Burger Battle: In-N-Out Vs Five Guys (Incomplete analysis on an serious matter)

Pajama's Media ^ | July 3, 2012 | Bryan Preston

[ImJustAnotherOkie]

That was a good question, but I didn’t have an answer. I could only shrug. I grew up on Whataburgers so I could authoritatively rule them great but Five Guys better. Ditto for Sonic, despite its unstoppable cherry limeade. We all have our local haunts that can’t be topped. Around Austin, that’s Mighty Fine. Up in Baltimore, Burger Bros. is amazing and I cannot recommend them highly enough. Every town has its own best burger. But among the big chains that inspire fanatic loyalty, which is the best?

Overall Taste. Let me note for the record that both In-N-Out and Five Guys offer exceptionally great burgers and both deserve their cult status. Having tasted both, I understand the fierce loyalty that both inspire. In-N-Out is a fine homestyle burger that can be augmented with sauces and veggies and stacked a zillion ways to make it your burger. Five Guys can bring the heat or whatever taste suits you. In-N-Out is the cleaner burger and its wrap makes it the obvious choice if you’re eating on the go. But Five Guys brings a burger that is juicy to the extreme, so much so that you need half a dozen napkins at hand just to keep yourself clean as you bite through it. I prefer the juicier approach, so for me, the east coast approach is the way to go and Five Guys wins on taste. Its burger is simply juicer and tastier than In-N-Out.

[sportutegrl]

Not impressed with Whataburger, bleh, or 5 Guys for that matter. Best burger is Bobs Burgers and Brew, 2nd best is Fuddruckers.

[Ditter]

In Houston, Beck’s Prime is good but it was better a few years ago. Don’t know what happened over there. But I will go to Pappas Burger also on Westheimer any time you want to meet me there. :)

[ImJustAnotherOkie]

Rolling your own on a Weber Kettle tops them all by no small margin. Fries are another matter altogether.

[ErnBatavia]

I've tried Sonic twice....both times the burgers were lukewarm - very disappointed.

I'm really tickled that we have an In-N-Out within ten miles, so I can cure the itch pretty much whenever I want.

[ErnBatavia]

A store manager can easily make 100K annually...they are a phenomenal success story.

[LibWhacker]

Wow, check out some of these recipes (almost 20 years of winning recipes starting about 1/3rd of the way down the page). Haven't tried any of them, but my mouth is watering already!

[Hillarys Gate Cult]

You might want to wait to move until they offer more than one location in Tx. Here's the opening of their only current Tx location in Allen ( a suburb of Dallas );

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jQowy9DdY8k

[Mr Rogers]

The answer is simple: The double cheeseburger on McD’s or Burger Sling’s value meal. $1.25-$1.50 of protein patty goodness, masked with ketchup and some yellow slime for moisture!

Mmmm...Mmmmm...Good!

[who knows what evil?]

Forgot about the tomato slice and lettuce - they detract from the burger - unless it's August-September and you pulled the tomato fresh out of a garden.

My wife stuffs burgers with jalapenos and cheese, wraps them in bacon, and grills them with sweet peppers and onions. The whole shebang goes onto a grilled buttered bun with a slab of Kellogg's Breakfast tomato straight from the garden. You might be able to smell them come August if the wind is blowing your way from the north. :-)

[Dragonspirit]

Living in Hawaii now, the one thing I do miss is a good burger. In N Out was my favorite. The best part was the cheese. Just gooey with the nice sharp onion crunch contrast. Also liked that the meat was always hot but not too thick (I like two thin patties opposed to one thick patty for burgers as you get more surface area). And the bun was always lightly crunchy.

As for 5 guys, only got to try them once. They were decent, and I did like the high amount of topping choices, but they were overall much more expensive.

Looks like I’m going to have to fire up the grill tonight... I need a burger! :)

[who knows what evil?]

I was just reprimanded for omitting the tasty basil mayo used as a condiment...

[LibWhacker]

So hard to find these recipes anymore, even with Google. It's like someone is deliberately taking them off the net. I had a bunch of award winning chili recipe websites bookmarked, all dead links now.

[UncleSam]

What is a Craver?

It’s not just a person but a state of being. It’s going beyond, staying up and driving far. It’s road-tripping two hours just to reach the nearest sack of Sliders. And it’s coaching friends on what to order, how to eat it and then how best to stack the boxes. It’s something that’s embraced and then handed down from generation to generation since 1920.

Cravers are everywhere. They could be anyone. Even the people closest to you. In fact, even if you’ve never had The Original Slider®, the Craver could be lying in-wait – inside of you.

[dennisw]

lol....now to up it a level on your 100% legit take on the scene....Do it all but with grass fed beef

[Osage Orange]

I’m not a big TV dude....but I did love “Chilling and Grilling”

[GSWarrior]

I'm partial to Nations--a small Bay Area chain.

[Cowgirl of Justice]

I don’t eat beef anymore, but the burger I remember most fondly was from MaryAnn’s Cafe in Lake Charles, La.

The owner used what I am thinking was Angus. He formed big thin patties and used a combination of butter and worcestershire sauce while the burger was cooked until crispy and tender. The buns were large and had sesame seeds on them. He grilled them with a brush of butter on the bottoms and put on mayo and finely shredded lettuce. Whenever we ate there, not one word was spoken until your burger was finished. My parents met there back in the early 60s and ate there often. I haven’t been there in over 20 years but hope to again, one day.

Absolute heaven.

[spankalib]

not to t/j, but I had a Coors in Colo. in the early 70’s. It was fresh, it really did taste better.
I think they used to ship them under refrigeration.
Maybe a beer guy could step in and correct me, but they abandoned that at some point and now it just tastes like all the others.

I prefer the local mini-brewers, though inbev (Anheiser Busch) is always trying to shut down competition.
I like Whataburger. (for getting back on topic’s sake)

[Oratam]

Prexy’s—The Hamburger with a College Education!