TBG Eats: The NEW Turkey, Bacon & Cheddar Grilled Sandwich from Jack in the Box

Current Weight: 169.2 lbs.

M'man NY Jon checks in:

Since you're the fast food guy I figured I'd ask the expert on this. Do you know when Wendy's stopped making the Spicy Baconator? I was visiting some friends upstate and we hit the drive-thru, only to be denied the pepper jack, jalapeño, double meat majesty.

Nice. I've written nearly 900 posts for this lightly-read blog – including an unprecedented 60 straight days with a post to start 2010 – and my legacy is "the fast food guy"? My area of expertise = grease? Am I not…wait, have I really used the "Food n' Drink" label 153 times here at TBG? Well, then.

The Spicy Baconator's been gone for awhile, son. I hit up the Wendy's drive-thru several months back and received the same heartbreak in return. In January, I finally landed the regular (Double) Baconator…and, we all know how that turned out. But, as not-so-insignificant disappointment goes, there are few things worse than the tease of "limited time only".

Despite the fact that I was born and raised in California, I'm fairly certain that no fast food chain plays as fast and loose with their menu as White Castle. Since my food reviews starting showing up in Google searches, I've gotten periodic emails from other bloggers asking me to contribute a few words to such wholesome, honest causes as "Bring back the White Castle BBQ Pork Sandwich or Chicken Italiano Sandwich or Honey Chipotle Chicken Sandwich".

In February 2004, Jack in the Box introduced a line of Pannido Sandwiches. These were relatively high-end sandwiches, served on foot-long ciabatta baguettes – think pretentious torpedoes – with decidedly non-Jack in the Box ingredients like black forest ham, salami and provolone cheese.

My favorite was the "Zesty Turkey". It came with a sun-dried tomato spread that I would've eaten straight from the surplus drum. One time, with Mrs. Bootleg riding shotgun and a newborn Baby Bootleg in the back seat, I established a new low for spousal embarrassment (that week) when I placed the following order into the drive-thru speaker:

"Can I get the Zesty Turkey Pannido with, like, extra EXTRA sauce? I mean, like, a lot. Can you do that?"

The Pannido wasn't long for the JitB menu and with its undeserved exile; the sun-dried tomato spread disappeared, too.

Recently, Jack in the Box has gotten back into the "fast food-unique" sandwich game. They're offering two new Grilled Sandwiches, but after considering the ingredients, I could only eat one. The "Deli Trio" includes Genoa salami, sliced ham, roasted turkey, provolone cheese and pickle filets with creamy Italian dressing on grilled artisan bread. Unfortunately, Aaron's not a fan of salami, ham or big-ass pickle slices.

The other sandwich is the "Turkey, Bacon & Cheddar".






My sandwich certainly looked good. The artisan bread was denser and more substantial than the fast food industry's ersatz sourdough. It was crispy on the outside with a lightly-salted buttery taste through and through. The turkey quality was fine for ubiquitous chain deli meat, as the copious amounts of bacon and cheddar carried the culinary load nicely.





This would've been a solid 4-point sandwich by itself, so it goes without saying that the triumphant return of JitB's sun-dried tomato spread here takes the Turkey, Bacon & Cheddar Grilled Sandwich into the rarified category-5. The spread's lightly sweet notes blend well with the bacon. It brings out the (artificial) smokiness of the turkey. And, it soaks into the bread, making the last few bites the best of all.

Welcome back, sun-dried tomato spread. Don't ever leave me again.


Grade: 5 (out of 5) Calories: 647 Fat: 30g