Here's the deal - the cheeseburger is the quintessential American food. A couple of years back, after reading a review in the Wall Street Journal about the best burgers in the country, only to find that three of the top five were in my own back yard, I decided that I needed to see for myself. With the help of George Motz's "Hamburger America", several lists, recommendations from friends and asking everyone about burgers from "their" town, this is the result...

If you're curious about my thoughts on foods other than burgers, check out my other blog Eat to Live? Or Live to Eat?

Monday, September 19, 2011

Jack's North Hi Carryout, Wichita, KS (September 2011)

Last week, the answer to almost every question was, "I can't.  I'm going to Winfield."   One of the questions with a different answer was, "would you like a cheeseburger?"

Starting our pilgrimage to the Walnut Valley Festival, we flew into Wichita.   Consulting the oracle at Hamburger America before we left, I had two  destinations in mind.  The first was Jack's North Hi Carryout. 

Jack's is located directly across the street from North High School, and we were warned to get there before the noon lunch bell range.   When we arrived (about 11:35), the place was empty save for a single soul ordering carry-out.

The story behind Jack's is an interesting one - the place was owned by the by same two people, Jack at the inception / Norah subsequent to him, from 1951 until 2007 when a fire closed its doors.  There were a couple of interim owners and then it sat empty.  Austin Herron (in the white t-shirt at the grill), a twenty-five year old who had wanted to open a burger stand across from his high school (a rival to North), bought it at auction and has the place up and running again.   

I went with the cowboy burger (chili, bacon, cheese and barbecue sauce on a quarter-pound burger) with fresh cut fries.
It was, by far, the best burger we had on the trip.   The fries were crisp, but not hard, and the burger nearly perfect.  Look at that steamed bun!  Jo would have given her double burger a double thumbs up, if only she'd have had a free hand <g>.

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