Wednesday, December 29, 2010

Oh duplicates...how you annoy me.

Usually I don't feel compelled to write about the duplicates, only mention them in brief. However, the two most recent visits for me have been duplicates. Looks like my long run has simply dried up and now it will seem amazing next I get another original. So why do I feel the need to write about these duplicates? Well, I'll let you know...

#75 duplicate. If this were an original at the usual location, it might have been rated near the bottom of my list. The points of interest that stand out from this visit? Well, it was my first visit to the location I went to (San Marcos). I had high hopes for this location, but alas they disappointed me. Outside of that it was the first time I used a gift card. See, I got a gift card from a friend last Christmas and forgot I had some remaining money on it, so $1.51 was paid for by gift card. On that note, Xmas this year brought a new gift card, so it won't be the last time that payment method is used.

#62 duplicate on the other hand was the opposite end of the spectrum. At the usual Carlsbad location, but this was one of the best meals I've had at In-N-Out Burger in a few weeks. Probably due in part because the bun was not toasted on the grill, so that helps. The fries were also near perfectly cooked. Anyways, it could have been a 9.0 or better had the # been original. Another interesting thing? I got my order to go and sat outside because it was really busy inside. Oh yeah, it was raining all morning, still really cloudy, and the tables were soaking wet. But I wasn't about to take In-N-Out into my new car yet so outside it was. Lastly, while in line two people who did not know each other decided to have a conversation about Montana. Not that I would normally care, but I was in between them! I almost told the guy behind me to just cut so he could talk to her without having to talk through me. I also forgot to use my new gift card! Oh well.

Better luck next time I hope.

Friday, December 17, 2010

Guest #52, your order is ready.

Rating: 8.5/10

Wow, has it really been one day short of a month since the last entry? Well, I did only go one other time since then I think, and that was a duplicate, but more on that later.

Unfortunately it was a "cold" day and we were sitting outside, so food getting cold quick means lower score simply because it doesn't taste as good. Oh well. The fries were hit and miss, some were great texture while others were too stiff. The burger was pretty good, except towards the end when it was just bun. And the soda...well it was Diet Coke. Also, this is one of the very few times when there was only one tomato slice on my burger, so less work for me.

Interesting thing is that my last # was a duplicate, and that was #53. I was so very close to getting the same duplicate 2 times in a row. So close in fact that it was my co-worker who ended up getting #53. That would have been a crazy occurrence had I gotten it.

Fun fact, #52 through #56 is my longest sequential group of numbers at the moment. Edging out #61 through #64.

Wednesday, December 8, 2010

Another dupe...

Went to get an In-N-Out Burger for the first time in like 2.5 weeks yesterday. I'm pretty sure that is the longest I have gone without going since I started this whole thing. So why the long wait? I wasn't pressuring myself to go like I have been, usually wanting to get posts for this blog so I can have something to update on. I felt like when I was forcing myself to go at least once a week that it was taking away from my actual enjoyment of the meal. This time, I just waited until I wanted to go. At one point last week I planned on going but a co-worker suggested we go to this build your own burger place called The Counter. Overall I liked it, except one major issue. If you read the intro to the site you would know I like thin fast food style patties, not a lot of meat basically. This place had nothing smaller than 1/3 lb for their patty, so there was a decent amount of meat. But it gave me a chance to mix it up with some cheddar and some bacon. Also got the standard lettuce, tomato and mayo. I'll go to The Counter again, but probably get chicken instead. A chicken with bacon, cheddar and chipotle mayo sandwich would be something nice to have every now and then. Or maybe I go and get a burger with an egg and bacon and chili? Or something else outlandish.

Anyways, back to In-N-Out. This was a duplicate, #53, but it was very enjoyable. Having not been in so long I was actually excited to go. I won't get into a full review but will say that I think a consistent issue for me at In-N-Out is them grilling the bun or whatever they do. I like my bun to be soft, and the hard edges just ruins it for me sometimes. I am going to start asking for my bun not to be grilled/whatever from now on.

'Til next time...

Saturday, November 20, 2010

Guest #37, your order is ready.

