Does Taco John's Have A Secret Menu Item?

I'm not a unique guy. I'm also not a fancy guy. I'm from the Midwest, and like a lot of people raised here I enjoy loose meat sandwiches. Call them what you want: Taverns, Sloppy Joes, Maid-Rites, Charlie Boys, Souper Burgers. Canteens... the list goes on and on. But basically, if you put hamburger meat on a bun, I'm interested. 

That's why I like to go to our local Taco John's. They have their own version of a loose meat sandwich - the Taco Burger.

The foodie website, The Takeout, ran an article a few years ago entitled, "Bring Back Taco Bell's 1962 Immediately." The subheading read, "Now is the perfect time to reintroduce Taco Bell's spin on a burger". Breanna Wellen's feature article is all about the discontinued Bell Beefer. It was Taco Bell's version of a loose meat sandwich. Apparently people have even staged protests and created Facebook pages demanding the return of the Bell Beefer. 

I looked the Bell Beefer up, and here's a picture of it from the Taco Bell Wiki:

When I saw the Bell Beefer I thought, What's the big deal? Taco John's sells Taco Burgers. Just go there.

To make sure, I checked our local Taco John's website, and the Taco Burger was listed as the only item under "Local Favorites." It looks a lot like the Bell Beefer to me. I think the biggest difference is the Taco Burger lacks the Beefer's chopped onions.

Here's the full description: "Our signature Seasoned Ground Beef, Mild Sauce, Lettuce and Cheddar Cheese on a nice warm Bun." All that love and a nice warm bun, too? Let's go get one!

My local Taco John's had updated their menu boards since my last visit, and I didn't see the Taco Burger listed anywhere. I became mildly worried. When the guy behind the counter asked what I wanted, I hesitantly replied,"Can I get a Taco Burger?"

"Yeah," he nodded his head, "Anything else?"

"Just a cup for water."

He handed me my receipt and a cup and said, "It'll be right out."

Why isn't the Taco Burger listed on the physical menu? Obviously there was a button on cashier's screen for a Taco Burger because it's listed right on the receipt.

This is what I got when I unwrapped my burger. I'm not a food photographer, but you get the idea. 

I'm also not a food writer. I don't even know how to pronounce umami. But I can tell you that the Taco Burger appeals to me on many levels. I like the beef that TJ's puts in their tacos, and it feels like they pile on about three times more of the same beef on the burger. I also like the consistency of the meat to sauce ratio. This isn't as messy as a sloppy joe, but the amount of beef will cause some of it to squeeze out the back. That's not the warm bun's fault, though. The bread is sturdy enough to support whatever amount of meat they put on it. (Come to think of it, I bet I could ask to switch the beef out for some other meat like chicken with lime sauce. Worth an ask.)

So, yeah, the Taco Burger is a version of a loose meat sandwich that I can get behind. I'm not alone. I mentioned this burger at school a few days ago, and one teacher exclaimed, "Taco John's Taco Burgers? I love them! Even if I order a meal, I get a burger on the side!" That's a pretty good endorsement.

When I went back to double check the Taco John's website menu for this post, and the "Local Favorites" category was gone. What?! Where did it go? Turns out, the Taco Burger was now listed under the "Tacos" heading, which makes sense. Whew. For a second there I thought this might become an "in memory of" post.

There is a problem, though. Not all Taco John's menus are created equal. 

In some Iowa locations the Taco Burger is listed as an option:

In other Iowan locations, it's not:

In some cities you can order the Taco Burger online:

In others, you can't:

I'm sure availability is based on demand. Why waste warm buns if they're not selling?

If online menus can be trusted, over half of the Taco John's in Iowa offer Taco Burgers, and about a third of the restaurants in South Dakota and Nebraska have them as well. Minnesota has three Taco Burger-friendly locations. Of the other 19 states that have a Taco John's, only the folks in Olathe, Kansas get a shot at loose meat goodness:

I suppose this is a Midwest thing.

Does all of this mean that Taco John's has a secret menu item? I don't know. It all depends on your definition and your destination. What I do know is where I'm going for lunch today. 

I think I'll add chopped onions.

A Different Kind of Glorious

I have this quote posted on a wall in my classroom. It's from an online article Henry Rollins wrote for Discogs.

