served in sundae cups. At certain points in time, guests could also choose chocolate or strawberry ice cream. This seems to be an undeniable fan favorite, and definitely needs to be on the revival menu.

You can't really say your meal is complete before ordering margaritas at a Mexican restaurant, and a dinner at Chi-Chi's was no different. The original menu had classic lime and strawberry margs, with both available as a "Jumbo-Rita" — described as "more than a double" (via Seattle Public Library). Over the years, peach and raspberry versions had also been featured on the menu.

However, true fans of this bevvy know that the Chi-Chi's margarita lived on even after the restaurant chain's demise. The Hormel-owned Chi-Chi's brand sells highly-rated, ready-to-drink margarita mixes in flavors like lime, peach, pineapple, mango, ruby red grapefruit, and strawberry. These boozy beverages even come in individually-portioned bottles. Surely, the new Chi-Chi's menu will feature more than a couple flavor options, but it remains to be seen which will make the cut.