A few nice facts about animals images I found:
Second-Freshest
Image by andyi
It used to bother me a little -- OK, a lot -- that the Holsteins have such a blasé attitude about meat. They don't eat beef themselves, of course, but they really couldn't care less that I sometimes order a nice burger when I'm chaperoning them around.
I guess it's just one of those "same planet, different worlds" sort of deals. I think they're more freaked out by the fact that I'm eating in a small, enclosed, indoor space and I'm sitting down instead of standing. I don't "get" why they don't care I'm eating beef and they don't "get" why I'd leave myself so vulnerable to predators. *Shrug*
Onward. This, my pretties, is an In-N-Out Double Double, Monster Animal Style. It has the outward appearances of a fast-food burger in the sense that the meal cost me somewhere around six bucks (including beverage) and both the counter where I ordered it and the table where I ate it were made of some plasticky sort of composite material.
But that's where comparisons end. In-N-Out is like an attempt to reproduce a McDonalds meal at home. Nothing's frozen, nothing's been under a heat lamp, and everything's made to order...including the fries, cut fresh in the kitchen.
It's a little remarkable to see just how good a fast-food burger can be. The Double-Double is roughly equivalent to the Big Mac in basic architecture (tall double-patty burger). But all of the vegetables in the In-N-Out version are salad-fresh. They're cold and crunchy. The meat is more readily recognizable as meat. This is what McDonalds food would taste like if they really cared about ingredients.
(I must apply a minor point deduction for the fries. They were very good, but I wonder if In-N-Out hasn't switched to some sort of tree-huggy frying medium. They lacked the moist, glisteny snap of potatoes fried in an unhealthy liquid.)
The menu is simple and free of Clever Trademarks. Hamburger, Cheeseburger, Double-Double, Fries. And not a licensed character in sight. But they'll actually cook whatever you want, however you want it, and a "secret menu" simplifies the usual custom options. If you "monster animal-style" a double-double, they grill the onions until they've carmelized, fry the patty in mustard, and add extra pickles and sauce.
Alas, In-N-Out is something they only do in California, like topping oatmeal with avocado or electing any castmember from "Jingle All The Way" to high office. I've only eaten there three or four times. I try very very very hard to squeeze in time for a meal whenever I'm in San Francisco.
