Your Guide to Authentic Regional Eats
No trip to California is complete without at least one visit to In-N-Out, the state’s premier burger chain. We chose the Studio City location at 3640 Cahuenga Boulevard, since it was on our way home from Hollywood. We hit the restaurant around 11 p.m., and almost every table and booth were taken by late-night burger fanatics. We were particularly curious about two items from In-N-Out’s “secret menu”: the Grilled Cheese and Animal-Style fries. This menu is “secret” only in the sense that it’s not advertised on any marquee. Google that phrase and you’ll get a plethora of webpages devoted to the dozen or so menu items that comprise this alternative carte du jour. Each item has a respective key on the In-N-Out cash register, and it even prints out on your food receipt, so it’s not like the “2 x 4” (two patties, four slices of cheese), “Flying Dutchman” (two patties, two slices of cheese, no bun), or the “3-by-Meat” (three patties, no cheese) were simply conjured up by bored employees. Search the Badmouth.net site with “in-n-out” for a definitive list, an article on the chain’s use of Bible passages on their food wrappers and cups, and a side-splitting account of some Marc Bruno wannabe downing a 20 x 20 (yes, you read that right: 20 patties, 20 slices of cheese)!
