Posted on 04/20/2021 12:53:19 PM PDT by mylife
Takeout contributor Danny Palumbo recently wrote about how the fries at beloved West coast burger chain In-N-Out are very bad. Those are his words, not mine. These are now my words, not his: The fries at In-N-Out are bad. I still eat them, though, usually animal-style (mostly out of novelty, and yes, I know, I know, the fries get weird when the cheese starts cooling off, but I’m well aware of what I’m getting into).
I get the obsession with In-N-Out. The burgers are awesome, and I love my Double-Doubles, animal-style. If I’m in an area that has an In-N-Out, I’ll stop bye, It’s a solid place. But there are great burger places a lot closer to home, too, and I started to wonder: does the Midwest have a spiritual analogue to In-N-Out, something we can only get here, and which is special to us in the same way as Californians embrace In-N-Out? After doing some soul-searching I came to a conclusion. The answer is yes: We’ve got Culver’s.
Now, people often feel the need to compare In-N-Out with Shake Shack. This seems like an unnecessary, played-out, coastal ego war. Shake Shack is great too, but it’s brutally expensive. At the location nearest to me, a double Shackburger, fries, and shake, plus tax, costs around $20. Bye!
By the numbers, Culver’s has the bigger spread, by a long shot. In-N-Out currently has 358 locations in 7 states. Culver’s website indicates 796 locations (as of April 2021) in 25 states, The two states with the most Culver’s locations by far are Wisconsin (where it was founded) with 142 outlets and Illinois with 122. There are four lucky states that get to enjoy both In-N-Out and Culver’s: Utah, Arizona, Texas, and Colorado, for those who want to do a side-by-side comparison.
(Excerpt) Read more at thetakeout.com ...
“Fuddruckers is a burger joint.”
I know what Fuddruckers is. Eaten there many many many times.
It’s a restaurant burger joint. It’s not fast food.
They do indeed to a gangbusters business at most of their stores, but there are some In-N-Outs sprinkled California where the lines aren’t usually crazy-long. The one on I-10 in Thousand Palms, for example, typically seems to have crowds analogous to a medium-busy McDonald’s. Ditto the one on 210 in Upland, CA. Also, the one without a drive-thru at Fishermen’s Wharf in San Francisco isn’t super-busy on weeknights during the tourist off-season.
“the In and Out problem could just boil down to they buy potatoes that are great for gourmet cooking and then don’t gourmet cook them.”
I’ve wondered if it is the potato.
I thought maybe russets cost more so they use a cheaper potato. But I guess maybe the opposite.
I wonder if russets would harden as fast.
Nice reconnaissance.
Culvers is a good burger. Fresh, reasonably tasty. Nothing I go out of my way to get as they are SLOW, but a good product all around with all their food.
Kincaid’s does look tasty!
We don’t have either so we do McDonald’s. Wife gets half a double cheeseburger. I get half a McQuad. All for $1.09. How? The app often has “spend $1, get a free McDouble” so we get a cheeseburger for $1 and free McDouble. We cut both in half, doubling the meat and cheese, and feed the bottom buns to critters. Tasty when fresh and cooked right.
Kennebec potatoes might make a difference. I have no idea what variety of potatoes McD’s used almost 50 years ago, just that they came in 100-pound sacks.
The burger was pretty good. But I agree on the fries. Was really surprised at how bad they were since they were fresh cut.
I prefer Alaskan Cod caught fresh, cooked same day. Best fish is the little known Cabazon - kelp dweller, blue flesh, has to age a few days in fridge before cooking - like Halibut.
Sometimes the Fries at In and Out are not great.
When they are fresh out of the Fryer they are wonderful.
McDonalds were good.
Weren’t they quite processed?
See post 86 for how they did it a long time ago when I worked there. Now every McDonald’s that I know of gets frozen fries shipped in.
I used to love Carl’s Jr. Their double Western Burger has been copied by everybody, but not beaten. It used to drip with sauce and fat but they don’t anymore. Still very good when eaten hot.
Maybe I’ll grab one tonight?
Everyone else sucks. In And Out tastes like cardboard to me. I just don’t understand the love????
I caught a Cabezon fish and it seemed to me to be a lime green kind of color before cooking. Then it came out white flesh. Beat the H out of cod caught the same day, along with the red snapper the wife had been preparing in case we were skunked.
You can order the fries well done. They come out a lot crisper.
We’re not comparing fast food restaurants. We are comparing hamburger joints. Sheesh!
Mmmmm Western Star..
Yes, but is there a Ralph’s nearby?
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