“I never had a good time in school, so Friday became my favorite day. Classes were not so bad because freedom was only hours away. In that brief period between school letting out and midnight, it’s like an extra day, the economy version of a three-day weekend. Those hours are the peak of the week for me to this day. This time period is for playing records.”

 - Henry Rollins

I like how Rollins's theory about Friday evenings echoes my own theory about the evenings before summer vacation. I also like how he uses music to celebrate the end of the week. I do that, too.

I often pick out my Friday record on Thursday night, so it's already waiting for me on the turntable when I get home. When Char and I get there, I'll let Ellie out into the backyard, feed our cat Bo, and then coax Ellie back in with a treat. With everyone taken care of, I'll drop the needle, settle into my recliner (or get ready to dance around if it's been that kind of a week), and let the music play. It's glorious. 

Music can serve all kinds of purposes, but for me it's all about making myself smile. This brings me to this post's topic: records that make me happy even when I'm not playing them.

This is a 2010 rerelease of Black Sabbath's first record. I bought this used LP at ZZZ records, and it's in really good shape. This copy is the measurement that I'll use to explain one of favorite records.

Okay, now check out this bad boy.

This record, also from ZZZ, is so awesomely bad (ass). 

According to Discogs, Stereophonic is a “...South Korean pirate label that issued poor-quality unofficial releases of Western artists' music. The records were copied directly from original pressings using a reverse-molding process, and thus will have the same runout information as an American issue (or occasionally a British or Japanese one). Their releases share the same style of using monochrome printed covers (in various colours) on thin card stock.”

Let's look at these two records side by side.

What?! Just look at that record on the right! I don't know if you would call it a counterfeit or a bootleg, but man, that is just awesome. I love how unapologetic it is. Imagine coming to the party dressed like that and just not giving a damn. If this record could talk, it would say, "Yep, I'm a bootleg. What in the hell are you going to do about it?" So sassy.

I love the murky sleeve and how flimsy the card stock is. I also like the typewriter font on the labels. It's not trying to fool anyone. Loud and proud.

But the thing of it is, this bootleg actually sounds pretty good. I'd rate it at VG. The vinyl is also surprisingly heavy. Using our kitchen scale, this LP weighs in at 150 grams. Most records made in the 80's couldn't boast that heft. 

I suppose a non-collector would ask why would I buy a bootleg when I already had a legit and better looking and sounding copy? To that I'd say simply obtaining records is not why I'm in this hobby. I like the legal Black Sabbath record, but it doesn't make me laugh like the bootleg does. This isn't about making sense or saving cents; it's about having fun.

Let's try another. Hmmm... can you spot the bootleg?

I have no idea who the G-Boys are. 

I do like how the Stereophonic company couldn't afford to put a hype sticker on the sleeve, so they screened a circle on the front with "Don't Stop' Til You Get Enough" in someone's handwriting. Notice they put the unnecessary apostrophe after "stop" instead of in front of "til". I'm not judging; I can't write anything in Korean.

I don't mind that my legal copy of Off the Wall was vandalized by a previous owner.

This one from High Stereo Light is fun because they screened the front artwork onto the back of the sleeve by mistake. LPs seldom exit on the left, as far as I know

Typos and an off-center label are things to celebrate.

Here's a bootleg from Taiwan. I bought it in a downtown Des Moines vintage clothing store in the late 90's.

Fun fact: Under the S FL-18668 A you can see a 58 and a 4. 1911 + 54 = the release year (1969) and 4 represents the fourth month (April). This record turns 56 in just three days.

Other fun facts: "First Record (第一唱片) is a label of questionable legality from Taiwan, catering to soldiers (mostly from the US) stationed there. They also did sell to locals... The albums were usually pressed in batches of about 500, with no two batches looking or sounding the same (ie different covers, vinyl colors). Covers were usually recycled, meaning art for a totally different album was on the reverse side of the paper (covers were thin paper wrapped in cellophane)... Pirate pressings outsold legit pressings 5 to 1. They were sold openly in legit record stores alongside equivalent legit pressings...usually for 1/5 or 1/4 of the price of the legit copy (in 1970 a pirate LP cost around US $0.70 whereas a legit Singaporean EMI pressing of the same album cost around US $3.50)."*

*Source= Billboard article 3/14/1970.

I've got a few others, but here's my last First Record for today.

I like this record's cover because Richard Carpenter looks like he's pissed that you're checking out his sister and not him, "... Really? I'm right here." 

