Burger and Fries

It's a classic American combination.  There are tons of great burgers to be had out there.  There are also people doing new and exciting things with burgers.  How about a cheese burger with the cheese inside?  Some express their creativity through what they offer on your burger.  One of the best burgers I've ever had was a lamb burger.  Even with the most vanilla of foods, if you look for adventure, it's there.  

I group the burgers into several categories.  There's the upscale burger, the fast food burger, the just plain good burger, and the creative burger.  Each of these is excellent in their own way.  Fortunately, living in California, we have a fast food restaurant that makes a decent burger.  It's known far and wide and while they aren't the best, they are definitely a good safe go-to.  On regular occasions, people visiting from out of town ask "Can we go to In-n-out?"  What makes this place so special?  First, the burgers are good.  Fresh ingredients, and they stick to what they know.  You won't find a chipotle mushroom onion ring burger here.  The choices are simple.  In fact, I can recite the whole menu for you.  It's not too tough:

Hamburger, Cheeseburger, Double Cheeseburger (known as a Double Double), fries, shakes (Strawberry, Chocolate, Vanilla) and your various soft drinks, lemonade, and tea.  

If you want to get the basic experience and are pretty hungry, I recommend a Double Double, see below (I like mine with grilled onions):

They'll mix it up with how you want them prepared and what you want on them, but it's really that simple... almost.  What you see above IS their menu, but there is also a whole world of off-menu items.  Want to delve into these?  Check out this link:

http://www.badmouth.net/in-n-outs-secret-menu/

From Neapolitan Shakes to burgers "Animal Style", there's a whole world to be explored.

If you want to go into one of the other categories, there are nice sit down places, burger shacks and everything in between to offer you a variety of options.  Here are some of my Northern California favorites:

T-Rex BBQ - This is the place with the Lamb Burger, truly exceptional.  There's a lot of other great stuff here too and they have an excellent bar.

Luke's Taproom - An excellent burger and something for everyone on the menu.  Again, an excellent bar. 

Cafe Rouge - Again, excellent burger, simple, but wonderful.  

900 Grayson - Excellent burger. Can't go wrong with those french fried onions.  

Enjoy!