Burger Of The Week Or Weak Burger?
We may receive a commission on purchases made from links.
It's been awhile since we had a good ol' Food Fight on Food Republic, but when two editors recently began discussing the ongoing merits of LA's (and now Vegas's, and Texas's) favorite fast food burger, things got fairly heated. First, the defense, expertly argued by Assistant Editor Jess, and then the takedown, by Editorial Director Richard.
Jess: I won't tell you a magical story about my first Double-Double or how I felt when I discovered "animal-style." I won't get on a soapbox about how I've memorized the secret menu or how easy it is for me to stay gluten-free and still get my fix. No, when I say In-N-Out is at the absolute apex of the fast food burger bell curve, it's because for the longest time after reading Fast Food Nation, I couldn't eat ground beef, period. When I finally came to, all I wanted was the only fast food the book had deemed not only "safe," but "excellent." And I wanted that house-ground, hand-shaped, happily griddled burger animal-style.
Richard: Like any good New Yawka heading west for business, I recently drove straight from LAX to In-N-Out for a long-in-coming fix. It was a gloriously sunny spring day in SoCal, I got a parking spot in that bustling Sunset Drive location lot, and I threw back the door dramatically as I entered. A double-double meal was procured, and, with my salivary glands going into overdrive as I grasped that orange tray, I found a corner two-top and settled in. I took a bite of that burger and—horror! The bun was stale. The patties were good, but really not as juicy or flavorful as I would have liked. The fries, meh. I came 3,000 miles for this? I knew I should have taken friends' advice and tried Umami. Next time, that's my post-disembarkment destination. Hasta la vista, In-N-Out.
What do you think of the famed In-N-Out burger? Let us know in the comments.