7206 S. Union Park AvenueAs we were driving around Salt Lake City, a random thought popped in to my head. Does Utah have In-N-Out Burger? I asked my question out loud and J said she didn’t think so, but she’d Google it. Turns out, Utah does have In-N-Out Burger and one of them wasn’t too far out of our way.
We had just eaten lunch at The Annex by Epic Brewing, but I didn’t want to miss the chance to finally get a chance to try the legendary In-N-Out Burger. There was a little bit of sightseeing in between meals, but in all honesty, they were too close together. I was stuffed.
There are 10 Utah locations of In-N-Out Burgers and half of those are in the immediate Salt Lake City area. We chose the Midvale location because it was closest to our route and wouldn’t be that far out of the way when we decided to head back to Park City.
It’s funny. We thought this location looked like it was in a really nice area. The restaurant is in a pretty heavy shopping district not too far from I-215. It sits on Union Park Avenue near a Walmart and The Family Place at Fort Union which I believe is some kind of shopping mall. Again, looked like a nice area, but when we told friends who live in Salt Lake where we went, they all looked at us like we were crazy for going to Midvale. I didn’t really get it…seemed like a really nice area to me.
Anyway, we pulled in to the West coast fast food chain late in the afternoon and it was still pretty packed. We decided to go in to the restaurant to get the full In-N-Out Burger experience.
I really had no idea what this place was all about. I figured it would be the typical fast food place, but they really only do a few menu items. Burgers, fries, and shakes. That’s pretty much it.
J wasn’t really hungry, but was really thirsty, so she got an Iced tea and an order of fries. I wasn’t really hungry either, but I needed to try a burger. People tend to go crazy for In-N-Out and since I’ve never been out West, I’ve never gotten the opportunity to crave one of these burgers.
I ordered the #1 Combo Meal. Yes, I know about the “Secret Menu” where I could have ordered more burger patties, but I stuck with the Double-Double and Fries with a Coke.
The bill was right around $15 and I was handed a receipt with a number on it and a couple of cups for drinks. J went to grab a table while I waited for the food to come up.
In-N-Out Burger is one of those places that never uses frozen meat. They have distribution centers and patty production facilities that serve all of it’s locations so they never have to ship frozen meat. It’s something that makes their burgers stand out.
The Double-Double is a double cheeseburger…two patties, two slices of cheese on a freshly baked bun. The rest of the condiments are onion, lettuce, tomato, and their special sauce which is a variant on Thousand Island dressing.
I don’t know if you can’t get In-N-Out Burgers plain or if I just didn’t speak clearly enough. I really don’t know the lingo or the process at this place, but when I said “plain” the cashier said “no onion?” I said no thinking that’s all that was on it, so I got my Double-Double minus the onion. I picked the rest off and wiped most of the sauce off with a napkin. No biggie.
The burger alone was delicious and most likely, the best fast food burger I had ever eaten. Fresh burgers make so much difference and you could really taste it on this one.
The fries all kind of went to waste. Not because they tasted bad, but just because both of us were so stuffed. They were fresh cut fries (I watched them slicing potatoes in the kitchen before dumping them in fryer), skin on fries. They probably could have been cooked just a little longer, but they were still pretty delicious.
OK, so In-N-Out Burger probably deserves it’s reputation. It’s still fast food, but it’s pretty darn delicious fast food.
Double-Double
French Fries
