It’s not uncommon for American restaurants to feature cultural variations on their foods in other countries.  Even McDonald’s has some vastly different options around the world.  But what’s odd is when an American food company takes American-style food and offers it only in other countries.

For example, Pizza Hut has several new types of crusts for their pizzas in the Middle East.  America has had the stuffed crust pizza for years, which is a great idea.  Now, in the Middle East, there is a crust with hot dogs in it, and there’s a crust that’s made up of mini cheeseburgers and one made with chicken nuggets.  That seems like something you’d have in the U.S. first.  Rumor has it they are considering bringing these crusts to the U.S.

Here’s some I’ve heard of (with the commercial linked so you can see it): Crown Crust Chicken (with chicken nuggets), Crown Crust Burger (with mini “burgers”), Star Pops Pizza (with “sausage pops”, which look like mini hot dogs).  Also of note, from Malaysia, there’s the Golden Fortune Cheesy Crown, which has shrimp, fish, pineapple, and “crowns of cheesy liquid gold”.

I’m all for innovation, but I’m not sure those ideas above will make the pizza better.  The Buffet o’ Blog staff discussed this topic, and all of us agreed that the next logical evolution in pizza crust should be to add bacon.  Now there’s a can’t-miss idea, if implemented well.  Why hasn’t one of the pizza places thought of that?  (It’s obvious to us, which is just another sign that we should open a new restaurant, if we can acquire the necessary funding.)

Now if you want to think outside the box on improving pizza crust, here’s an idea: make the outer rim of crust breaded like southern fried chicken.  There might be logistical issues with making it work, but that’s what R&D departments are for.  If you could pull that off while maintaining the necessary texture and not having the crust absorb too much grease, it would be most awesome.  And then, as some of you are already thinking, add bacon to that.  🙂

We have more ideas, too, so, Pizza Hut (or other pizza restaurants), if you’re listening, have your people contact our people.  We’ll work for cash money and/or free food.  🙂