T-shirts of the past pt 2--Tastee Inn and Out

My dad grew up in Sioux City, Iowa.  Sioux City is an interesting place, and it's a pleasure to listen to him talk about its folklore.  He has a whole map in his head with all of the town's hidden mysteries, and I've been priveleged to take that tour more than once. 

One of the points of reference in Sioux City is the Tastee Inn and Out.  Everyone I've ever met from Sioux City, or who has spent any time there knows about the Tastee.  It's an old style drive-through foodstand, but... what amazing food! 

The main dish is a kind of loose-meat hamburger (the "Tastee"), with a unique and unforgettable flavor.  For a side, you can get fries, but the real treat are the onion chips--onion peels, breaded and fried, and served with a seasoned creamy dip.  I don't have the skills to describe what it tastes like (or how unbelievably good it is!), but you can see some pictures here.

Every time we would go to Sioux City to visit my Dad's family, there would always be at least one trek to the Tastee.  In the same way that it makes its way into the stories that my Dad tells, it floats around my family memories, stretching back into my youngest past.  

For example, when I was younger, my parents threw a "junk food party", where you had to bring your favorite junk food for everyone to try.  Getting Tastees to Cedar Rapids was an impossibility, but only Tastees would do for my Pop.  Fortunately, he had been to his High School class reunion a few weeks prior, and had met a woman who had spent a bunch of time mixing the closely guarded recipe.  He called her up, and she agreed to give him the recipe over the phone, on condition that he not give it to anyone else!  Thus, we had homemade Tastees at the junk food party, and there was much rejoicing.  

I haven't had them in years, mostly since I haven't been to Iowa in years.  But just like with my Dad, the Tastee Inn and Out has become a fixed point for me; a place that memories and relations pivot around in my life.  I do hope that I'll make it back there again, some day.