Lunch | Jack in the Box

So Jack in the Box was our first meal during our trip to San Francisco. You might laugh and say, there are so many great things to eat in San Francisco and the Bay Area--why the heck did you go to Jack in the Box?! Well, I've never had it before, and I've heard people (namely my friends from the West Coast) rave about it and how they crave for it when they're away from home on the East Coast. I wanted to see what's up.


In case you didn't already know, I'm a hugeee Snoopy fanatic, so the drive up to the Charles M. Schulz museum (aka, the Snoopy Museum) up in Santa Rosa (a little over an hour drive from San Francisco) was a must. Marcus and I were on our way to the museum, when I saw this Jack in the Box location, and simply asked, "Ahhh, can we go to Jack in the Box for lunch? I really, really wanna try it!" Marcus simply replied, "Uh, yes!" So I turned in to embark on a greasy lunch ahead of us.


The set-up is just the same as a McDonald's or a Taco Bell, so it really was fast food style.


Marcus and I both had the #4, the Sourdough Jack burger.


The Sourdough Jack is a beef patty topped with bacon, tomato, Swiss-style cheese, mayo-onion sauce, and ketchup on toasted sourdough bread. I absolutely love sourdough bread, especially when it's toasted and is in contacted with melted cheese. The Sourdough Jack is like the perfect grilled cheese sandwich with bacon on sourdough bread, only with the added goodness of mayo-onion sauce and a beef patty. Contrarily, I found the regular fries (as opposed to the signature curly fries offered at Jack in the Box--I typically prefer straight fries) to be nothing special--it was missing something (perhaps additional seasoning or something). In retrospect, I wish we had ordered the curly fries. There was a wave of comments on my Facebook status ("My first visit to Jack in the Box" with the above photo) that ordered that I must get the curly fries. Sadly, it was already too late, but the Sourdough Jack made up for that.

Findings: Perhaps, it's ordinary for a native midwesterner, west coaster, and/or southerner to not think twice about Jack in the Box as a new concept, but being from the East Coast, I totally see it different. I really enjoyed the Sourdough Jack sandwich/burger because up until this point in time, I've never had a burger like it. It reemphasized my love for sourdough breaded grill cheese, showing me a "new twist" on the classic sandwich that I crave as comfort food. And after have been on a flight to San Francisco from New York without eating much, this was a great lunch to satisfy my perpetual hunger throughout the morning into the early afternoon. Surely, when I return back to New York, I'll be thinking about Jack in the Box and how I wish there were ones near me. Or maybe I'll get a little creative and make my own version of the Sourdough Jack!

Price point: $5.39 for a Sourdough Jack with a medium-sized soda and a side of fries.

--May 19, 2011

Jack in the Box
multiple locations throughout the West Coast, Midwest, and South
http://www.jackinthebox.com