Rating: 8.5/10

This is a day late, but oh well you'll survive. Also, I screwed up and took the picture after I put salt and pepper on the fries. Don't worry I always taste them before putting anymore S&P on them, so my rating is still accurate.

So...this meal had so much potential but small things here and there made it dip lower. The smallest changes would have made it a 9.5, but instead here we are explaining the "issues". The Diet Coke was a bit off, which as you should know by now is fairly rare. The fries...man they had the least amount of salt ever. And the burger. Well there wasn't much lettuce but the bigger issue was the meat being off-centered. And since the cheese had fused the meat to the bun it made it difficult to move, so I didn't. I just ate it as is which meant a few bites remaining. Oh yeah the bun itself was too toasted, I should ask for the bun to not be toasted. I wonder if they'll do that?

While relatively free of interesting things, I believe a decent "note" is that this was the most people I have ever been to In-N-Out with at once. Including me 6 people. All sitting at one outside table.

Wednesday, November 17, 2010

What else does he eat? Part 1

I didn't really think when I first started the blog about doing posts not related to In-N-Out, but realized that if there happens to be anyone who frequents the site that maybe some posts during original # down times would be good.

So what else do I eat other than In-N-Out Burger? One of my favorite dishes that I get weekly is the Indonesian Peanut Sauté from Noodles & Company


I personally get it without broccoli (I like broccoli, just feel that it doesn't add to the dish as a whole) and with chicken. I also order a ciabatta roll, which is honestly one of the best pieces of bread I've had. And of course a diet coke as a beverage. Maybe next week I'll come back and add a picture of one of my visits, instead of using the stock photo.

Until next time...

Monday, November 15, 2010

Dupe

Went a few days ago, got #28 again. Crazy thing about that is my previous "false" dupe from the shake experience was #29. I should make sure to track all the duplicates as well, see when I first get a dupe of a dupe.

Friday, November 5, 2010

Guest #75, your order is ready.

Rating: 8.5/10

Facebook friends got a special note here...so I didn't know what to say instead. Not like anybody probably reads this anyways, but if you do maybe you should comment so I know!

The fries are what caused this one to be knocked down so much. They weren't done enough, some soggy and just overall underdone. Plus no S&P as usual. Not really much else to say. I mean the lettuce was out of place on the burger (which I properly arranged) and there were two poor tomato slices (removed what I thought was the lesser of the two). But the burger itself was pretty good.

Interesting note: For San Diego, it was flippin' hot outside. Now, being from AZ it wasn't like I was dying, but 97 degrees is still pretty warm no matter where you are.

Sunday, October 31, 2010

Guest #66, your order is ready.

Rating: 8.75/10

Unfortunately the fries really brought down the score this time. The burger was near perfect with only the bun being too toasted and the lettuce being uneven. The fries however were quite a bit more done than I would have liked and of course no S&P.

Overall what appeared to be a slow day at In-N-Out. Open tables, no line. But of course a slow day for In-N-Out is still busy as from the time I got in until the time I left they went through about 40 numbers.

Sat inside and nothing really of interest happened. There was such a lack of interesting things happening I decided to count the # of employees working...which turned out to be 12. Quite a bit of people back there behind the counter.

Sunday, October 24, 2010

Guest #56, your order is ready.

Rating: 8.9/10

So...one interesting thing about having to score these meals is that exterior influences can come into play. For instance, I don't believe it was any fault of the burger or fries but I just wasn't feeling too well. Could be because it was actually fairly sunny and warm outside, and I kept my hoodie on so the sun wasn't in my face. Either way, not feeling that great took away a bit of the enjoyment from the meal.

Onto the meal itself. Here I give you a rare glimpse of the burger still packaged without the ingredients touched. As you can see, there are two tomato slices. That is not desirable and I promptly removed one after I took this picture. The fries, while not perfectly salt and peppered, were actually better "Seasoned" than most of the recent times. The burger itself was pretty good, but about 2-3 bites of bun + tomato were wasted as the meat must have been lopsided and was gone before the rest of the burger.

And from what I can tell, this is the only receipt with a red stripe on it.