Buying Used Vinyl: Free Surprises Inside!

I've written about thrift store records many, many times, so I won't get into any back stories today. I just want to write about vinyl surprises. 

For instance, I bought this LP last weekend.

It's Stephen Stills', self-titled, first solo album, and it was released in 1970. I knew that Mr. Stills was in Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young. I also knew the hit song, "Love the One You're With." I wondered, What else is on here? The record was in decent shape, so I took it home to find out.

What I should have wondered was, Who else is on here? Turns out, quite a lot of people. Jimi Hendrix played the lead guitar on song four, "Old Times, Good Times." Then on the next song, "Go Back Home," Eric Clapton takes lead guitar duties. Ringo Starr, using the pseudonym Richie, plays drums on two songs. Graham Nash and David Crosby provide a little help for their friend with backing vocals, as did John Sebastian, Cass Elliot, and Rita Coolidge. Man, who wasn't on this thing? I had no idea. Talk about this record being a surprise...  

But that's not the kind of record surprise I want to talk about.

Hidden Surprise #1:

This doesn't happen very often, but sometimes I'll bring home an LP with more than the vinyl inside. For instance, I also bought this LP last weekend.

This Neil Young & Crazy Horse record from 1979 is "complete," which is nice. It has the lyric sheet and the original, photo inner sleeve. 

I knew the song "My My, Hey Hey (Out of the Blue)," but that was it. Luckily, the record's first owner surprised me by adding the original Rolling Stone review from the October 18, 1979 issue. I didn't have to do any research on this record because RS's record review editor, Paul Nelson, had already done the heavy lifting for me.

I have always needed someone to point out the deep layers hidden within art for me to fully appreciate its complexities. That's why I enjoy music and film criticism. I need an artistic tour guide, and that what writers like Paul Nelson are. 

Reading a RS review on newsprint paper really brought me back to my high school days in the 80's. Rolling Stone was my gateway to a musical world beyond Iowa's rural Sioux county. I learned a lot about Rust Never Sleeps, too. (Note: Side two is now cited as an inspiration for the grunge movement of the 90's, but Paul wouldn't have know that was coming. The last song, "My My, Hey Hey (Into the Black)" is so sludgy it would be at home on a Melvins record.)

Hidden Surprise #2:

I didn't remember much about Charlie Sexton when I took this record up to the register last summer, but the clerk sure did. 

I had brought her a small stack of LPs, and the clerk fanned them out on the counter to get an accurate count. She gasped when she spotted Charle's record, "Charlie Sexton! Woa... I loooved Charlie Sexton!" She then placed a hand on her chest and a patted out a quick heartbeat, "I wonder what I did with my record?" She was then lost in thought for a moment, undoubtably trying to trace her steps back to 1985 when Charlie Sexton was a 16-year-old with a hit song, "Beat's So Lonely", mad guitar skills, and a video on MTV. And hair. He had a lot of hair.

It must have all worked for him, though. When I removed the record from its sleeve, several magazine pages slid onto our kitchen counter. The previous owner of this album was quite the Charlie Sexton fan.

I can tell the page on the left was once used as a poster because on the back side each corner has damage from a tape loop being removed.

There is a little irony in that Sexton's album is entitled Pictures for Pleasure. 

Whoever had this picture of Charlie hanging on their wall was hardly alone. The set designers for the movie Ferris Bueller's Day Off placed Sexton's poster on the wall behind Ferris's bed.

That's actually cooler than having your video play on MTV. Videos come and go. Bueller is an 80s icon. Talk about bragging rights.

Hidden Surprise #3:

Here's George Michael's Faith LP. Like Charlie's record, I think an 80's teenager used to own it. But I think this teenager was sneaky.

The previous owner made a poster out of the photo on the lyrics sheet.

Again, you can tell from the tape marks. 

But that's not the hidden surprise. That lyric sheet was supposed to be in the LP's sleeve. This is the surprise:

Okay, let's play detective!

1) Using the words "Parents", "dismissal", and "Inservice" suggest this is a note from school.

2) Faith was released on November 2, 1987. November 1st fell on a Tuesday the next year, so we can assume this note from is from 1988.

3) People were pretty conservative in the 80s. I don't think many parents of a junior high student (the phrase "middle school" wasn't a thing, yet) would let their kid put up a picture of the guy who sings "I Want Your Sex" in their room. This is a note for a high school student.

