One of the biggest guilty pleasures I have is when I go to Nebraska. I have to stop and get a burger from Runza.
Actually, Runza is named after an old German recipe for a psuedo sandwich that is stuffed with beef and cabbage, and is then baked with the shell around it. The picture makes it look much better than it really is. It's not a pleasing taste to me, but with over 60 restaurants - primarily in Nebraska, but there are some in Iowa, South Dakota, Kansas and Colorado - more than a few people must like 'em.
But the best thing about Runza are their burgers. Big, thick and juicy, Runza burgers are about as close to the old King's Food Host burgers that used to be around the Midwest in the 60's thru 80's. There's kind of a black pepper taste to 'em and they taste great for a fast food burger. In fact, the picture at the left is a good representation of how their burgers look when they take them off the grill, unlike many other fast food places whose hamburgers come no where close in real life as to how they look in their ads.
Probably one of the reasons Runza and King's burgers taste so much alike is that both started in Lincoln, NE. Runza started in the late 40's as a little stand in SE Lincoln. As they grew, they branched out all over Nebraska, which has a large German heritage population. When I first moved to the Quad Cities in 1991, they had a Runza in Southpark Mall in Moline. But it didn't last long - I'm sure not a lot of people around here were brought up on the old German recipes and didn't like the Runza. But their burgers were sure good, but they couldn't survive on the burgers alone.
The Runza burger is one of the best fast food burgers out there, hands down. I don't get to Omaha as much as I used to, but it always means one stop at Runza when I'm there. I'm sorry, I'm guilty, but it's damn well worth it.
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