Lowbrow Tour Part I
To keep my criticism of hamburger joints on the level, I felt obligated to eat at In 'n' Out for lunch today. I know, it's a tough life, but, and this will be undermined by my next post, I really like to avoid junk food.
I've already revealed my biases toward Fatburger, but I realized I hadn't eaten at an In 'n' Out in over two years, and that a fair assessment should be made.
I ordered a double-double animal style with fries and a 7-Up. A few minutes later they called my number and I picked up my red basket of food. It looked pretty good. The fries were a tan birch color. The burger was well proportioned with a picture-perfect edge of charred patty, melted cheese, lettuce and tomato arcing out.
Then came a roadbump. They double wrap the burger, and after peeling off the wax paper, I'm left with an internal diaper. I usually take off all the paper from a burger, usually driven by the paranoia of getting a mouthful of paper.
When I took off the wrapper, it started leaking russian dressing. Oops. My first bite was a good balance of all the fillers and meat. Not bad, no one taste overpowered another, which is always the goal. A flood of dressing squirted out of the bottom, forcing me to lean way over the tray. This is the same posture assumed while eating a philly cheesesteak on the sidewalk. Bend forward and bite, just watch your loafers.
I will never be a fan of the fries. They make them like you would make them at home, which produces an inferior end result, sorry to say. Commercial fries are shoestring cut, dusted with corn starch and fried twice. The first fry is low temperature to cook the inside, the second a higher temperature to crisp the outside. The fries are ho-hum, and the production of the fries leaves a bed of frylets, which are burnt nubs that are too salty and too tiny to dunk in the paper thimble in which you put your ketsup.
Overall, yes, my verdict stands, Fatburger is better. But In 'n' Out was better than I remembered, and I won't carry such a bias. The problem is, I will always feel I am getting half a meal, as the fries just aren't that satisfying.
The last minor nitpick is the proselytizing on the wrappers. Yes, most of it is completely unintelligible due to obscurity by condiment or collateral damage, but it is still there. I want a burger, not salvation.
I've already revealed my biases toward Fatburger, but I realized I hadn't eaten at an In 'n' Out in over two years, and that a fair assessment should be made.
I ordered a double-double animal style with fries and a 7-Up. A few minutes later they called my number and I picked up my red basket of food. It looked pretty good. The fries were a tan birch color. The burger was well proportioned with a picture-perfect edge of charred patty, melted cheese, lettuce and tomato arcing out.
Then came a roadbump. They double wrap the burger, and after peeling off the wax paper, I'm left with an internal diaper. I usually take off all the paper from a burger, usually driven by the paranoia of getting a mouthful of paper.
When I took off the wrapper, it started leaking russian dressing. Oops. My first bite was a good balance of all the fillers and meat. Not bad, no one taste overpowered another, which is always the goal. A flood of dressing squirted out of the bottom, forcing me to lean way over the tray. This is the same posture assumed while eating a philly cheesesteak on the sidewalk. Bend forward and bite, just watch your loafers.
I will never be a fan of the fries. They make them like you would make them at home, which produces an inferior end result, sorry to say. Commercial fries are shoestring cut, dusted with corn starch and fried twice. The first fry is low temperature to cook the inside, the second a higher temperature to crisp the outside. The fries are ho-hum, and the production of the fries leaves a bed of frylets, which are burnt nubs that are too salty and too tiny to dunk in the paper thimble in which you put your ketsup.
Overall, yes, my verdict stands, Fatburger is better. But In 'n' Out was better than I remembered, and I won't carry such a bias. The problem is, I will always feel I am getting half a meal, as the fries just aren't that satisfying.
The last minor nitpick is the proselytizing on the wrappers. Yes, most of it is completely unintelligible due to obscurity by condiment or collateral damage, but it is still there. I want a burger, not salvation.
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
Links to this post:
Create a Link
<< Home