Jimmy Jack's Barbecue

As a disclaimer, I would like to say that it annoys me when people say barbecue when they mean grilling. It is like the difference between champagne and sparkling white wine. To most, there is no difference, but there is. To qualify as barbecue, it must involve smoke and low (generally indirect) heat. I personally own a smoker and have created several of my own recipes for spice rubs. If I rotated between eating barbecue and pizza every day, everyday I would swear that I was eating my favorite food. One good thing about living in a college town is that there are 22 pizza places for a city of roughly 68k. One bad thing about living in Iowa is that my options are much more limited for barbecue (3). Even more so if I am looking for QUALITY barbecue. Jimmy Jack's makes good barbecue, regardless of where you live.

Like 99% of the time that I go there, ordered the supreme dinner. This is a sandwich with pork, turkey and brisket mixed along with barbecue sauce. Throughout the US, there are several regional variants to barbecue. Personally, I like the dry rubs of Texas and the Sweet sauces of Kansas City. Then I combine them, just as in this sandwich. The turkey absorbs a lot more of the smokiness while staying moist and the brisket gives the sandwich a lot more of the body. The pork fills in the cracks with its stringy juiciness.

For one of my sides, I got baked beans. These beans were flavored nicely and had a good amount of meat in them, as well. Not too much, but enough to give the beans some more smokey flavor. The only thing that I didn't like about the beans were that they were a bit al dente for my liking. This proved that the beans were made in house and I can't fault them too much, as I have the same problem whenever I make beans at home.

For my other side, I got fries. On here, I am always talking about how I don't really like fries. Let me be clear. Jimmy Jack's has really good fries. They are soft yet crunchy. They are well-seasoned but not salty. They are thick and perfect for dipping. Delicious.

The final part to this meal is a giant piece of cornbread. Also as I've mentioned on here, is my love for cornbread. I really like how Jimmy Jack's is able to keep the bread moist, as it is often dried out at restaurants. They also don't go overboard with their sweet glaze on top.

Because this meal was one of the last ones that I wanted to fit in before I became a vegetarian for two months, I also treated myself to a rare pop. I was going to have a Sprecher Orange but decided to go with the cream soda. I had never had this before and I was surprised that it tasted like a super-sweet beer. Quite frankly, it was probably the best non-alcoholic accompaniment that I could get to go along with the barbecue.

If you've never gone to Jimmy Jack's and always thought about going, you should. If you have been to Jimmy Jack's and thought about going, you should. If I think about going to Jimmy Jack's, I can't. At least, not for the next two months.