Jack in the Box in Chicago?

[Jebus H. Christ]

For Chicagoans whose first taco memories evoke crackly yellow shells full of mealy ground beef from the local Jack in the Box, our city's taco scene has come a long way.

Having grown up in Chicago, I have no memory of ever seeing a Jack in Box in the city or the Chicagoland area. Was there a time when there were Jack in Box restaurants in Chicago? A review of their website shows no current locations in Chicago. I think all the Illinois locations are in Southern Illinois.

http://www.chicagotribune.com/entertainment/chi-0605170346may18,1,3326125.story?coll=chi-news-hed&ctrack=1&cset=true
http://www.jackinthebox.com/locations/displayresults.php?section=5&state=il

[Bosda Di'Chi of Tricor]

In the early 70's, there were.

And then, there were a horrible, ongoing series of food poisoning scandals there.

And then, they closed.

I remember it from my boyhood.

Later, there were rumors that it was a whisper/slander campaign, by a bigger fast food chain. Unproven, as far as I know.

[Kalhoun]

I used to frequent two: one in Hoffman Estates and one in Palatine. Both sucked, but they served a valuable purpose at 3:00 am when you're drunk.

[eleanorigby]

There was one here, locally, either in Homewood or in Chicago Heights. I disctinctly remember the surreal looking "Jack".

We never went there-my mom didn't allow us to eat fast food (smart woman!).

It closed mid-70s or sooner--it may have stood empty for a time and then was raized.

[WhyNot]

I saw a Jack in the Box ad on television this week. I wonder if they're coming back?

(My first thought was "isn't the the food poisoning place?" so it's probably too soon.)

[mazinger_z]

I remember eating at a Jack in the Box in the late 70's early 80's. I was visiting my cousins and my uncle took us to one. I thought it was tasty, and it had a ton of mustard. It was nothing like what I see in California, and it definitetly didn't have that super-creepy, incarnation of evil mascot. The one I remember going to was on Fullerton and Kedzie, or was it Kimball? It was definitely on Fullerton.

[Troy McClure SF]

Man.

Y'all are missing out.

[peri]

The local one was at Clark and Ridge. It was manned by the "Cockroach Lady," so named because of her appearance. She stood about 4 feet tall in her 3 inch platform shoes and wore HUGE glasses - something like this (http://www.eia.doe.gov/kids/energy_fungames/images/eyeglasses.gif).

[Jebus H. Christ]

Did they serve tacos?

[Freddy the Pig]

There was also a Jack in the Box in Skokie--I'm pretty sure it was on Golf Road.

Does anyone remember their little jingle from the '70's?

"Pack up the kids
And crank up the car
To Jack in the Box . . ."

[Sarahfeena]

I used to frequent two: one in Hoffman Estates and one in Palatine. Both sucked, but they served a valuable purpose at 3:00 am when you're drunk. Ah, yes, the one in Palatine was still around when I was a kid.

[schlek2003]

I remember eating at a Jack in the Box in the late 70's early 80's. I was visiting my cousins and my uncle took us to one. I thought it was tasty, and it had a ton of mustard. It was nothing like what I see in California, and it definitetly didn't have that super-creepy, incarnation of evil mascot. The one I remember going to was on Fullerton and Kedzie, or was it Kimball? It was definitely on Fullerton.

There was one on the southwest corner of Fullerton and Central Ave in the late 70s. I remember getting a Popeye floppy record with my food when I was a kid back then. I tend to remember something about food poisoning and then the Jack-in-the-Boxes were gone from Chicagoland. That location then became a McDonalds, which is still there, I believe.

There was one in Lombard, I've been told, too. It then became a Brown's Chicken, supposedly... in the parking lot on the northeast corner of Roosevelt Rd and Main St.

[Markxxx]

The one I remember going to was on Fullerton and Kedzie, or was it Kimball? It was definitely on Fullerton.

I live right there and there have never been any fast food places by those intersections. It must've been further west or east on Fullerton.

I recall a Jack In the Box on Joe Orr Road in Chicago Heights. It was OK.

[Dinsdale]

In the mid-70s there was a Jack in the Crack on the SE corner of Western and Addison - right across from my HS.

[palindromemordnilap]

I used to frequent two: one in Hoffman Estates and one in Palatine. Both sucked, but they served a valuable purpose at 3:00 am when you're drunk.

Are you sure about Hoffman Estates? Could you mean Hanover Park?

I worked at the Burger King in Hanover Park in the summer of '78 and when we done cleaning the place (at 1 am) we would go over to the JinB on Barrington Road just north of Irving Park.

