Thursday, September 16, 2010

No. 14: onion rings from Fiorella's Jack Stack Barbecue

Posted by on Thu, Sep 16, 2010 at 12:00 PM

The fattest, sexiest onion rings
  • The fattest, sexiest onion rings
The fattest, sexiest onion rings

To whet your appetite for The Pitch's annual Best of Kansas City issue, we're counting down our favorite Top 50 dishes each weekday until October 7.

A certain iconic burger joint in Kansas City makes the town's worst onions rings: stringy onion circles covered in a crumbly, oily crust, the kind clearly deep-fried in old grease (the tell-tale sign is the dark mahogany color of the ring and a slightly scorched aroma.

Eating one of these third-rate creations only makes die-hard onion-ring fans appreciate even more the finest fried allium cepa to be found in the metro: the beautiful golden bangles stacked on a copper dowel (yes, it's a very phallic presentation) served at one of the four Fiorella's Jack Stack Barbecue locations.

The Jack Stack onion rings are large. I've seen petite women actually slip one of the thick, oversized delicacies right around their slender wrists.

According to Jack Stack's director of operations, Rod Toelkes, the reason these rings are so outstanding is that they're seriously labor-intensive. The company buys sweet jumbo onions, slices them into thick rings, skins the inside of the onion ring so that the breading sticks inside and out, hand-breads them in an herbed cracker meal that adheres beautifully to the sliced onion, then fries them in fresh oil.

These rings are particularly delicious dipped in a small bowl of the house barbecue sauce. No, they're not the cheapest rings in town, but damn it, you're worth it.

Our list so far:

No. 50: Chocolate Malt from Fox's Drug Store

No. 49: Il Parma from Bella Napoli

No. 48: Italian sausage and eggs from Cascone's Grill

No. 47: Orange Roll from Clock Tower Bakery

No. 46: Tacos de cochinita from Frida's Contemporary Mexican Cuisine

No. 45: Barbecued pork bun from 888 International Market

No. 44: Tableside fresh mozzarella from Jasper's

No. 43: Gyro Sandwich from Mr. Gyros Greek Food & Pastry

No. 42: Apple strudel from Grunauer

No. 41: Rice noodle bowl from dim sum at Bo Lings

No. 40: E-Crush from Hi-Hat Coffee

No. 39: Flight of Freshness from Fresher than Fresh Snow Cones

No. 38: Curried chicken salad from Cafe Provence

No. 37: Apple fritter from John's Space Age Donuts

No. 36: Pollo con limone e olive from Lidia's Kansas City

No. 35: Wedding-cake cookie from LattéLand

No. 34: Stroud's cinnamon rolls

No. 33: Smoked Polish from Werner's

No. 32: Burger and frites from Westport Cafe & Bar

No. 31: Paletas from Paleterias Tropicana

No. 30: Goat korma at New Cafe Tandoor

No. 29: Lemon cake from Café Europa

No. 28: Chocolate Mousse Torte from Napoleon Bakery

No. 27: Spring rolls from Vietnam Cafe 

No. 26: French fries from LC's Bar-B-Q

No. 25: Classic Cookie's herbed-potato-and-sausage casserole

No 24: Farmer greens salad at The Farmhouse

No. 23: Egg salad sandwich from You Say Tomato

No. 22: Waldorf Salad from Bloomsbury Bistro

No. 21: Pork tenderloin sandwich from Kitty's Cafe

No. 20: Root beer from Mugs Up Drive In

No. 19: Flank steak sandwich from Happy Gillis

No. 18: Chicken Picatta from the Hereford House

No. 17: Mom's Macaroni and Cheese from McCoy's Public House

No. 16: Fried green tomato salad from Café Roux

No. 15: Veggie burger from Room 39

Tags: , , ,

Comments (2)

Showing 1-2 of 2

Add a comment

 
Subscribe to this thread:
Showing 1-2 of 2

Add a comment

Latest in The Fast Pitch

More by Charles Ferruzza

Slideshows

All contents ©2013 Kansas City Pitch LLC
All rights reserved. No part of this service may be reproduced in any form without the express written permission of Kansas City Pitch LLC,
except that an individual may download and/or forward articles via email to a reasonable number of recipients for personal, non-commercial purposes.

All contents © 2012 SouthComm, Inc. 210 12th Ave S. Ste. 100, Nashville, TN 37203. (615) 244-7989.
All rights reserved. No part of this service may be reproduced in any form without the express written permission of SouthComm, Inc.
except that an individual may download and/or forward articles via email to a reasonable number of recipients for personal, non-commercial purposes.
Website powered by Foundation