Monday, October 18, 2010

Guest #91, your order is ready.

Rating: 9/10

Thanks to my wife suggesting it for dinner, I managed to have In-N-Out two days after my prior trip. Possibly the quickest 2 trips since the beginning of the number tracking.

Onto the rating. The fries were almost perfectly cooked. They might have been a tad overdone because they were more "dry" than usual. Also needed S&P, which defeats my theory of night time visits having better seasoning. The burger was possibly the best burger I've had from In-N-Out so far, except for one thing. The meat and cheese were lopsided and since the cheese melted to the bun it was hard to move it to the center. This directly caused 2 or 3 bites that were a bit off. Either too much meat and not enough other ingredients, or too much cheese and bun ending up tasting like a grilled cheese.

I tried really hard to find something of interest, but people were just boring this night. I did however put some lemon in my Diet Coke, just to mix it up.

Friday, October 15, 2010

Guest #81, your order is ready.

Rating: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jsA551Lb5Kg

The fries were perfectly cooked but lacked the seasoning I like. I've noticed that on the rare occasions I go to In-N-Out at night the fries are usually seasoned better. Maybe they just don't have the time during lunch rush? Nothing wrong with the burger here, though like often times nothing screaming at me "HEY, I'm the best burger you've had in these 28 trips!".

It was a cloudy day, not really a single ray of sunshine the entire day. As with most sitting outside trips, there was little in the way of interesting events.

And no the rating does not equal a 10/10!

Sunday, October 10, 2010

Guest #62, your order is ready.

Rating: 8.9/10

I don't want to quite put this at a score of 9, as it didn't really give me that "Wow this meal is delicious" feeling or taste. But it was still quite a bit better than usual. The fries only needed a little bit of pepper. The were pretty much perfectly cooked. The burger I don't think I would change a thing on. Diet Coke was as good as it can be. So yeah, why not a perfect 10 or even a 9? Like I said, it just didn't pop and taste like the perfect meal. But if it always tasted this good I would be very happy.

So...I left the burger in the wrapper for the picture. It just looked almost perfect sitting in the wrapper so I decided to mix it up. Plus there was only one tomato so I didn't need to remove one of them before taking the picture (as I usually like to "prep" the meal before the picture).

The only other interesting thing is that I attempted to go to this In-N-Out the day before this visit. But apparently the electricity was out on the corner of this intersection, as In-N-Out, Claim Jumper, McDonald's and whatever other restaurant is over there had the employees out front turning people away.

Oh yeah, and it had been a crazy 11 days since my previous visit. Why so long? I don't like to force In-N-Out, and for whatever reason I wasn't feeling it so I waited. Forcing the visit is likely to lead to getting tired of eating it, and that will be a sad and horrible day if it ever comes.

Sunday, October 3, 2010

Guest #53, your order is ready.

Rating: 8.5/10

Gonna go ahead and say that yes, I should definitely make sure to get these up sooner. Sorry about the what, 4 day delay? I'm just glad the picture turned out, as it was hard to tell if it actually did as I was outside and could barely see my phone.

Anyways, sometimes I wish my rating was based on after I put S&P on the fries. These were the most perfectly cooked fries I have ever had, anywhere. Unfortunately, like usual these days, I had to add plenty of salt and a bit of pepper. It seems like they only properly season the fries at night. The burger...well, I for the first time ever in my history of visiting In-N-Out, likely hundreds of times, they put onions on my burger. As we all should know by now, I don't get onions. So, after picking them off there was still a slight onion taste on the burger. So yeah, those are the only two reasons for the deduction.

It was quite slow during this visit as well. By the time I left about 50% of all the tables were empty. Maybe this "end of summer" thing really is causing less people to go to In-N-Out. We'll see.

Tuesday, September 21, 2010

Guest #20....awwwww crap.


Got the first official duplicate today. It was only a matter of time. I'll post the picture later...I also just realized I threw the receipt away though I meant to keep it. Ah well...guess only the originals are being kept.


Wednesday, September 15, 2010

Guest #64, your order is ready.