I then switched BKs and started working in Hoffman Estates, more or less the corner of Higgins and Roselle (it's still there). I worked there for three years--two of them as a manager while I completed community college--and lived in Hoffman several years beyond that. I ate in every imaginable fast-food joint in the town (even Arby's, which in those days was vile.) It's impossible that a Jack-in-the-Box in Hoffman Estates could have escaped my attention, although there's a remote possibility I have just forgotten about it.

[gotpasswords]

I vaguely recall one in the Mt Prospect area. Think it was on Rand Road across from Mt Prospect Mall.

Regardless of where they are or were, if you don't have one nearby, you're not missing much. :D

[Simmerdown]

I believe there was one on North Ave. in Elmhurst. Mom took us there a couple of times. I think the only real draw was the talking clown thing, but mostly for the weirdness factor, not because we liked clowns. Don't recall any food poisoning thing, but when you're 10 that kind of thing goes over your head unless you're directly affected.

[rogerbox]

The Jack in the Box food poisonings were in Washington state in the early 90's, was there also a rash of food poisonings in Chicago earlier?

[SanDiegoTim]

The local one was at Clark and Ridge. It was manned by the "Cockroach Lady," so named because of her appearance. She stood about 4 feet tall in her 3 inch platform shoes and wore HUGE glasses - something like this (http://www.eia.doe.gov/kids/energy_fungames/images/eyeglasses.gif).

I recall the Clark/Ridge store. My recollection of growing up in Chicago in the 50's/60's is that Mexican food wasn't all that popular. Perhaps this might explain so few "Jacks." Matter of fact, in the Edgewater area, in that era, I don't remember and Mexican restaurants other than the previously mentioned Jack.

[kenobi 65]

I lived in the Chicago suburbs until I was 10 (in 1975). Back then, Jack in the Box wasn't uncommon in Chicago (as others have posted). I distinctly recall the TV ads featuring Rodney Allen Rippy (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rodney_Allen_Rippy), which would have been around 1974.

I moved back to Chicago in 1989. At that point, I'm pretty certain that Jack had pulled out of the Chicago market.

My recollection of growing up in Chicago in the 50's/60's is that Mexican food wasn't all that popular. Perhaps this might explain so few "Jacks." Matter of fact, in the Edgewater area, in that era, I don't remember and Mexican restaurants other than the previously mentioned Jack.

I had thought, especially back in the 1970s and 1980s, that Jack was primarily a standard hamburger-based fast-food chain.

[yabob]

I've certainly never thought of them as anything but primarily a burger joint which makes occasional forays into other offerings, and I'm in CA, where they're on every other street corner. Sometime in the 80s and early 90s they made an attempt to go upscale a notch - hung potted plants and so on. That didn't stick.

What surprises me is that I thought they had expanded enough to be one of the fast food chains with national presence. Apparently, they still haven't gone that far east, except for a few states.

[Thudlow Boink]

I'm a bit puzzled as to why there are no Hardeeses in Chicago. When I look at their locations map (http://www.hardees.com/locations/), there's a big conspicuous gap in the Chicago area.

More generally, I guess I wonder why some fast food places are so ubiquitous in some areas and absent from others not far away.

[samclem]

Since this was a question on the Boards pre-Chicago forums, let's move it there.

samclem Moderator, GQ

[daveg]

There was a Jack in the Box in Brookfield a bit west of the zoo on 31st street. Dunno what's there now.

[samclem]

The first Jack-in-the-box drive-thru opened in the Chicago area in 1967-68.

[samclem]

By 1970, there was on downtown at 117 E. Chicago av. across from the Water Tower. Cheeseburger, 79 cens. Milkshake....34 cents. Onion rings 35 cents. Apple turnover 26 cents.

[Mr Downtown]

Jack in the Box units east of the Mississippi (232 of them) were sold off beginning in 1979.

Hardee's is particularly curious because for a decade or more they actually had a Loop location, hidden away in the basement food court at 69 W. Washington. The nearest ones now are Montgomery and Portage, Indiana.

[cardinal_fang]

The Jack in the Box food poisonings were in Washington state in the early 90's, was there also a rash of food poisonings in Chicago earlier?As an aside, Eric Schlosser claimed in Fast Food Nation that after the E-coli disaster (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jack_in_the_Box_%28restaurant%29#E._coli_disaster) Jack in the Box implemented industry-leading safety measures and decried the fact that others haven't followed suit. (The safest fast-food restaurant might be akin to the fastest fat man, but there you go nonetheless...)

