Reviews

My Free Jack in the Box Sandwich

February 24th, 2010 Tweet Facebook Digg Stumble Reddit Comment

All this for free!

Some say the best things in life are free.  But that can’t really be true, because food is one of the best things in life and it is rarely ever free.  And when you really think about it, is anything really ever free?  I mean, maybe it doesn’t cost you money, but it could cost you time, or effort, which are sometimes costlier than actual money.  But I digress, this is not a philosophy blog (or IS IT?!), this is a food blog of the highest standards, which is why when Jack in the Box said they were giving away their new sandwiches for free yesterday I took a ride to try them out.

Of course, this wasn’t completely free.  To get my sandwich, I had to order a large drink.  The cup was about the size of my head and liquid that would fill it could probably also fill the bladders of two adult men.  Nevertheless, the $1.99 for the drink was a small-ish price to pay for a sandwich ordinarily priced at $3.99.  Of the two sandwiches available, I went with the Turkey, Bacon and Cheddar.  This came with those three things, plus a sun-dried tomato sauce.  Rather than order without the sauce because of the tomatoey name, I hoped this would be more sauce than tomato so it would meet my unvegan standards.

The sandwich was ready by the time I filled up my giant cup with Strawberry Fanta and I already knew this would be no ordinary sandwich.  True to its fast food roots, the grease was already penetrating the wrapper.  I tore it open to get a good look at the thing for the first time.  The first thing I noticed was the intense, yet saliva-inducing scent.  Then I saw that the sun-dried tomato sauce was more of an afterthought and not tomato sauce in the traditional sense.  It was hardly even red in color and more like a pink cream sauce.  I bit in and was actually surprised.  This fast food sandwich reminded me of how I used to make grilled cheese in a pan on the stove.  The bread was totally loaded with butter or some buttery substitute, but was still nice and crunchy.  The inside had a nice blend of ingredients without shorting any of the elements.

I wouldn’t substitute this sandwich for anything gourmet or unique, but for a fast food place, they actually did a pretty decent job of putting together a sandwich.  My main issue was that this sandwich could easily be made at home.  Usually when I go out to eat, I try to get food that I couldn’t whip up in my own kitchen, which is quite limited due to my unfortunate cooking skills, yet does include sandwiches of this sort.  But hey, they could have done a whole lot worse.


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Unvegan Top 20 for 2011

‘Tis the season for “Best of the Year” lists, so I thought I would join the party and put in my top 20 new restaurants from 2011.  By the way, this means the restaurants were new to me, not new to LA.  Please note that I am only including meals in the Los Angeles area.  As much as I loved the food on my travels, you can check any of those places out pretty quickly by clicking here.  So, without further caveat, here’s the best that 2011 had to offer for the unvegan:

20.  Cobras and Matadors

This tapas place in Mid-City is everything tapas should be.  From bacon-wrapped dates to a variety of cheeses, there is really something for anyone looking for a delicious meal.  Just beware, while tapas can be kept to a moderate price, when you throw a big group in with small plates, there are bound to be some people who don’t get their money’s worth.  But keep the group small and Cobras and Matadors will send you home full and happy.

19.  Steingarten

Dishing out delicious sausages, including a few of the exotic variety, Steingarten also offers up a pretty stellar beer selection.  If you’ve ever wanted to eat alligator in sausage form, Steingarten won’t disappoint, but they also serve a wider range of foods, including some pretty delicious burgers.  Their sausage execution, though, could use a bit of improvement, which pushed another sausage joint further up on the list. Continue Reading»