Rating: 9/10

No major reason why this wasn't perfect (will there EVER be a 10/10?), but just a minor issue with each of the 3 parts. While it's rare, sometimes the Diet Coke doesn't taste 100% normal. Today was one of those days. The burger was all around great, but unfortunately the meat was off center and I ended up with 1-2 bites of bun leftover. Yes, I am docking points for that. Lastly, the fries were so close to perfect. They just needed to be cooked slightly longer to get a bit more crispy as they were a little soggy/mushy. As a whole, best In-N-Out trip in weeks, flavor wise.

Overall trip wise it was great as well. As slow, if not slower than last week. Slow however means less chances of interesting things to witness. So my only tidbit for the day is that I didn't make a point to go ahead of either of my co-workers. Good thing to, as had I done so I would have ended up with #63 which would have been a duplicate.

Any wagers on how many more visits until a duplicate happens?

Friday, September 10, 2010

Guest #20, your order is ready.

Overall Rating: 8.0/10

So I'm not going to call these ratings out up top, but I really wanted to rate the burger and fries separately this time. The fries were some of the worst fries I've had at In-N-Out in a while. Of course that's relative to In-N-Out fries, so on a whole they were still good. Needed heavy seasoning. The burger on the other hand was mostly perfect, with the exception of one bite I took that tasted like just hamburger patty. Luckily it was just that one bit, but it was definitely strange.

Now, I have a few points of interest (strange how I've never come up with a consensus name to call these blurbs), but none that are really about observing specific people. First, this was the slowest I've seen this In-N-Out when I walked in. 4 empty tables, all but one stool was empty. Of course by the time I left it was business as usual. Second, I actually dumped my soda out and got it from another fountain cause it tasted so bad (I believe In-N-Out has 4 spouts for Diet Coke).

This makes 25 visits with 25 original numbers! As of tomorrow it will have been 4 months since starting this adventure. That means I visit In-N-Out roughly 6 times a month. Or once every 5 days. At this rate I would be able to complete the challenge in 1 more year. Mathematically though that is HIGHLY unlikely.

Go Bills! Yes I am a fan of the Buffalo Bills and today marks the start of the season while 3 days from now the Bills will start 1-0 after they squish the fish.

Guest #29...wait a minute!


This is the receipt that is technically a duplicate that I still don't know whether to count or not. It wasn't an actual meal, just some shakes. And remember, I don't plan on ever getting their shakes again (I'm sure some die hard In-N-Out shake fan will rant about that, but oh well).

Saturday, September 4, 2010

Guest #63, your order is ready.

Rating: 8.25/10

Nothing especially good or bad about this burger. As always these days, no S&P on the french fries. The only "negative" on the burger would be that the meat was more to one side so I ended up having some leftover bun/tomato/lettuce/cheese/sauce.

No interesting side-note or observation today as it was quite possibly the most uneventful In-N-Out trip to date. However, stay tunes as I will have a special post just for the blog in the next couple of days.

Tuesday, August 31, 2010

Guest #55, your order is ready.

Rating: 8.5/10

Happy Birthday to my wife! Dinner was In-N-Out on the beach, oddly enough at her request. So yeah, that equals one pretty funny/cool picture of my meal chillin' on the beach. Plus the streak continues (now at 23), but more and more I'm getting numbers that are right next to ones I already have. So someday soon a legit duplicate will happen. And yes I know I am posting this a day after the actual trip.

The meal...so as is the case lately the fries were nicely cooked but not seasoned hardly at all. The burger was pretty much perfect. But unfortunately it was hard to judge it 100% accurately because of being on the beach. Why does that matter? Because it's like 60 degrees at the beach so all the food got cold much quicker. Still, the score is respectable.

So, interesting notes are quite different given that we ate at the beach. But one thing about In-N-Out is that they use a LOT of cheese. We basically watched the cooking line for 10 minutes, not much interesting going on.

I'll just ramble some beach notes: there was a kid (possibly visible in the picture) just going crazy in the wayer; Venus was very visible in the sky once it got darker; the water is actually not too cold; and lastly there are these small hilarious birds that run in and out with the waves as they come up the sand. I almost took a video, but it was too dark at that point.

