Jack in the Box in Chicago

Do you remember when ordering your fast food involved talking to the "Jack in the Box"?


In this country, where each day, independent businesses loose ground to chains and franchises, it is surprising when you find a regional fast food franchise. While I hate the idea of dining in an up-scale seafood restaurant only to find they have 60 of them around the country each indistinguishable from the next. I'm upset when I find myself a thousand miles from home, exploring that city's "Hot" shopping district, and find that it has the same list of stores I can find in a 15 minute walk from my home.


But Fast Food franchises are exempt from my scorn. Just as I expect each city will carry the network's feeds, and my cell phone will work, my expectation is that the streets will be filled with a uniform list of fast-food joints. The fact is that simply is not true. Sure McDonald's and Burger King spots will be found, I think P.E.T.A. even found a method to franchise protesters to Stand in front of KFC restaurants, but In & Out burgers, are not to be found in Chicago.


Truth be told, I don't care about In & Out Burgers, comming from Chicago, the only thing I know about them is the Paris Hilton eat there one of the nights she got caught driving drunk. But Jack in the Box is a different story.

I grew up with "Jack in the Box" There were so many late nights, in a car filled too-full with friends, spent speaking to "Jack". Jack was my friend, he fed me those wonderful tacos. He got me hooked, I looked forward to those golden-brown, deep-fried, tasty treats. Then all at once, they were gone. Jack fled west of of the Mississippi, leaving me and so many like me, stranded, left with a craving we were unable to fill.



The other day, after a disappointing Y12 Epee contest, I brought my son over to a Jack in the Box, two blocks from the San Jose Convention Center, desperate to bring some happiness to an otherwise "Dark day". I put in my order for 6 tasty tacos, and from the first bite I was transported back to a happy memory-filled time of youth and grease, it was wonderful! O.K., I would have traded the taco for my son bringing home a medal, but that was not a choice offered.

Yes the tacos were just as I remembered them to be. Each time I find my self in a town that is lucky enough to still have Jack in the Box, I make a point of eating as many of these tacos as I can stuff down my throat. Jack never lets me down; though I am still mad at him for moving away.

Larry Lubell