Getting an In and Out Burger to Chicago
 

I have a question, and it is kind of silly. When I went to Arizona to visit my Grandma, she took me to in and out burger, and now I think it is the greatest burger ever! I don't have the cash to make it back out there again, and there are no in and out burger locations near chicago. However, i have friends that take frequent trips out to the west coast. How can they get me a few in and out burgers back to me without them spoiling?

if they pick it up on the way to the airport, its probably about 5-6 hours by the time it gets to your door in Chicago. i don't think that qualifies as spoiled, but obviously its not totally fresh. i think its still edible though, heck i've eaten pizza that i left out overnight 24+ hours later.

i guess they could stuff it in one of those soft shell coolers if possible too

yup, they wouldn't be spoiled but they would be soggy. pizza keeps better because it's baked. the only thing i can think of is to take the burgers apart and stick the pieces into separate ziplock bags for the trip back.

it's so much better fresh because the buns are briefly toasted on the grill and then the sauce is put on which warms it. then you have to figure that greasy burgers aren't the best thing to store.

That's right. They won't be SPOILED in 6 hours but I highly doubt that you will vote it as the best burger after all that time.

Food like that needs to be consumed minutes after being made. Anything nice, hot and a bit greasy is like that. You can't do that with fries and you can't do that with a bun that's going to get soggy.

Don't fret, with VX entering the market there are sure to be some fare sales and capacity dumping, and there's an in-n-out minutes from LAX.

I'm out to the west coast of couple of times a year and always bring back burgers to New York. Mode of transportation = Freeze them. You'll never get that same experience but it's the closest thing to it. I've tried to bring them back on the plane but I just end up eating them.

I believe there are some Five Guys located in Chicago. That'd be the closest thing to an In & Out burger here on the east coast/midwest. The thought of a double-double, protein style, animal style has me on cloud 9 right now.

The 5 Guys style is not that similar to I-n-O; equally
worthy, though, perhaps more so. If you want to convey
the I-n-O experience, taking someone to 5 Guys won't
cut it. But why bother? It's not as though Chicago were
a burger wasteland.

FWIW, you may find the advice on the following link helpful for reheating/transfer, but also in just making your own (they're not hard, and can be done easily on a cast iron at home).

http://aht.seriouseats.com/archives/...mal-style.html

Instead of trying to come up with a way to get In-N-Out burgers to Chicago, you should figure out how to move yourself someplace that has an In-N-Out Burger.

You're an FTer and you don't have the miles to get to an INO location???? ;) :p

Seriously though, if you "deconstruct" the burger, (and be sure to order it without condiments, or rather, special sauce on the side), you should be able to heat it up using a pan or toaster oven...

But why not just buy some nice burger meat and some buns and make your own version? In-and-Out is good and all, but it is, after all, fast food. I could whip up a burger 100 times better in the time it would take you to get in your car and drive to a restaurant to get one (if you lived where they have INO).

Save your craving for the next time you're in LA, or LAS, or PHX, or wherever...

Serious Eats did a head to head to head taste-off with In and Out, Five Guys and Shake Shack recently--which involved a cross-country flight with an In & Out burger. Read the article to see how they did it, but basically they ordered everything on the side.

I have been out in California 8 years now. Take lots of visitors to In & Out as part of their LA visit experience (because they want to go). That is about the only time I make a visit. Just don't get the hype.

You now have The Counter in Chicago -- have you tried that yet? Plus you have a Fatburger in Chicago too. I may be a little partial to The Counter because the original one is down the street from me here in Santa Monica. But would take a visit there or Fatburger any day over In & Out or Five Guys. Not similar per se - just better.

In answering the original question, the best bet would probably be a friend buying one at the In & Out in Grapevine, Texas on the way to DFW. It could probably be to Chicago and in your mouth in 3 hours if the security and weather gods align and you meet your delivery at ORD.

buying the burger near DFW will cut some of the travel time off compared to flying PHX or LAX...

I found the methodology dubious: I would have thought that
the people's taste buds and taste memory would survive a trip
better than a burger would.

You live in Chicago, which is among the best foodie cities in the USA, and you want fast food leftovers shipped to you on an airplane? Unbelievable. There has got to be something vastly closer to home that will make you forget In-n-Out even exists. Figure out what it is, and be happy.

Do an MR to LAX. Fresh double double and a bunch of miles. Doesn't get any better for an FTer.

MR to LAS. You could come out ahead in burgerage, mileage and have it all paid for.

a suggestion, get out more in Chicago and explore, there are far better burgers to be had in Chicago than at In N Out.
You won't get your food as fast as one does at In N Out, but what you do get will be well worth the wait.

I've done a mileage run from ORD/LAX, hit the In-N-Out by the airport and flew home

A lot fresher that way. :D

I've lived in Chicago my whole life. I've been to all of the best burger joints in the city. In and Out s**** on all of them. Five Guys comes close though. I'll give Kuma's Corner a ^ for creativity. This is OT but if anybody here like fancy and delicious hot dogs, I highly suggest going to Hot Doug's in Chicago. Get there early, they have lines out the door all day. And on Fridays and Saturdays, they have Duck Fat fries and they are amazing!

http://www.hotdougs.com/

I use to go to Hot Doug's in Chicago when my GF attended NW but after that stupid no reservations episode it ruined it for me..lol

really?!?

i turn down requests when people ask me to bring semi important things, now an in-n-out burger i'd probably pickup before leaving lax and bring whoever asked me the receipt still covered in that cheese that always manages to get the bottom of the bag....