'Til next time...

Tuesday, August 24, 2010

Guest #98, your order is ready.

Rating: 9/10

Today there is two very clear cut reasons why this burger and fries were not perfect. First, I'd just like to say I think this is probably the best looking meal I've had since starting. Just look at that burger! Anyways, sometimes you get ingredients on the burger that don't "align" properly and you end up with some extra bun leftover but nothing else to eat it with. That happened today, otherwise the burger was great! I just wish I didn't end up with ~2 bites worth of bun that I didn't eat. The first were done almost perfectly but lacking on the salt and pepper. Not sure what's going on with the fries lately, but they've been on a streak of being perfectly cooked with great texture but lacking on the S&P. It's a shame too cause that perfect amount of S&P can lead to the best of meals, like #44 was.

And today I sat inside and actually have some good interesting notes. First, at the table to my left there was a little girl, no more than 3 years old, who just kept looking at me with her bright blue eyes. And she wouldn't let her mom help her with her drink. So that was entertaining. But the real interesting note is that out of nowhere the entire staff of In-N-Out busted out in the actual "Happy Birthday To You" song directed at another employee. Considering this is the lunch rush so about 10-12 people are working, they were fairly loud.

I guess I should sit inside more often. I almost sat outside but as I was walking out to the table same chick sat down at it. But hey, led to having an actually interest note this time so it all works out.

Tuesday, August 17, 2010

Guest #5, your order is ready.

Rating: 9/10

I rated this one off instinct without thinking too much about it. This is actually going to be short because there was such little wrong with it. The fries had little to no salt and pepper on them, otherwise they were perfect. And yes I added my own S&P but remember I rate based on how I receive the meal. The burger, nothing wrong with it. The only reason this isn't a 9.5 is because while the burger had nothing wrong, it didn't have that next level of "perfect". You know, like the difference between a good steak but another one that might have the same texture, spices, be of the same cut, etc but just tastes better? This burger was the first of those, it was good, great even, it just didn't make that jump to next level.

Ok so this apparently wasn't that short, I lied. But what can I say about the visit? If you couldn't tell, it was outside seating. And that means nothing of interest most times. This was definitely one of those times. I have been failing miserably at getting interesting things in recent visits. How bout this...it's the first photo taken in the sunlight!

Saturday, August 14, 2010

Going on 5 days...

So, not really that long but it really is mostly due to choice. I'm not getting tired of In-N-Out by any means, but I did have it like 5 times in 12 days. Pretty frequently for a bit there so I made a conscious decision to not have it during the end of this week.

On that note, I'll be back within only a few more days! Let's go #1!

Thursday, August 12, 2010

Special In-N-Out post.

Somehow I forgot to post this on the blog the other day. Apologies for that and I will make up for it somehow.

Thursday night I decided I wanted to finally try an In-N-Out shake, as oddly enough I've never had their shake. So we stopped and decided to go in an get a #.

Turns out that was a mistake. As the first "official" duplicate # is now 29. Not sure if it should be counted. I took it as a
sign that I should never have an In-N-Out shake again (not to mention I wasn't impressed).

Guest #97, your order is ready.

Rating: 8.75/10

Pretty good meal today, the fries were especially good. Their texture and color were perfect and only some light additional salt and pepper had to be added by myself. The burger was mostly perfect as well. I probably needed a bit more lettuce though. There were two tomato slices on the burger, but both weren't very good slices so I didn't take one off like I usually do. Not sure if that ended up being a good idea or not.

As this was another outside sitting visit there isn't many things of interest that happened. The most entertaining, and frustrating, thing was when the group I was with and myself were waiting for a table and standing right next to one about to open, some older lady (probably late 50s, early 60s) snuck in like a ninja and stole the spot.

Also, there were 5 of us that went today and I just had to be in a hurry and go first. Given I was #97 that means my friends had #99 and #1. Ugh.

Saturday, August 7, 2010

Guest #34, your order is ready.

