My relationship with QuikTrip has been one of my longest lasting. We've been together way longer than my husband and I have.
The romance started in high school. Toward the end of a late night out (ahem), when the "BARBECUE BEEF!" chant began to rise amongst the pack I traveled with, it was QT time — time to stop, buy our barbecue "beef" sandwiches and microwave them in the store. We'd feast on them, glorying in their mushy pungent trashiness, in the burgundy Buick that served as our mobile clubhouse and whose floors eventually succumbed to the rust formed by the gallons of cheap beverages (ahem) puddled there, so that we could see the road rushing by under our feet.
(Grown-up note: I do not condone any of the alluded-to activities in the above paragraph, including the ingestion of those late-70s QT barbecue beef sandwiches. Also, sorry Mom.)
Growing up
The first time I tried one of those sandwiches in the pitiless, unflattering light of day, the horrible truth of them was revealed and I'm not sure I ever ate another. Still, as my idiotic teenage years waned and my responsible iced tea-drinking days waxed, I continued to keep my relationship with QT alive.
In fact, I am happy to report QT and I are still together after all these years. My kids learned that a trip to the public pool meant a stop at QT first for an enormous, bracing, perfectly brewed iced tea to smuggle in (I still shamelessly support this bit of illicit activity). Nowadays you can get decent brewed tea lots of places, but QT was ahead of its time. I know this because I am an iced-tea aficionado — self-appointed and very particular. And on any given day, in any given QT-hosting city, you might find me bellied up to what is now a dazzling array of iced tea flavors, each offered in unsweetened or sweetened (which should be illegal at least in northern states).
The tasting
All this to say that when I got a news release from QT inviting me to a QT Kitchens "tasting" event, I was all in. I'll admit I got a giggle out of the idea of a convenience store "tasting."
But I also wanted a close-up look behind the scenes of many youthful barbecue beef indiscretions, and also because, not only have I been devoted to what is still some of the best iced tea in town, there is the wonder of the QT all-beef hot dog. To get the full effect of the dog, you must select the one that's skin is sort of popping open and nestle it in one of the warm, almost sticky, buns from the steam drawer — the bottom layer of the steam drawer. (Full disclosure: The Costco dog might edge out the QT dog, but are way less handy to get to.)
Now QuikTrip has taken the food thing a step further, even further than its main local competitors Casey's (made-to-order pizza and subs, but mostly grab-and-go things including stuff like burgers and chicken sandwiches) and Kum & Go (all grab and go).
In the "Gen 3" QuikTrip stores, which all stores are or will become either through remodeling or rebuilding (there are nine left to do in the Des Moines division), there's a whole made-to-order menu (that you order using a really cool touchscreen system) that includes toasted sandwiches, personal-size pizzas, flat breads sandwiches, smoothies, ice cream and coffee drinks and – get this – kolaches (ko-LAH-chees).
Kolaches?
Kolaches are, in their purest Czech/Slovak form, a soft, sweet dough surrounding an open center filled with fruit or jam. In American/QuikTrip form, they're often stuffed — not only with sweet fillings, but savory ones, too. QT's version, which I did not sample because I was already stuffed full of breakfast pizza (I'll get to that in a minute), is aimed at breakfast and is filled with sausage or bacon, egg and cheese.
QT's corporate chef, Nick Powell, said a lot of discussion went into what to call the things. "There was a debate about what to call it but we decided to call it a kolache," he said, shrugging, "because that's what it is. We can educate people and that gives employees another opportunity to interact with customers."
Powell called this enterprise — this providing of freshly made food along with cigarettes, prepaid phone cards and weirdly small, overpriced packages of flour — "a third space. It's not a just a gas station and it's not just a fast-food restaurant. It's something in between." (Duh, it's an iced-tea oasis.)
In a bold, taking-on-the-local-giant move, QT has also recently introduced breakfast pizza right in third-space pizza-king Casey's backyard. Breakfast pizza at QT is now available only by the slice, but will soon be served as a personal size pizza, too. As a big Casey's breakfast pizza fan and with love in my heart for the hometown team, I have to admit QT's version was mighty good. Good chewy crust, good creamy sauce. Just good. And filling.
Did I mention the iced tea?
The place was swarming with friendly QT employees, including Melanie, whose full-time job is to go around to different QT stores and hand out samples of stuff to eat and drink. She'll make a fabulous grandmother — she tried to force-feed me a mint-chocolate ice cream shake thing, a flatbread sandwich and a cinnamon-sugar pretzel all before 10 a.m., and even I can't do all that before I've finished my iced tea.
(More full disclosure: As long as the tea taps were flowing, I figured I might as well take advantage of the first free QT tea of my life. I stopped short of putting my mouth under the spigot, but I was pretty hopped up for the rest of the day. And remember, I was devoted to the iced tea before I got it free.)
Everything looked surprisingly tasty for a "third-space" operation, and while I don't see myself planning lunch outings to QuikTrip, it's nice to know I could. Or that QuikTrip could come to the rescue of a cranky, starving family who poorly planned their road trip snacks.
I'll probably stick to iced tea and the occasional summertime hot dog (I don't know why, but I can't eat hot dogs in the winter).
As for the tea, it now comes in plain-old, passion fruit, raspberry, black mango and pineapple-papaya-green tea flavors and the unsweetened version of all them are good. My tea advice though: two-thirds plain-old to one-third black mango.
I mean, suit yourself, but I am an iced-tea aficionado.
Try for yourself
Check out QT Kitchens' menu at www.quiktrip.com/food. (Breakfast pizza is not yet available in all markets so is not listed. It's available from 6 to 10 a.m. at all Des Moines-area stores that have QT Kitchens.)
