Rally's Drive-In: Yes we'll Rally 'round the fries, boys

Rally's Drive-In recently opened a restaurant in Jackson, and its claim of "Famous Seasoned Fries" is what really inspired my trip. Any time a place claims "famous" or "world's best," well, that just has to be proved to me and my taste buds.

Rally's is on the corner of highways 34 and 25 where Rhodes 101 Stop convenience store used to be. This is an infamously bad corner to get into and out of when school lets out, so time your visit to avoid arriving between 2:50 and 3:25 p.m. or so. Your patience and temper will thank me.

The menu is enormous and comprehensive for a fast food place. And that's what Rally's is. You won't find anything gourmet here, but there are burgers, fries (plain or with multiple toppings), hot dogs, even wings. That menu was daunting at first glance, especially with people in line behind me. My eye was immediately drawn to the top of the menu, where the "2 For" items were displayed. You could pick from a selection of two items for $3, $4, or $5. And this is the trick to getting a bunch of food fairly inexpensively here. The three members of my family ate here once for just more than $10, and when is the last time you could say you did that at another fast food place?

What about those "famous fries?" The cardboard sleeves were generously filled and not half full, like we've all received before. The fries smelled delicious, but keep in mind that I think fries smell delicious in general. They were crispy on the outside, soft on the inside. So far so good. The seasoning vaguely reminded me of a curly fry, but with more salt and a definite black pepper undertone. They were tasty. When it is time to treat myself, I could see visiting Rally's just to order some fries.

Next I tried a Double Rallyburger with cheese from the 2 for $5 menu. It came with all the standard vegetable toppings, plus mustard, ketchup and mayonnaise. I like mayo on a burger, so this combination worked for me. The vegetables were fresh, crisp and in the right amounts. The burger patty was a good temperature, but without all of the yummy toppings, I don't think the burger was especially mind blowing. For a fast food burger, I enjoyed it.

Rally's Famous Fries, seasoned and crunchy.Submitted by Rebecca LaClair

To round out the 2 for $5 pick, I got a Deep Sea Double, which is a double decker fish sandwich. When I was a kid, the first "adult" sandwich I tried at McDonald's was a Filet-O-Fish, which I instantly became hooked on. The Deep Sea Double is like that classic sandwich on steroids. Two fish patties with a piece of American cheese melted in between on a bun with tartar sauce. Especially during this Lenten season, if you're hungry and in a hurry, this sandwich will fill you up. It's huge and decent and, well, fish.

Now we come to the pleasant surprise part of this trip. Rally's has a selection of desserts that surpasses what other places typically offer. Ice cream, cones and Stackers (like fancy sundaes), funnel cake fries and little cinnamon apple pies. I really wanted to try the funnel cake fries, but honestly wasn't feeling like funnel cake that day. I wanted to give dessert a fair shake, though, so I ordered the apple pie. Oh my goodness! I hate to keep comparing to McDonald's, but these were shaped exactly like a McDonald's apple pie: rectangular hand-sized crunchy and flaky pies. But Rally's pies were so much better. The dough was slightly crunchy, but so flaky and soft inside. The apple pie filling was somehow less sweet than its counterpart, but more intensely apple-flavored. The pies were less sugary, but more like a real apple pie which is all to the good. Then the entire pie was rolled and/or dusted in sugar and cinnamon, so that even though the filling wasn't as sweet, the pie still had a wonderful warm to sweet to cinnamon balance. Just imagine what one of those would be like with a scoop of vanilla ice cream on top. Amazing. In fact, I bet if you asked really nicely, Rally's would plop that pie into a sundae cup for you and put some soft serve on top of it. I know what I'm ordering the next time I visit.

Rally's Drive-In can be found at 113 W. Jackson Blvd. in Jackson.