Pizza Hut Is Ringing In Its New Cheesesteak Offerings With A Fine-Dining Experience

What do you think of when someone says the words "Pizza Hut?" Do you think of pan pizzas and breadsticks? Do you think of the "Book It!" program when you were a kid, where you got a free personal pizza just for reading a book? Whatever it is you think of, you probably never thought of anything related to cheesesteaks in regards to Pizza Hut — at least, not until now.

While it's true Pizza Hut and cheesesteaks aren't something you'd normally associate in the same frame of mind, Pizza Hut — ever seeking to find more ways to "out-pizza" its competitors — wants to rectify that by introducing sirloin steaks to its menu lineup. According to a May 1 press release, Pizza Hut is debuting two new menu items: the Cheesesteak Pizza and the Cheesesteak Melt. The Pizza comes topped with the usual cheesesteak ingredients like sirloin steak strips, peppers, onions, and a creamy alfredo sauce, while the Melt is filled with the same ingredients but folded into a buttery crust and topped with parmesan oregano. Although Pizza Hut isn't bringing a traditional Philly cheesesteak to its menu, it hopes to capture those same flavors in its famous pan pizzas.

Alongside celebrating the oven-baked union between pizza and cheesesteaks, Pizza Hut is going so far as to offer an exclusive dining experience to a few thousand lucky customers. In an event that is known as the Pizza Haute Dinner Series, guests will find themselves enjoying a Pizza Hut pizza like never before.

In the same press release announcing the arrival of the limited-time cheesesteak menu items, Pizza Hut also announced that it would be collaborating with both Los Angeles pop-up company Chain (having previously collaborated with the company before to release Pizza Hut-themed bucket hats) and chef Tim Hollingsworth to host Pizza Haute's Dinner Series. This exclusive dining event, which will be hosted in West Hollywood, seems to be designed as a trip to Pizza Hut for the upper-crust crowd, where guests will enjoy modern and "haute" takes on pizza.

These "culinary creations" will include the Tri-Tip Supreme (a potato pizza prepared with bacon fat and thyme-roasted confit potatoes), Classic Pepperoni, and the Vegetarian Supreme. Not only will these pizzas be served with bottles of Chain's own ranch dressing, but each pizza will be prepared using a specialty pizza dough created by Slow Rise Pizza's Noel Brohner to mimic the classic pan pizzas fans of Pizza Hut enjoy.

If you happen to live in the West Hollywood area and want to attend this event, you'd better be prepared to wait. The waitlist for this Dinner Series is already 15,000 persons long, with reservations open only on May 19, 20, and 24 — in short, it's already pretty packed. But, even if you don't manage to snag a seat at the Pizza Haute main event, at least there's a hot Cheesesteak Pizza or a Cheesesteak Melt waiting for you at your local Hut.