Burger Battle, Round 3: A Big Dog Goes Wild for Animal-Style at In-N-Out
See Round 1 in Burger Battle, PJ Lifestyle’s ongoing debate to find America’s best burgers, by Bryan Preston: In-N-Out Vs Five Guys
And Round 2 by Bridget Johnson: West Coast Homer Votes In-N-Out
Stay tuned for more installments as PJ Lifestyle’s other contributors are also invited to upload pictures and reviews from their preferred burger joints around the country (and perhaps the world?) Readers too can share their recommendations participate in Burger Battle. Take a picture of your favorite burger and email it to me DaveSwindlePJM AT Gmail.com along with your instructions for where to get it and how to order it.
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At the end of their visit to PJM headquarters last week, I drove editors Bryan Preston, David Steinberg by the In-N-Out Burger at LAX before their flights back to Texas and New York. And we made a big mistake. We didn’t take PJ Washington DC editor Bridget Johnson’s advice to order “Animal Style”.
As a result, Bryan wrote in his blog post that he still preferred Five Guys. And driving away from the airport after dropping off my colleagues I unwrapped my burger only to receive confirmation of my previous opinion: The Habit is SoCal’s Best Burger. The flavor of In-N-Out just wasn’t as vivid even though in many other ways they still offered an excellent burger.
Then Bridget stepped in to remind us we’d forgotten her advice. If you don’t have an In-N-Out Animal Style then you might as well not bother.
So last night after wrapping up the last PJ Lifestyle post, I grabbed Maura, and hopped in the car. The plan: grab an Animal Style Double Double and head to the park. Here are six photos of our adventure to figure out if this could really elevate In-N-Out as high as Bridget claimed.
"Please let me have some too!"
Bill & Hiroko’s, Dave. 14742 Oxnard street, it’s about a mile, maybe a mile and a half north of you. Oxnard’s between Burbank and Victory, and Bill’s is between Kester and Van Nuys Blvd. Just go up Kester, turn right at Oxnard, and look for the little hole-in-the-wall lunch counter on the right side of the street. Maura can sit right next to you on one if their outside stools, because they have no indoor seating at all.
Guy’s been flipping burgers there, seriously, since 1965. Very simple, and very very good. Nothing spectacular, just good food.
Oh, one other thing. The guy’s in his mid-80s, so he’s slowing down a bit. He’s only open during the week (the area is mostly industrial) from 8-4 or something along that lines. Don’t try to go on the weekend.
Dogs prefer their burgers “Protein Style”. Ask for it by name!
Daglas at Vanowen and Winnetka. Responsible for many missed deadlines at the Daily News as we’d sit around practically unable to work after this classic SoCal dive-fest.
Anybody who hasn’t ingested a little dog hair at one or another time in his/her life hasn’t ever owned a dog. Same goes for cat fur.
Unfortunately, there are no In-and-Outs in Ohio… yet. It’s getting tougher to even find a decent White Castle (birthplace of what’s come to be known as “the slider”) anymore. The best place for us to get burgers is the Dairy Corner, local to our own little village.
I don’t like Five Guys just because I don’t like eating in places where they throw peanut shells on the floor.
I’ve always wanted to try Animal Style. Sadly, though I love them, onions in any quantity will kill me dead.
I’ve never had an In-and-Out since there are none in my area. But it’s clear that they have an almost cult-like following, so I will definitely try it if I ever have the opportunity.
I had a Five Guys once and it was pretty good. Unfortunately I failed to realize that “everything” includes mushrooms, which I despise. Still, I’ll try it again.
But I will continue to spam each and every hamburger thread with recommendations for Jake’s Wayback Burger for those who live in the Northeast. It really does remind me of a hole-in-the-wall burger joint where I used to eat as a kid. They offer homemade chips in addition to fries, and they have about a dozen flavors of milkshake. Malt is available as an option.