Eaten by a Grue: Jack in the Box

Greetings food lovers and welcome to a new segment I like to call Eaten by a Grue. This will be a whenever-I-fell-like-posting-it series. I hope to make a post at least once a week but NOT for every time I stick something in my mouth. I can't take all the credit for this witty name, a long time ago I stumbled upon this early meme. However I take full credit for cleverly applying it to these food reviews. For this first post I have a double feature from everyone's favorite restaurant owned by a child's toy: Jack in the Box.

A few days ago I had a discussion with some of my friends about how various fast food establishments stack up against each other. I believe the consensus ended up something like this:

High Tier

McDonalds, In'n'Out

Medium Tier

Wendy's, Burger King

Low Tier

Jack in the Box

Garbage Tier

Arby's 

Last time I ate at Arby's I got in a car accident and my stomach felt horrible after eating the food. I'm basically never going back there again, so I decided to give Jack in the Box a try. I wanted to give the place a second chance and order some things that were new or that I never had before. I was expecting to hate the food and write an angry review, considering how popular angry reviews are. However that did not end up to be the case.

I started my adventure by walking to the nearest Jack in the Box. I went around 2pm so there weren't that many people when I got to the restaurant. I decided try the Sirloin Cheeseburger. It sounded simple , yet tasty and I had never tried it before. It is the number 1 on their combo list. Here's my receipt for the burger and a large drink:

Large drink illegal in New York

The burger was a good size and had a thick patty. The first thing I noticed after biting in

Here's me not remembering to take a picture before biting in.

 was how much I could taste the beef. Often times with cheeseburgers the meat is really just a conduit for the cheese and the sauce, but not this time. The meat was well seasoned and was really the star of the show. They included deli pickles instead of regular ones, which I really like. These help to give the burger a unique taste. The sauce was noticeable but not too bold and there was an adequate amount of it. The only part of the burger I really didn't care for was the bun, it was it was the wrong bun choice for this particular burger, maybe a sourdough or their regular sesame bun. Overall I enjoyed the burger, it wasn't anything you have to rush out and get but it was good. The problem is at $5.29 (burger only) it needs to be more than good.

Pros: taste of the meat, sauce, deli pickles
Cons: cost, bun
Overall Score: 3 Jack Heads out of 5

I decided to take my next attempt at Jack in the Box yesterday. This time I had less time so I drove there instead of walking. I saw their Sourdough Cheesesteak Melt ad on the window and decided to go for it. This is relatively new and possibly only there for a limited time. I have had this in the past but honestly can't remember what it was like. Again I went for the burger and large drink. I did not fully think through this plan however. See here are my car's cup holders. 

They are small and close to the radio, they do NOT fit a Jack in the Box large drink.

Maybe this is why these are illegal in New York

I had to use the space between the parking break and the passenger seat to hold the drink in place while I drove home. This worked surprisingly well. 

Here's the burger in all it's glory.

Hey I remembered this time!

 While it looks vaguely like a burger, it is nothing like eating one. There are many small strips of steak stuck inside and the melted cheese barely holds them together. Twice I had to re-stuff some pieces back inside the bun. This sandwich suffers from what I mentioned earlier where the meat is just there. While the steak does not detract in any way, it is the cheese, peppers and onions that hold the majority of the taste. The cheese by the way tastes great and is noticeable in every bite.

There were also a surprisingly large amount of peppers and onions scattered throughout the burger. The sauce used was also very good and not overly abundant. One thing I did not care for was the bun again. Toasted sourdough seems like a great choice for this but with the melted cheese I got a cheap-pizza vibe sometimes when I bit in. It wasn't so off-putting that I no longer enjoyed what I was eating but it was odd.

Pros: cheese, peppers, onions, sauce
Cons: bland meat, bun,
Overall Score: 3 Jack Heads out of 5 (this is NOT because I didn't want to make another graphic)