A tray of goodness: roadside lunch from In-N-Out
If you don’t happen to live in California, Arizona, Utah, or Nevada, but your travels take you to that neck of the woods, be sure to stop by one of the many In-N-Out Burger outlets that dot the landscape. As any native of the region will boast, it’s the best, hands-down. Even Eric Schlosser sang the praises of In-N-Out in Fast Food Nation, his landmark expose of the fast-food industry.
In-N-Out’s appeal is its simplicity. For 60 years, they’ve kept it streamlined: variations of burgers, fries, and great shakes. No Baja Tango Chicken Margaritaville Wraps. No Tuscan-style Sandwich-inis. No concessions to changing tastes and trends. They just make burgers and fries better than just about any fast food chain. Nothing is frozen (there isn’t even a freezer on the premises), burgers are made to order, buns are baked from sponge dough, fries are cut on the premises.
Although the menu is small, you do have options, all part of their “Not-So-Secret Menu,” which you can find on their Web site. Vegetarians can order the Grilled Cheese (no meat), carbo-phobes can opt for the Protein Style (no bun). The really, really hungry can choose a 2×2, 3×3, or even 4×4 (as in 2, 3, or 4 patties). And there’s the famous Animal Style, with a special sauce.
My favorite: a cheeseburger, with onions, fries, and a chocolate shake, which I recently enjoyed at windswept In-N-Out off the I-40 in Kingman, Arizona. My dog was happy we made the stop.
Rascal enjoys a lip-smacking bite of cheeseburger.
Now, some folks might consider this attitude jingoistic–my burger’s better that yours. So there. But I’ve been living in heart of Dixie for the last six years and have made it a quest to find a burger that rivals In-N-Out. I’ve tried Milo’s, a Birmingham, Alabama institution that serves burgers smothered in their BBQ-like special sauce. Locals adore them. I think they taste like a flat tire…smothered in BBQ sauce.
My In-N-Out substitute down south has been Sonic, which has friendly car-side service and a reasonable burger and great tater tots. But they confuse the issue by loading up the menu with chicken sandwiches, hot dogs, sausage & biscuits, and a plethora of ice cream creations that rivals Dairy Queen.
Sweet and simple…that’s the way Rascal and I like it.
Ahhh, the great burger debate. I have had this argument many times, over many years stretching back to when In-N-Out was only in LA and every trip there was planned around at least one meal there. The argument always ends the first time someone actually has an In-N-Out burger – game over. It’s like TiVo, you just don’t know how good it is till you try it.
Close 2nd – half pound (after cooking?) Boll Weevil steerburger!
I’d forgotten all about Boll Weevil’s steerburger. OMG, those were so good! I was recently introduced to the Hinano burger in Venice, CA. Addictive.