4) Somewhere a school secretary used a typewriter to write this message four times on a single sheet of paper, photocopied it, and then used a paper cutter with one of those huuuuge swing arm blades to slice stacks of paper into four piles of strips. I'm guessing that this note is from a small, Iowa school with an enrollment under 500.

    a) I found this record in an Iowa thrift store. It's probably from an Iowan donor who went to an Iowa school.

    b) If you handed out 1200 strips of paper for 1200 kids to take home, you'd have 1000 strips of paper all over the floors of the school.

    c) It's harder to get away with making a "mess" is a small school (trust me on this). In a smaller school district, most of the notes would have probably gotten home.

Hypothesis: Some sneaky kid who attended a small high school in Iowa hid this note inside the record sleeve.

This note isn't like a picture of a celebrity crush that you hang onto even after you've moved on. It isn't memorable, so why save it? No one has ever said, "Dude, remember that time when the teachers had that sweet inservice? I still have the note! Check it out." 

I think someone got the note from their 8th period teacher. Then while walking to the parking lot with some friends, they decided that if their folks did not know about the early dismissal, then they would have an extra hour or more to do something their folks wouldn't approve of. (Remember, there was no internet, no email, and no text messaging back then. Report cards were handed out on conference nights. In small towns, snow days were announced by the local radio stations.)  I bet the own of this note discovered it in their back pocket when they were in their room, and they quickly hid it from their parents in a record sleeve their parents would never open. 

And that's where it stayed for the last 37 years.

I could be completely wrong, though. 

Maybe it really was a sweet teacher inservice. 

The Death of Slang

Spotted outside of our local Kwik Star convenience store:

 

Rest in peace, Rizz. When slang goes corporate, it dies.

Yeah, It's Been That Kind of a Day

I really thought "foyer" was a winner. 

I bet it comes up soon...

Getting "Strand"ed

 I'm not gonna lie. I've been waiting a year for this to happen:

Which 3 movies would you pick?

 Movie Madness is a video store in Portland, Oregon, that has over 90,000 films that members can rent. The knowledgeable staff members display movies on their recommendation shelves. 

Cole selected a nautical theme for his shelf with Uninvited, Deep Rising, Anaconda, Death Ship, and Ghost Ship. 

Ben recommended Battle of the Valiant, Treasure of the Moon Goddess, Short Time, and The Applegates, all on VHS, no less.

Movie Madness also has a state-of-the-art, 18-seat screening room where the public can watch films for free. The employees pick the three different films that they'll screen on Sundays.

We went to see The Pagemaster when we visited Movie Madness, and I was really impressed with the screening room. I was also impressed with the other eclectic movie choices for the day. 

Ninja III: The Domination is about an evil ninja attempting "to avenge his death from beyond the grave by possessing an innocent woman's body", and in Hiruko the Goblin, "Hiruko is a goblin sent to Earth on a reconnaissance mission. He beheads students in order to assemble their heads onto demons' spider-like bodies."

I'm not saying that I want to see Hiruko the Goblin, but I am glad to know that such a film exists, and I'm impressed that someone thought the movie was good enough to share with others. 

Movie Madness cannot advertise on their website what movies they are screening each week due to legal restrictions. You have to sign up for their email newsletter to see what new releases they have acquired, what classes are being taught in the screening room, and what's showing on Sunday. 

I've been receiving the newsletter since May 2022, and I'm always curious to see what's playing each week. The only patterns that I see in the three selections are that the first film is usually a family film, the second film can sometimes be a classic movie like Hitchcock's Strangers on a Train, and the third movie might be anything, but it's usually rated R.

I think picking out three films for the screening room would be fun, so let's play pretend!

If I had to use my own collection of physical media, then what three films would I choose for the screening room? I went looking for films that I think my friends would approve of, and movies that I would want to see on the big screen. I picked out nine movies for each of the three ratings categories: 1) G or PG, 2) PG-13, and 3) R. Why nine weeks' worth? I'm a teacher, and I think in semesters. Also, I tried to pick movies that could fit a theme for each week. I'll keep my comments brief.

Week 1: Time Travel

Char and I had a surprisingly fun time with Cinderella III: A Twist in Time back in the day. It's also fun to watch Tom Cruise being bad at something over and over again in Edge of Tomorrow (2014). Mick Jagger is good at being a bad/good guy in Freejack (1992).

