So, In-N-Out

I've seen people sporting t-shirts and bumper stickers for In-N-Out Burgers since my BYU days. Not that it ever made me think, "Oh, MAN, I bet those burgers are the bomb!" I just figured it was like Hard Rock Cafe--one of those institutions that's better at branding than actually producing food of any merit.

But now, some things have changed. In-N-Out announced that it was coming to North Texas. And I am married to a man who used to live in Vegas and he thinks In-N-Out burgers are the bomb.

He's being a little ridiculous in this picture. The store wasn't open yet at this point. And we had not yet left for our road trip. We would be driving through In-N-Out territory, so we agreed that we would go during our trip so that I could taste it and see what the big deal was before they actually opened near us.

We passed three In-N-Outs on our trip:
1. Provo, UT: but all of our meals while in Provo were spent with friends and family so there wasn't much sense in stopping for fast food.
2. Las Vegas, NV: too bad In-N-Out was closed for Easter Sunday!
3. Kingman, AZ: this was our last chance for In-N-Out on the road trip and we got there just before noon Texas time. Just before 11 Nevada time. Too bad we were in Arizona. And Arizona doesn't do Daylight Savings. So the store wasn't open yet!! They open at 10:30.

So we had to wait for the Grand Opening at the Frisco, TX store. Which was this past Wednesday. A rainy day. We hemmed and hawed a little too much before heading out and got there at 8pm. The crowd was ridiculous. We could see that the drive thru line stretched into eternity, so Bill asked if we should eat inside. Then I pointed out that the "dine in" folk were standing out in the rain waiting their turn to get in. Not happening. So we asked one of the employees directing traffic where to get in the drive thru line. He directed us to a store parking lot a few blocks away and informed us that the wait was approximately 4 hours.

No.

Not if we're starting at 8pm. No way. So we got a salad bar at Jason's Deli instead.

We agreed to try again on Friday night. The crowds were still insane, but we got there earlier and they had a much better system for crowd control. This time, the wait was only 2 hours. Plus, the weather was nice. So, it was pleasant to roll down the windows and chat with the people in cars next to us about their In-N-Out experiences as we moved up in the line. We got to the window around dusk. Then rushed home to eat our double burgers and fries.

And they were good. I was not disappointed. We don't do fast food burgers very often--if we do fast food it's either Taco Bueno or maybe Chick-fil-a. But I think I would choose In-N-Out over Wendy's and maybe even Carl's Jr--these being the only places we ever go to for fast food burgers.

Altogether it was a good experience, and turned out to be a fun date night with my husband. I even read about the "secret menu" online before we left and convinced Bill to order chopped chilis on his burger. He loved it and never knew it was an option before! Bonus!