In-N-Out Burger

I travel quite a bit for work and these past 2 weeks I was in Pasadena, California.  I consider this a relative perk of my job, as the long Boston winter can get a bit arduous by late March and early April.  Another perk of my job is that I expense my meals.   We are afforded with a generous travel budget and get to go to nice restaurants on the road.  Recently, I heard a story about how my group was quite under budget with our overall travel expenses.  The head of my group was told that we could afford to spend more.  The head of my department then responded, “It’s because of this one kid we have! All he eats is Burger King.  I’ve seen his receipts.” 

Regardless of the comment, going to California, I knew I had to get In-N-Out Burger.  I first tried In-N-Out Burger when I was on this same work trip in 2009.  I went with co-workers and it did not disappoint despite high expectations from never hearing a bad review of the place. 

Duel Drive-Thu's

There’s something to be said about knowing what do and doing it well.  Steve Kerr made a very good career in the NBA by being a dead-eye three point shooter.  This is despite being one of the slowest, weakest, and shortest players in the NBA.  Derek Zoolander won multiple “Male Model of the Year” awards with basically only one look, Blue Steele, and despite not being able to turn left on the runway.  In-N-Out Burger has a very limited menu.  It has Burgers, fried and shakes.  I ordered the double double combo, which is a double cheese burger, fries and a drink.  In-and-Out’s burgers come with onions and a sauce that is a mayonnaise based sauce, similar to thousand island dressing.  I opted to go with no onions.  I’m not a big fan of raw onions.  I feel like the taste lingers in your mouth for days when you eat them.  We went through the drive through, which was very efficient and brought it back to work.  My double burger was delicious.  It was juicy, meaty, and was complimented well with the sauce.  The fries were thin cut shoestring fries and were lightly salted.  The meal was a throw-back that made me think that Fast-Fooders would order this exact meal in the 50’s and 60’s.  It definitely withstands the test of time.  

Classic

Later, I would hear from my Brother-in-Law, who spent his undergraduate time in California.  He asked me if I went “Animal Style”.  I was unaware of this order and he explained that it “include pickles, extra spread, grilled onions, and mustard fried onto each meat patty” .…..  Well I guess you don’t know what you don’t know.  Maybe next time.

Ratings:

Taste:  A

Visual Appeal: A

Value: B

Actual to Commercial: N/A (I’ve never seen a commercial)