Rating: 8/10

Surprise! Back so soon. Before we get to the breakdown I'd like to say that eating In-N-Out Burger so soon after last time was not intended. I was reading about Five Guys being in Arizona and thinking about trying them (get a taste of the competition and all). Then I started reading some reviews and so many of them were negative. But reading all of this talk of burgers and fries made me crave In-N-Out. So yeah, you get another update!

Now, the only reason this gets as high as 8 is because the burger was mostly perfect. I've had bad luck with fries recently, as these are again overcooked and seemed to have many that were edges of the potato. Texture on the fries was also not how I like it. The drink was par for the course.

There wasn't much of a chance to get something for an interesting note because this was an actual take out order. I believe this is the first time since starting the adventure in which I ordered "to go" with the intention of actually taking it back to a house.

Lastly, this is not the special In-N-Out update. I would have likely posted that tonight but will instead hold off until tomorrow when I get back into San Diego. I don't really like to double post in a single night, gotta give each In-N-Out trip/post it's own special time, right?

Friday, August 6, 2010

Guest #2, your order is ready.


Rating: 8.25/10

The score isn't higher more due to user error than anything. I wasn't feeling all that great and wasn't THAT hungry but due to scheduling of things throughout the day it made most sense to eat when I did. Most of the fries were cooked just right , but more than usual were overdone. I also had to add my own salt. The burger I honestly can't find anything negative to say about it. And lastly, the Diet Coke was not perfect. I mean if rated by itself sure it would have been a 9.5/10 but even the slightest bit of difference from the usual taste means a different tasting meal.

A number of interesting notes about this visit. It was the first one in Arizona. The first one that I went with a family member other than my wife. And...it was freakin' number 2! I actually sighed and said to the cashier "#2...you couldn't give me #1?" So close, but there is always next time.

Tuesday, August 3, 2010

Guest #50, your order is ready.

Rating: 8.25/10

Had the potential to be great, but unfortunately a bun with hard edges the entire way around can really drop a score. The fries were pretty much perfectly cooked, but I did add some salt and pepper to them. Some people wonder why I try and find so many negative things to comment on...and if you look at how short this paragraph is you will now know.

So first off, it was really windy outside and I believe this is the first time I've had to hold the receipt when taking the picture. Second, it was oddly not busy and we arrived at like 12:10, just the time when it's normally hectic. We got a shady table outside during prime lunchtime hour, it was a great day at In-N-Out Burger.

Saturday, July 31, 2010

Guest #28, your order is ready.

Rating: 7.9/10

The best thing about this meal was that the texture of both the fries and the burger (including bun) were perfect. I had to add some S&P to the fries but other than that great. But remember, how the meal tastes when I get it is factored into the rating as well. So it gets a few tenths of a point taken off. The major issue with #28 is the taste of the burger. It had a slightly off taste to it. I couldn't figure out what the odd tasting ingredient was but towards the end I was done with it. I actually did not finish the last bite :(

I sat outside at one of the 2 seater tables, and outside usually means nothing really of interest happening. As I was in line though I heard somebody ahead of be get guest number 26. I was nervous about the possibility of getting my first duplicate. Thankfully I pulled 28, the closest I could have possibly been to a dupe (given I have had 29 already).

I should also start asking for just one tomato. I almost always get two slices, but I never want two slices.

Thursday, July 29, 2010

Sweet, Sweet In-N-Out

I haven't been to In-N-Out Burger in a week, but I plan on going tomorrow. However, this will mark the longest period of not having In-N-Out since this whole thing started. Yes, 8 whole days. I'm already planning on making up for it by going again Tuesday and then likely Thursday during a trip I am taking to Arizona.

I really wanted to go today, but time constraints prevented me from doing so.

Friday, July 23, 2010

Guest #80, your order is ready.

Rating: 7.75/10

Once again the biggest issue affecting taste is the fries. Just overdone and not with the right amount of salt/pepper. The burger bun was too hard around half the edge and the tomato on the burger wasn't that great (it was ripe but too hard).

A side note on this meal. I really enjoy In-N-Out, obviously, but this is the overall meal I fear new customers will get at In-N-Out. Obviously having anything sub-par isn't going to be good, but if you get this after everybody raves about the food you'd be disappointed. You wouldn't think it is bad by any means, but you wouldn't understand the worship of it. However, sub-par In-N-Out Burger is still better than 90% of everything else out there.

