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Comment by georgieporgie | Hacker News Reader

Now, that could be considered a restaurant hack. Writing a blog post about discovering a well-documented 'secret' (i.e. "we want the general population to order quickly") menu is not hacking. At all.

Also, I'm sorry to say that In-n-Out is simply not that good. There are countless local, independents that serve a much better burger, and have a variety of fresh, seasonal shakes.

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Since we don't have In-n-Out in Texas, I was excited to try one out. On a trip to Las Vegas, I made the walk to the one on the other side of the highway, from the strip. It was mediocre at best and I never really saw what the big deal was. What really surprised me was Fat Burger. I only knew about Fat Burger from the Ice Cube song, "Today was a good day." I thought it was some made up place, like Big Kahuna Burger. Fat Burger was good stuff and if you have a chance, get one of those! Google Map Link: http://bit.ly/i6GuZi

I've found it to be true that In-n-Out isn't that good on an absolute scale, but it's great for how cheap it is. I can definitely get a better grass fed beef hamburger for $10 (or an even better one made from the ground lamb at the Berkeley Bowl for $8.99/pound) but haven't had a better fast food burger than In-n-Out.

haven't had a better fast food burger than In-n-Out.

I have. Also, the only places serving burgers I've been to that aren't fast food are the few gourmet burger restaurants. The problem may be that you're in the Bay Area (the burrito capital of the world, IMO).

In-n-Out as a burger compared to the entire burger ecosystem true enough, not very awesome. However in its own category it reins king. I feel like it dominates 2 cross sections, the first of course is fast food. Compared to almost any other quick burger joint its the best. In terms of the style (I've seen referred to as 'West Coast style' which is a thin paddy, often several of them relying on sauces and veggies for substance) it is also near the top.

There's also a lesson for HN to take away. In-n-out is a extraordinarily example of making the best product they can using the best production methods they have for their target market.

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