Road Trip: Burgers and Fries

Kingman, Arizona

Four long days of driving from St.Louis to the Grand Canyon and on to California meant four quick lunches. This gave us an unanticipated chance to directly compare the quality and taste of MacDonald's, Burger King, and In-N-Out burger. Here's what we decided:

• MacDonald's quarter pounder with cheese isn't that great. On our second visit, I had a McChicken-Cheddar which tasted of nothing but pepper, and had too much breading. The fries are skinny, a little soggy, and not really super tasty. Also they don't pick up the catsup as effectively as the competitors' fries do.
• Burger King's Whopper Jr. was juicier than MacD's burger, and had more lettuce. The fries were thick, crisp, and tasty. Better on both counts.
• In-N-Out Burger deserves its reputation. We see why there are such long lines at all of them -- we stopped at the one in Kingman, Arizona. The burgers are even better, the cheese is meltier, and they have the most lettuce and tomato. The fries are thick, crisp, and just a bit better than fries at Burger King. As I've written before, In-N-Out is a superior hamburger joint, though I'm not sure I agree with people who think it's over-the-top-excellent food and who write poetry about it.

Len pays for In-N-Out Burgers.

So glad our burger-and-fries diet is over and we're in our little apartment with a real kitchen!