Having transported many an Animal Style Double Double on the six hour drive from my area of LA to Stanford over the years (this was before they had locations all over CA), I can say that it can be done and the burger will not spoil. But the issue of packing it in an acceptable way for airplane transport, as well as the sogginess of the bread is an issue. Here would be my solution:

Have your friend order the burgers "protein style" which simply replaces the bun with something resembling a lettuce case. Pack the burgers in one zip lock bag and order the buns on the side to go in another zip lock bag. Soggy bun issue solved. I'm not sure what the TSA policy is on gel packs for coolers but you can transport it all with one of those in a purse sized cooler and you'll have no worry of anything spoiling. Though if the flight is on time you shouldn't have to worry about that anyway.

Upon arrival, simply unwrap your burger mass from the lettuce, nuke it, replace some of the lettuce, add bun, and voila! Almost as good as new. ;):D

I would also have your friend get extra sauce on the side in case you need more after the nuking.

As others have pointed out, I'm sure you can find a much better burger in Chicagoland but when you want some In 'n Out, nothing else will do. Good luck!

I tried to take a double double from LAX to BOS a few times, made it on the plane with one, but right after take off it was gone...the wrapper made the east coast though...:)

very doubtful, I'd also be curious what you consider the best burger joints in Chicagoland.

The magic of an In-N-Out burger is the first bite of that crispy edge bun. That edge does not last more than a few minutes - I wouldn't bother trying to travel with these things. Just come on out for a visit.

I was hoping this would be about getting an In and Out location in Chicago and not getting the burgers themselves here. Anyone can do good burgers, but their fries are another story.

As Sweet Willie says, there are plenty of good burgers in the area if you look.

Hmm... I don't necessarily think an In-N-Out burger is BETTER than other burgers that are twice or three times the price. But for a $2-$3 burger that you can order in a drive-thru, nothing else can even come close.

In any case, I've carried dozens of In-N-Out burgers from LAS to ORD. Order the burgers with the buns on the side. It's definitely not as great as fresh, but still good...and better than anything else remotely close to being called "fast food" in the Chicagoland area.

One great thing about food is that we all have different tastes and opinions. Our opinions are 100% right to us. Another example is that there are plenty of people who think that nasty deep-dish pizza one gets in Chicago is the best in the world, while others like the thin crust pizza we can find in NYC; personally I like the Greek-style pizza one finds in the Boston area.

Right away someone is going to say "wait, Chicago pizza isn't nasty" but that's not going to make me turn around and say "oh, my mistake it is good". If the OP has tried burgers in his area and not found anything that compares to In-and-Out than that's what's best for him/her.

What you say is quite true; I'm also guessing that some/all of the doubters in this thread haven't ever had an In-N-Out burger. While it is technically "fast food", an In-N-Out burger is nothing at all like the "burgers" one can purchase at typical fast-food places (McDonalds, Burger King, etc.).

I call BS on this.

In'n'Out is fine, but though it's technically "food," it
is nothing like a real burger!

You mean like the one in the first post of this thread?

http://milepoint.com/forums/threads/food-porn.368/

Oh, come on. Yes, I made better burgers than I-N-O on my grill last night, so I-N-O burgers are not the world's best, but putting them on the same plane as McD's/BK/etc. is simply wrong.

Since this is FT, I'll make an analogy between In-N-Out and the E175. A Y seat on the E175 is not the same as an int'l business/first class seat, nor is it in the same league as a private luxury jet. However, equating the E175 with a CRJ200/700 because they're both "regional jets" would simply be wrong--even the worst Y seat in the E175 is far more comfortable than the best seat on a CRJ.

Well ... that's not a burger, either!

First, your speculation that most of us haven't experienced
In'n'Out is foolish.

Second, I don't see this In'n'Out vs. Five Guys thing - both
produce a perfectly fine product, somewhat better than what
the big big chains produce, but I'd say the difference was
more (building on your analogy) like row 12 vs. row 5 on a
CRJ than whatever you said. It's fast food vs. fast food.

Reading about the awesome In-N-Out burgers making me hungry. Will have to get a double double tomorrow ;)

:eek: Then what qualifies?

Best regards,

William R. Sanders
Social Media Specialist
Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide

[email protected]

Yours errs in the other direction!

Agreed, some Chicago pizza is nasty. I personally hate Lou Malnati's which is always featured on the Food Network as "the" Chicago pizza to eat...yet it makes me cringe when anyone drags me there. But that said I LOVE Giordano's. Different style of deep dish. But others would think this is blasphemy. Maybe you just haven't tried the "right" Chicago style pizza for you?

Clearly, you need to make an FT friend who:

A) Lives near and In & Out
B) Has similar cravings for Chicago Deep Dish, or Italian Beef.

Then you can alternate Mileage Runs

I have a friend who moved to the east Coast who has me FedEx him double-doubles, which he says he reheats and enjoys--hard to believe...