Week 2: Going to School

Sky High (2005) is Harry Potter-adjacent with super powers replacing magic. Charlotte and I think it needed a sequel, but that didn't happen. The Skulls (2000) is an action and crime drama that takes place at Harvard, and this movie got two sequels, and that's not fair. The teachers really are aliens in The Faculty (1998).

Week 3: Going to Camp

Ernest Goes to Camp (1987) is a physical comedy classic. If you don't agree, I will fight you. The characters in The Final Girls (2015) find themselves trapped in the fictional cult film, "Camp Bloodbath." This has a surprisingly touching ending. If you tour the real Alcatraz prison, you'll see a sign that reads,“Break the rules and you go to prison. Break the prison rules, and you go to Alcatraz.” In No Escape (1994), the prisoners who break the rules go to "camp" Absolom.

Week 4: Wheels

Napoleon Dynamite (2004): "Dang! You got shocks, pegs... lucky! You ever take it off any sweet jumps?" I know this is a stretch for a "wheels" theme. Hot Rod (2007): We bought Char a shirt that reads,"I'm jumping the public pool tomorrow. 2 bucks. Tell your friends." She wears her Hot Rod shirt with pride. I scoffed when the remake of Death Race came out in 2008. After finally watching it, I told a friend, "That movie was waaay better than it had to be." He wholeheartedly agreed.

Week 5: Trapped on an Island

I had a student who worked at a video store in 1998. He gave me a 26x40 movie poster for Scooby-Doo on Zombie Island when the store was done displaying it. The poster has been displayed in my classroom ever since.  The Jurassic Games (2018) isn't rated, but since the violence takes place on an island in virtual reality, I'll give it a PG-13 rating. It's a low budget blast. Like The Jurassic Games, Battle Royale (2000) is a "last one alive wins" contest. Think of the first Hunger Games (2012), but on meanness steroids. 

Week 6: Character Development

In Rango (2011), Johnny Depp is a chameleon who becomes the hero he was pretending to be. In Billy Madison (1995), Adam Sandler is a 27-year-old man who acts likes he's ten. By the end of the movie, he acts like he's 15. (Char has a "Rirruto" tee-shirt, but none of her friends "get" it. Makes me sad.) In Avengement (2019), Scott Atkins escapes from prison to get revenge on those who turned him into a cold-blooded killer.

Week 7: M and M and M

My Neighbor Totoro  (1998) is a nostalgia pick. Exactly 12 years and one day ago I showed this movie to a feverish little girl named Charlotte who was tired of feeling sick. It was the right medicine then, and I'll always love this movie for that. Plus, Totoro is awesome, but most people know that. The Mitchells vs. The Machines (2021) is what a really good modern family movie looks like. The cover for Mindhunters (2004) makes it look like it's going to be a police procedural, but it's really a slasher film. 

Week 8: It's a Race to the Finish

Char and I saw Storks (2016) at Flix together when she was in 1st grade, but this isn't a nostalgia pick; Storks is legitimately funny. I like Breaking Away (1979) so much I wrote a literary unit on internal conflict just so I could show this movie to my English classes. At the climax, fists would be thrown in the air, and once a girl yelled, jumped out of her seat, and danced around in a circle. This story about townies competing against rich college kids won an Oscar for best screenplay, and it shows. The Tournament (2009) pits 30 professional assassins against each other for a ten million dollar prize for the last one standing. The Tournament deserves the R rating, and I deserve to watch this again tonight. It's been that kind of a week.

Week 9: Masks

Batman: Mask of the Phantasm actually had a theatrical release in 1993, but like most people I didn't see it in the theater. I'd like to fix that. This ranks as one of the best Batman productions ever. The Wraith (1986) is a supernatural revenge film packed with some of the most bitchin' cars, music, and fashions that the 80's had to offer. The killer wears a racing helmet with the visor down, so I'm counting that as a mask. The 5 Deadly Venoms (1978)  is a classic martial arts flick ranked #11 in Entertainment Weekly's "Top 50 Cult Films of All-Time." That says enough right there... love that Shaw Brothers' "SB" logo in the opening of their movies. 

Okay, that's a wrap. It's time to take these movies down to the basement and put them back on the shelf. This was fun, though.

Still curious. Which 3 movies would you pick?