[Atomic Mama]

There WAS a Jack In The Box, in the Logan Square area, Fullerton & Kimball or thereabouts, when I lived in the 'hood 1974-45-ish. I would often stop there after doing my late-night radio show. Or stop at White Castle.

We had a Brit staying with us, who always wanted to "Say hello to Jack!" Drive-thrus were quite the novelty to him.

Alas, we have neither chain in Alaska. Why can't somebody bring up a Sonic for US?

[Tim R. Mortiss]

The local one was at Clark and Ridge. It was manned by the "Cockroach Lady," so named because of her appearance. She stood about 4 feet tall in her 3 inch platform shoes and wore HUGE glasses - something like this (http://www.eia.doe.gov/kids/energy_fungames/images/eyeglasses.gif).

Did that turn into the "Duck's" joint that was there in the 80s and early 90s? I loved Duck's burgers. Especially after being, ahem, overserved.

I vaguely remember a Jack in the Box in the near western burbs, maybe around Mannheim and Butterfied? I was too young to drive at the time, so not sure of the exact location.

[Mornac]

Did they serve tacos?

Yes they did - and I liked them under certain inebriated conditions. When you ordered them (I always had mine five at a time) they took the pancake-thin product out of a freezer, placed them in a fry basket, and dropped 'em in the fryer for a few minutes. I never really thought about them as "tacos" but rather some sort of interesting snack food that seemed to hit the spot about one in the morning.

[Mornac]

Did that turn into the "Duck's" joint that was there in the 80s and early 90s.

Indeed it did. It wasn’t a huge step up from the Jack-in-the-Box which was always privately owned and changed owners about as often as I change shirts. Each one was a bigger disappointment than his predecessor. Finally, the city brought the property, plowed the building under and made it an extension of Senn Park. Today there is a bronze statue of young Abraham Lincoln in the approximate location of the talking clown head. Whenever I walk by, I never fail to ask Honest Abe if I could have five tacos and a large root beer.

[SanDiegoTim]

The local one was at Clark and Ridge. It was manned by the "Cockroach Lady," so named because of her appearance. She stood about 4 feet tall in her 3 inch platform shoes and wore HUGE glasses - something like this (http://www.eia.doe.gov/kids/energy_fungames/images/eyeglasses.gif).

I'll confirm that location, perhaps as early as 1969-70.

[Stormcrow]

Hardee's is particularly curious because for a decade or more they actually had a Loop location, hidden away in the basement food court at 69 W. Washington. The nearest ones now are Montgomery and Portage, Indiana.

There was a Hardees on Route 83 in Elk Grove Village as well up till the early 2000's.

[ScatteredFrog]

Clark and Ridge?? Perhaps in the same spot that White Castle occupies?

[SCSimmons]

Jack in the Box units east of the Mississippi (232 of them) were sold off beginning in 1979.

Hardee's is particularly curious because for a decade or more they actually had a Loop location, hidden away in the basement food court at 69 W. Washington. The nearest ones now are Montgomery and Portage, Indiana.
Whew! I just saw the Hardee's question, and my immediate reaction was, "What? The Hardees in Montgomery is gone?!" Nice to know it's still hanging around ... I knew that Hardees' were pretty thin on the ground in Chicagoland, but I didn't realize how thin.

Maybe I'll visit when I'm back up in Oswego in August. Turnaround on my dad for him always wanting to eat at Jack in the Box when he visits down here. :)

[Kolak of Twilo]

Clark and Ridge?? Perhaps in the same spot that White Castle occupies?

Across the intersection from there. See post #32.

[peedin]

I grew up on the south side and during high school ('71-'75) we went weekly to the Jack inthe Box on 104th and Western. Damn, those tacos were good!

[Silver Jan]

In the early 70's, there were.

And then, there were a horrible, ongoing series of food poisoning scandals there.

And then, they closed.

I remember it from my boyhood.

Later, there were rumors that it was a whisper/slander campaign, by a bigger fast food chain. Unproven, as far as I know.

And what if it was from your boyhood

[Silver Jan]

Loves ya

[Two Many Cats]

nm

[Two Many Cats]

The Jack in the Box food poisonings were in Washington state in the early 90's, was there also a rash of food poisonings in Chicago earlier?

No, there weren't.

[Cheryl44]

I grew up on the south side and during high school ('71-'75) we went weekly to the Jack inthe Box on 104th and Western. Damn, those tacos were good!

104th and Western? I would have sworn that it was on Cicero, but I was high a lot back then. It could have been Western. Good thing I wasn't driving.