- In-N-Out is California's favorite burger chain.
- But Fatburger, a lesser-known chain also based on the West Coast, is highly underrated.
- On a recent trip to Los Angeles, I ate at both chains, and while I loved my burgers at both, I found that Fatburger's was bigger, juicier, and just better overall.
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In-N-Out is California's golden burger.
Eternally hip and effortlessly photogenic, In-N-Out is the retro farm-to-table fast-food chain of young America's dreams. But somewhere in the shadow of In-N-Out's glory is Fatburger, an LA-based chain with a following of its own.
Fatburger is the Jonathan Byers to In-N-Out's Steve Harrington. But gravity-defying style doesn't mean the latter has more substance.
On a recent trip to Los Angeles, I ate at both Fatburger and In-N-Out. While I loved both, Fatburger's burger was bigger, juicier, and just plain better. Here's the burger breakdown:
First, I stopped by an In-N-Out restaurant in Hollywood, California.
In-N-Out is cheery inside, with bright tiles, vibrant fake plants, and neon signs.
Its menu is simple, featuring just three kinds of burgers. Pretty much everybody knows about animal style, though — it adds grilled onions and extra spread.
In-N-Out keeps an iron grip on its supply chain, ensuring that its beef and veggies are always fresh.
I got a Double-Double animal-style ($4.35), animal-style fries ($3.95), and a medium lemonade ($1.75). In total, my meal cost $10.05 before tax.
The Double-Double is beautiful on the outside and on the inside.
It's two cheese-smothered beef patties layered with crunchy veg, grilled onion, and drenched in special sauce, all packaged immaculately inside two toasted buns.
I was in love at first bite. In-N-Out's $4 burger is no cheap date.
Juicy, flavorful beef, fresh-as-fall veggies, and zingy sauce require one to savor each bite slowly.
Of course, it's hard to savor something slowly when you're wolfing it down.
The juices leaking out of the taut wrapper were a ticking time bomb.
As soon as they reached my elbow, I'd have to take a napkin break.
A burger chain must not be judged by the taste of its fries, but by the taste of its burgers.
But soggy, flavorless fries really put a damper on an otherwise excellent meal.
I tried my fries both animal style and plain, and both styles engendered the same result: disappointment.
Even though In-N-Out's potatoes are fresh-cut every morning, a fresh potato does not a good fry make. Not necessarily.
For the rest of my meal, I stuck with my burger.
Alas, it was gone much too fast.
My fries, however, remained largely untouched. They went in the trash.
At the end of my meal at In-N-Out, I felt full but refreshed. It was everything I wanted from a burger — or so I thought.
The next day, I went to a Fatburger in the same neighborhood. Seeing its unlit signs and peeling paint, I thought it might be closed.
But inside was a normal, albeit nearly empty, fully functioning restaurant.
Fatburger's style is also colorful and retro, but in a different way from In-N-Out.
Its menu is also simple, but it includes nifty extras like onion rings and the Impossible Burger.
Like In-N-Out, Fatburger prides itself on its fresh, never-frozen ingredients. But it also prides itself on how big and filling its burgers are, hence the name "Fatburger."
I ordered an original Fatburger meal ($10.50), which came with a side of fries and a drink. Before tax, it was just 45 cents more expensive than my In-N-Out meal.
A Fatburger has just one patty, but it's a big, beefy patty.
Between these toasted buns is one-third of a pound of meat, relish, onions, pickles, tomato, lettuce, mayo, and mustard.
I noticed that the patty had an incredible brown layer of caramelization on the outside.
But everything else on the burger was just as stunning.
The patty's delicate outer layer of crisp hit a tender patty that just oozed with juice.
That juice melded with a marvelous mélange of crisp and tangy vegetables for the perfect burger experience.
I could hardly believe it, but this burger was even better than In-N-Out's Double-Double.
It was juicy without being saucy — the defining quality of a top-notch burger.
I went for a fry break, and this time I wasn't disappointed.
Fatburger's fries are the crispy-outside, soft-inside potato miracle any good burger needs as a companion.
I had trouble deciding between golden fries and a gut-busting burger.
But true love waits for no one.
Still, I was soon reminded that nothing lasts forever — especially not a delicious burger.
Love, like a hungry belly, is all-consuming. And just as I consumed Fatburger, Fatburger consumed me.
In-n-Out will always have a special place in my heart. And I'll definitely be back for more.
But Fatburger's the burger I'll dream about on cold, hungry, New York nights.
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