For those of you who do not know I spent a few years of my childhood growing up in the Bay Area of California. Before you completely judge me please don’t forget that I was born in Texas and fortunately got out of California eventually, although I went to Missouri from there so not quite sure if that one was truly a saving grace. Fortunately, I found my way back to Texas as time went on, but there are still some lingering memories of California foods, like Chinatown in San Francisco, clam chowder from Fisherman’s Wharf, and of course In-N-Out Burger. The latter has finally seen the light and worked its way into the promise land by opening up a new location in Dallas. Unfortunately, with the newness of the place it was still a circus even with it being a Monday night; the feeder road has cones everywhere directing you around the block even though it is on 75 right through the middle of Dallas, pure chaos.
These simple diners crank out some of the best burgers around, so good that even Tim Lincecum of the Giants has no problem stuffing 3,150 calories in his mouth at this place. I might have let you down by telling you this but I could not even come close to eating his meal so instead I will just share with you mine.
But first, a separate order of business. Some of you may have noticed a mention of Kevin a time or two in some of the previous blog postings. Just to give you some background information on him, he is my cousin, and he lives in Dallas, and he likes to eat too… Go figure. Here is a picture for you to imbed in your mind for all future mentions of the word Kevin, and yes please imagine him in the hat no matter where we go or what he eats.
Now on to the main course, one of In-N-Out’s most famous features is their not-so-secret menu, a whole list of options that you will not find on the menu but will know about if you are in the know. My research and associations with residents of the state of California have tipped me off about these over time so I felt obliged to live it up with these items.
As you can see this meal was hit on our way home from Kansas so there are three double burgers in that tray. My mom rolled with a standard cheese burger, but Kevin and I rocked out the Animal Style Burger. It is a burger with the spread (basically Thousand Island dressing similar to all secret sauces everywhere else it seems), cheese, grilled onions, and your standard burger toppings of lettuce, tomatoes, mustard, etc. And to be honest it was nothing short of an amazing burger.
Of course no burger diner experience is complete with a basket of fries, and the other not-so-secret menu that I had to get my hands on was Animal Style Fries. These were basically the same as the burger, piled high with cheese, grilled onions, and spread. We also had to get a regular basket of fries just to ensure that we had a control flavor, and that everyone was happy. Unfortunately, the fries were not up to par but I know they can do better so of course I will give them a second chance to get them right the next time I find myself in the Big D.
This trip into the diner truly made our road trip that much better, few things good can happen during 12 hours in the car, but sure enough this was a great silver lining… even if we had to put up with Kevin while we enjoyed the burgers.
No comments:
Post a Comment