Once upon a time I was a geeky, longhaired college kid in the wilds of Arizona…
Tucson, to be exact.
Never having so much as having darkened the door of a McDonald‘s – Winstead‘s being my my burger joint of choice – I ventured into a fast food restaurant just off campus at Speedway and University called Jack in the Box.
Or as it was fairly widely referred to by my peers, Jack in the Sack.
From that fateful day, forth the smiling clown head ruled.
Make no mistake. Even after its sale to a middle eastern restaurateur of questionable repute, Winstead’s still has the best burgers. Not withstanding a stale bun here or there. But face it; it’s pricey. And you can only get it here in town, not on the road.
Jack in the Box however, can be found in St. Louis, Nashville, throughout California and my old stomping grounds in the desert southwest.
Jack took a faint hearted stab at it in Kansas City years ago but bailed.
Don’t remember why.
But allow me to go on the record that by far Jack in the Sack is the best of the major heavy hitter fast food chains.
They have a kickass menu that from its breakfast menu to the egg rolls is available 24/7.
And while you can blow five bucks on one of its trendy sirloin burgers but there’s really no dire need for you to.
Try the Jumbo Jack first for less than two bucks and see how that works.
Now on to Jack’s return to KC.
I dropped by the new Jack in the Sack in KCK at 10:30 last night after watching rising star funny guy Josh Wolf rock a packed Stanford & Sons at the Legends in KCK.
And it was like Black Friday.
The restaurant was packed inside and out with 15 cars in the drive thru and a full house inside. What’s more it stayed that way until I left around midnight, when – in theory – the dining room closes and it converts to drive in window service only.
"It’s been non stop since we opened Monday," says trainer Malissa Amos. "We’ve had people like this all the time – all the time – it never stops. One guy proposed on opening day out on the patio. He came in ahead of time to set it up. He came in and he had a Jack-in-the-box toy and the ring was inside of it."
And while the No. 1 and No. 2 best sellers are the sirloin burgers, Jack in the Sack customers in the know, know exactly what to order.
That would be the tacos, two for 99 cents.
"Oh yeah, the tacos is why people come," Amos says. "People drive for miles and miles for our tacos. They’re different; they’re not an everyday taco. They’re not like what you get anywhere else.They’re unusual."
And, I might add, greasy.
So yeah, try the fruit smoothies my daughters dearly love. And the new Kona coffee really is from Hawaii, Amos assures. Oh and my daughter Liza is totally addicted to the hash browns.
But by all means, give the tacos a shout out.
One dude ordered 200 of them to go the other day. Aanother lady order two sets of 30 while I was there Thursday night.
Get the picture?
Oh and not-to-worry, Missourians.
"I know that we have several more jack in the Boxes that will be opening (here) this year," Amos says.
