In case you hadn’t noticed, I like food. Of the foods I enjoy, burgers are in the top three of items that I freakin’ love to eat. I love burgers so much that I have devised different categories for burgers, as well as a complicated rating system. What I’m going to do here is list my top five favorite burgers, and then I want you to share your favorite burger joints. Hell, you could even consider it a meme, so if you’ve got a blag, you could do it there. Or you can post it in the comments, whichever floats your boat.
Categories
There are two major categories of burgers, with those being “Fast Food Burgers”, which are found at establishments where you order at a counter and receive your food in a bag or a tray, and “Sit Down Burgers”, where you have a waiter/waitress that you order from. The exception is that Steak & Shake falls into the Fast Food category, despite their wait staff. We are going to focus solely on Fast Food Burgers, because, uh, that’s what I had for lunch.
So, without further ado, Ahab’s Top Five Fast Food Burger Locations, and what makes them so awesome.
1. In ‘N Out Burger – Primarily located in California, this chain has started to expand to Arizona and pieces of Nevada. Their finest burger is the Double-Double w/Cheese; all the ingredients are fresh, and their fries are literally potatoes that are chopped there in the restaurant. But the burger, oh the burger. Two perfect 1/3 pound all beef patties, grilled RIGHT WHEN YOU ORDER, combined with the freshest toppings leads to a tasty burger which has no equal.
2. Five Guys – When I moved to the DC/Metro area, I was truly disheartened. Where would I go for burgers? Despite having not lived on the west coast for years, the memory of In N Out was still fresh in my mind. Thankfully, I found the number 2 choice on my burger joint list, Five Guys. Their burgers are almost as good as In N Out’s, perhaps because they share the same “fresh ingredients made when you order” philosophy. Much to my joy, Five Guys has recently expanded into Indiana, once again giving me access to this fantastic burger chain.
3. 96th St. Steakburgers – My third favorite choice is essentially an Indiana knock-off of In N Out. It’s only found here, in the Indy Metro area so don’t feel bad if you’ve not heard of it. If you’ve eaten there, you’ll know why I love their burgers so much. Basically, take everything great about In N Out and put it in Indianapolis, and BAMF you’ve got 96th St. Steakburgers. Even their fries are the same.
4. Streetcorner Burgers – This was some dude in Boston with a streetcorner burger cart. I have no idea how he made burgers out of a cart, and frankly I don’t want to know because the burger was so good that I cried a little bit. Right there, in my Coastie dress uniform I cried just a little bit.
5. Steak & Shake – When I can’t find any of the my other top five, I’m heading to Steak & Shake. Their Double Steakburger w/cheese is almost as good as Five Guys, but unfortunately the thinness of their burgers causes them to lose points.
So, what are you favorite burger joints? Any comments that say “McDonalds” as a favorite will be deleted, and the commenter will be summarily mocked on the front page.
Edit: I should note that jokes about Big Kahuna Burger, and “that is a tasty burger” are totally welcome. If you’re not a Tarantino fan, disregard.
Despite living in California for some time, I never ate at an In ‘N Out Burger. There was a small Mom-n-Pop burger joint that served a pretty tasty burger. My father liked them and so did I. I think it was called “Burger World” or something.
I think one of the worst places for a hamburger was my elementary school (they would occasionally serve them when rotating the menu). It wasn’t because of the taste, but I once received an undercooked burger (pink in the middle). I remembered the Jack in the Box incident and it freaked me out.
McDonald’s hamburgers are useful as laxatives. Seriously.
I love In-N-Out burgers. The Double-Double is one of my favorites. I live in the south but every year I visit some friends in California and make sure I eat there several times. Awesome. You must get the onion too.
There is a local franchise here (I assume it is local) called Fuddruckers that serves some pretty damn good burgers and you can get them up to a one full pound monster with your choice of cheeses and other toppings. Most fast food burgers just aren’t that great. Man, I’d almost move to California for In-N-out though.
I’ve got to agree with you, In-N-Out Burgers are the best in the world, hands-down.
In and Out protein wrap animal style.
Yummy cool watery lettuce with grilled onions… yum!
But when we grill at home I use a combo of buffalo and ground beef and sometimes I’ll put a little gorgonzola into the meat.
I could spend days talking about hamburgers.
Here’s the in and out secret menu.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/In-N-Out_Burger_menu_items#The_.22Secret.22_menu
Ever have a Fatburger?
Fuddruckers also falls in between fast food and sitdown burgers.
Oh and I like a 4×4, mustard fried only (thats no lettuce, tomato, pickle, or spread), extra mustard, extra ketchup, extra toast; with crispy fries, extra salt.
I’m surprised at your rating of 5 Guys, although it seems to be in line with most folks, for some inexplicable reason. I’ve tried, Lord I’ve tried to like them, but they are bland almost to the point of tastelessness. The fries, and of course the peanuts, are outstanding, and they are generous to a fault with both.
Now that I’ve quit smoking I’ll have to try them one more time, but I’m not optimistic.
I&O is ok i guess , finding a good burger is almost a lost cause anymore…
we have a new burger joint that grows its own freerange(not feedlot) beef , and makes its own bread and etc…
will be trying it soon with fingers crossed…
man, that sounds good. There is no burger like a fresh burger.