IN-N-OUT BURGER

You may be thinking, “Hey, what’s the big deal about IN-N-OUT that you have to write an article about it? But if that is what you’re thinking, then you are likely to have one or more or these great restaurants in your town. However, not everybody visiting Las Vegas has an IN-N-OUT BURGER back home, but they are likely to have heard of this fast food chain.

A regional burger chain

IN-N-OUT BURGER is not found throughout the Untied States, and this is due to several reasons, but most notably is the fact that they don’t have freezers for the ground beef. Although many fast food burger joints claim to have fresh meat, IN-N-OUT actually does. They use fresh ground beef that is unfrozen. This limits their expansion because they need to have a good local source for their ground beef.

The same as it ever was

IN-N-OUT has not changed much over the years. The main reason for this is that they are a privately held corporation. In other words, they are not listed on any stock exchange. For this reason, they don’t have an army of shareholders pressuring them to change their menu, recipes or business model. They have no breakfast menu like other hamburger chains, and they still have the same menu they did when I was in high school back in the late 1970s. I remember when I took my oldest child to an IN-N-OUT here in Las Vegas about ten years ago, and I tried to explain to her that it was the same menu I ordered from in high school.

The menu

You can’t get a simpler menu: hamburger, cheese burger, the Double Double and fries. The Double Double is simply two patties and two slices of cheese. If you order it animal style, you get it with grilled onions. They do have milkshakes in the three basic flavors: vanilla, chocolate, and strawberry. Their french fries are as fresh as the ground beef. They use fresh potatoes and push them through a cutter, then throw them in a basket for deep frying. Because these are real french fries, they don’t keep well, and will start to go limp. Eat them while they’re hot.

This is a low cost hamburger restaurant

This is perhaps the most amazing thing about IN-N-OUT BURGER. As great as their hamburgers are, they are no more expensive than a typical fast food restaurant like Burger King or McDonald’s. There are higher priced burger joints, and some of them are very good, but the burger taste combined with the cost makes this the best burger restaurant around.

Locations near the Strip

You may think that this is a commercial for IN-N-OUT and you’re right. But I am not getting paid for it. If you have never had an IN-N-OUT burger, you owe it to yourself to try one while you are in Las Vegas. Although they are located all over the valley, there are two near the Strip. One is on W. Tropicana Ave. and is only about a quarter mile from the New York, New York hotel. Traveling west, it is past the freeway on the right side. This restaurant has a retail store next to it that sells a variety of IN-N-OUT BURGER clothing and other souvenirs.

The second location is on the other end of the Strip on W. Sahara Blvd. This is a little bit farther from the Strip than the one on Tropicana, but still within easy driving distance. Both locations can be visited by the bus.

One final thought

You should know that these restaurants are crowded, and it’s not just the two locations near the Strip. They are crowded at every location around the valley. And this is for both the drive-thru window and dining inside, so don’t think it is crowed because it is a weekend, holiday or just an IN-N-OUT BURGER near the Strip.

If you have never had an IN-N-OUT BURGER, I highly recommend it while you’re visiting Las Vegas. If you like burgers, you’ll most likely enjoy one of these, and it won’t set you back a lot of money.

Matt

UPDATE

IN-N-OUT BURGER now has a location on the Strip. It can be found on the Linq Promenade. From the Strip it is about half way down on the right side.