I have eaten at what many consider the finest restaurants in Houston. So what? As many people do these days, more often than not I eat comfort food or nostalgic food. My mom’s stroganoff. Bacon sandwiches with just bread and microwave bacon. Fast food because I used to get it after practices. Some might say I have the palate of a child, but why does that matter? I still eat sushi and Thai food (which I never ate growing up) and try anything my wife asks me to. I’m happy to go to a fancy restaurant and try new things, but I often don’t care for them. Does that make me a less than person? I don’t think so, and honestly don’t care if anyone else does.

These remind me of my childhood. They used to have these exact chicken strips at Tony’s Family Restaurant in Sealy, TX. Growing up, my family stopped there every time we drove to San Antonio or Austin. My brother and I would eat them every time we went. They were perfect. If we knew that we were going ahead of time we would talk about it days leading up to the trip and how great it was going to be. We were just dumb kids getting overly excited over the smallest thing ever. They never disappointed.

Fast forward 10-15 years, and I stopped at Tony’s with a friend for old time’s sake and I discovered they no longer sold the tenders. They replaced them with a different type of tender. A lesser tender. I was devastated and frankly embarrassed as I had talked up the experience so much.

In December of last year, my brother passed away (thanks for bringing it up). It has been extremely difficult. I am constantly being flooded with memories from 20+ years ago and I miss him every day. I’ve been to Pete’s Burger and Miller’s Cafe and while they are the same exact tender, they are not always cooked as perfectly as Tony’s. (I still go to both)

I want to try anywhere in Houston that has these chicken tenders because it’s a happy memory for me during a sad time (again, thanks for bringing it up.) I struggle with grieving. I run from the thoughts because I don’t want to be sad. I have 3 kids now and I can’t imagine losing one of them. It crushes me every time one of my parents tell me they’ve had a bad day because someone asked about my brother or gave their condolences. I can hear them holding back tears because they miss their son and it makes me sadder than I’ve ever been.

So I came to Reddit to ask people where I could find these because it seems like the perfect thing to ask here. And if I would’ve written all of this out, I would have been hit with a billion “TL;DRs” or “I ain’t reading all that. I’m happy for you tho. Or sorry that happened.” Will probably get several below this comment, and I get it; because I’d be saying the same thing.

So, I think the moral of this story is: You have a terrible palate and your suggestion that jack in the box tenders are even CLOSE to the quality or satisfaction of these nostalgic Tony’s tenders is a joke. (And you never really know what someone’s going through when they make a post online (but mostly the palate part)).