Mac and cheese tacos, other comfort foods coming to Turlock with new national chain
Do you love macaroni and cheese? Stupid question, let me rephrase that. How much do you love mac and cheese?
So much that you’d eat it in a sandwich? Or maybe in a taco?
Because both those versions, plus a variety of regular mac and cheese bowls and other cheesy comfort food offerings, will be served at the new and aptly named I Heart Mac & Cheese. The national chain is coming to Turlock to open its first location in the Northern San Joaquin Valley.
Based in Florida, the franchise has expanded in recent years. Now it has a location planned along West Monte Vista Avenue, across Crowell Road from Stanislaus State University. The new restaurant will go between the existing Domino’s Pizza and Sourdough & Co. in the Warrior Crossing retail strip shared with Dutch Bros Coffee. The company also has locations under development in Fresno and Sacramento.
The restaurant specializes in what you’d expect, given its name. The simple menu features about half a dozen mac and cheese bowls — choose from classic to Buffalo and even lobster with white truffle if you’re feeling fancy. It also serves a handful of grilled cheese sandwiches, including one stuffed with — you guessed it — mac and cheese.
You can customize your mac and cheese in a variety of ways, and the restaurant also has gluten-free, vegan and Beyond Meat versions for those with dietary restrictions. Sides include fried mac and cheese bites (the place is nothing if not theme oriented), cheesy broccoli, tater tots and tomato soup.
And then there are the tacos. Yes, these are hard nacho-flavored taco shells filled with mac and cheese. The chain calls this creation a “Tacoroni.” When I showed this to Bee Managing Editor Patty Guerra, she took an emotional journey that went from calling it “an abomination to tacos” and having her cholesterol levels rise “just looking at the photo” to ending with “I’d probably try it.”
Please, feel free to go on your own culinary/health journey when considering eating one yourself. I know I have and wound up at the same place. Crazy, but I’d eat it.
I Heart Mac & Cheese was founded in 2019 by CEO and Chairman Steve Giordanella. The chain has grown throughout the pandemic and now has some 33 locations across the country, with 25 more in development.
The company’s first California location opened at the end of June in Palm Springs. Another 10, plus the Turlock location, are planned in the state, including additional locations in San Francisco, San Jose and Visalia.
Construction is set to start this month on the project, with a tentative end of October open date.
This story was originally published July 13, 2022 at 7:00 AM.
