FULL STORY: Here’s something that no one had on their Bingo card for 2024: After 20 years, the Tex-Mex chain Chi-Chi’s is making a comeback.
Chi-Chi’s launched back in the ’70s . . . and became a sensation in the ’80s and ’90s, with more than 200 locations nationwide. One of its classic items was the fried ice cream.
But then it went through a bankruptcy . . . ownership changes . . . and the final blow came in 2003, when some bad green onions at Chi-Chi’s led to the largest hepatitis A outbreak in American history. Hundreds of people got sick and four people died. The chain was basically defunct within months.
Some salsa products have remained in stores ever since . . . and up until earlier this year, there was a single Chi-Chi’s still open in Vienna, Austria. Randomly.
Anyway, a man named Michael McDermott is the son of the original owner, Marno McDermott. And he’ll open new restaurants under the Chi-Chi’s name next year.
The first locations will be in Minnesota, which is also the state where the original restaurant opened back in 1976.
It’s probably safe to assume that the fried ice cream will be back . . . and, for better or worse, the green onions.
(Here’s a classic Chi-Chi’s commercial . . . and another.)
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