Thursday, July 22, 2010

Mad Jack's on Troost: 6200 Troost Ave

Thursday, July 22, 2010
Mad Jack's on Troost

I have lived withing spitting distance of Mad Jack's for a few years but never had much desire to check it out. Yes, it looks a little seedy from the outside but God knows that has never stopped me before. Indeed I checked out a similar fish-oriented place across the intersection last year. People say good things about the Mad Jack's in KCK but I've never hear people say much of anything about the Troost outpost.

Mad Jack's on Troost

The place is setup like a fast food restaurant: menu on the wall, order and pay at the counter. The young woman at the register could not have been more friendly, she immediately greeted me when I came in (as she did every other visitor) and heartily recommended the day's lunch special. The "Po Jack" is basically a large catfish filet served on white bread with lettuce, tomato, onion and cheese at a cost of $5.99. As I ordered her father, who appears to be the owners was joking around and generally lightening the mood of the whole place. He also recommended the "peachy tea" to me which I found uncomfortably reminiscent of baby aspirin.

On to lunch. Curiously enough, the toppings for the Po Jack sandwich come on the side in a styrofoam box.

Po Jack

That little french fry bag contains the lettuce, tomato, onion and cheese. The condiments are simply packets of tarter sauce and mayonnaise. A little soufflé cup of hot sauce rounds out the meal. I found this kind of weird, I would much rather have them put the sandwich together for me but I dutifully plopped the toppings out and doused the sandwich with hot sauce.

Po Jack

It was looking good except for one thing: the American cheese was still in its individual plastic wrapping. I understand the desire to streamline restaurant workflow by pre-making these topping bags, but this was just a little too transparent. It was dumping the work squarely on to my shoulders. Plus the cheese didn't get the chance to deliciously melt over the catfish filet.

But the catfish is damn good. It was a nice, sizable portion of highly seasoned, cornmeal breaded fish. And much like barbecue, I found that I really preferred the white bread over the dense buns you see everywhere else. Fried fish with hot sauce is really a great combination. As a hater of mayonnaise and by extension, tarter sauce, I find that hot sauce cuts through the other flavors without making the breading soggy like lemon juice or vinegar tend to do.

I had ordered a little side of mac and cheese, but found it rather lackluster. I mean, I like it and it was only 89 cents, but it was only a step above easy mac.

The interior space is charmingly odd, with a corrugated metal wall behind the counter, three different menu boards, a mounted TV and a small DVD collection on a shelf. Also there are signs and flyers hung up everywhere. It feels like a heavily and amateurishly refurbished fast food restaurant, which is probably exactly what it is.


Mad Jack's on Troost

Pull your pants up

All in all, I would definitely go back and opt for one of the boxed fish meals which are just fried filets with bread, hot sauce and sides. I don't want to go through the sandwich assembly rigmarole again.

8 comments:

Anonymous said...

I will happily eat anywhere with a sign that says, "Please pull your pants up before you come in."

Joe said...

I too like the "Please pull your pants up..." sign.

Oh, and cheese really has no place on that sandwich anyway as far as I am concerned.

Dan said...

Thanks for publishing this - I live nearby, too, and now I look forward to visiting it. I loved the Mexican place that preceded it. Best tamales in the world.

Anonymous said...

no hoods or masks - that's awesome.

lucius0729 said...

You really should go back and try the fried oysters or even the jumbo fried shrimp dinner. When I was employed and got off work at 8am I would mess around until they opened and got my mom an oyster dinner dinner every Friday. I loved Mad Jack's when it was on 79th & Troost years ago, when it closed I made the trek across the river and was happy when this one opened, especially since I live 5 minutes away.

The DLC said...

Thanks lucius I'll be back for those fried oysters. You certainly can't get them many places around here.

Unknown said...

The fried oysters are a favorite of mine, since I can't get fried Ipswich clams in KC. But I have to take my own tartar sauce. That's the thing to use, folks!!! Put the red sauce on shrimp.

Sarah said...

My husband and his dad always go there and pig out when they are doing a big man-size project on the house. I haven't tried it personally, but they really seem to like it.

Your Ad Here
 
Copyright 2007-2011 by Kansas City Lunch Spots. All Rights Reserved.