Things to note: Ran into a former co-worker. Outside of that I wasn't really observing the crowd today as I was talking to the people I went with, plus we sat at the furthest away table outside so there wasn't much to see. Sorry, I'll have to be on the lookout next time. I gotta say, I'm disappointed in Alex F for ruining my non-repeating cashier streak.

Saturday, July 17, 2010

Guest #67, your order is ready.

Rating: 8/10

Man I am having to pick to find something wrong with the burger...only thing I could say is I would have liked some more lettuce. The fries are the big issue this time, and the reason for the lower score. Not quite sure the picture does it justice, but about 15% of the fries were overdone or just very brown on the ends. The ones I did eat were still good though.

This was the first time since starting the 1-99 deal that I ordered to go and ended up eating there. Generally if I think it's overly busy and I won't get a table, I'll order to go just in case. And in all honesty, there hasn't been one time that I've done that in which I didn't find a table.

Thanks to Blaine for contributing to the continued streak of original cashiers, which is now standing at 14. It's only about 2.5 hours since I ate but I am already starving!

Lastly, do they have water proof pouches for iPhones? I could have sworn I saw some guy with an iPhone in a see through plastic pouch around his neck.

Friday, July 16, 2010

Lunch or Dinner? Weekday or weekend?

So I generally eat In-N-Out Burger during lunch breaks at work, but try to go on weekends every now and then. Today at lunch I made the decision to eat McDonald's instead of In-N-Out, thinking I'll go ahead and eat there tomorrow.

Man, I was not satisfied. Keep in mind I don't actually eat burgers at McDonald's (actually pretty much nowhere outside of In-N-Out). McNuggets and fries is the McDonald's meal for me. But still, despite being something different it was just not good enough for me today.

So that makes tomorrow all the more exciting. At some point in time during the day I plan on having In-N-Out Burger in my stomach...now it's just a matter of lunch or dinner.

Wednesday, July 14, 2010

Guest #24, your order is ready.

Rating: 8.9/10

A few minor issues. Diet Coke wasn't bad, but it did have a bit too much carbonation. Burger would have been perfect, but I had to rip off some of the tomato because it wasn't completely ripe (it was green and hard in the center). Lastly, the fries could have been just slightly more crispy.

So with those issues why is it rated the 2nd best meal up to this point? Despite only being 5 days since the last visit I had a lot of anticipation. I think that offset the issues, which were very minor.

The streak is still alive! The cashier was named Chelsea again...but looking at the last name initials it was apparently a different Chelsea. 13 visits now with no duplicate number and no repeat cashier. How long can it last?

Guest #74, your order is ready.

Rating: 8.75/10

As far as taste goes this was probably the 2nd or 3rd best visit since I started. The complaints are minor in that the fries were actually over salted this time. But texture wise they were perfect. Also the bun was too crispy and unfortunately for me the last bite was the worst bite of the entire thing. But hey, at least the Diet Coke was fine this time.

Note: So not really specific to this visit but I just noticed that since I've started this, 12 visits, I have not yet had a cashier help me twice. Wonder how long that will last? Also, this was the first time sitting outside since I started this.

Guest #61, your order is ready.

Rating: 8.5/10

There was nothing wrong with the burger, at all. The fries were unfortunately not seasoned whatsoever. In a strange twist of taste events, the Diet Coke was slightly off.

Lastly, I've now decided to rate the taste of each visit out of 10.

Note: While waiting in line there was one lady in front of me. She was standing like 4 feet from the registers and kept taking steps backwards. I swear I thought she was going to fall into me. Luckily when she was like 2 inches away she finally got called up to the register.

Guest #44, your order is ready.

Rating: 9.5/10
(this was retroactively applied after deciding to rate the meals)

Best meal of the 10 visits so far. This is what In-N-Out should always taste like. Only 2 very minor complaints. 2nd half of the fries had a ever so slight "chewy" quality to them. A part of the bun on the outside was a bit too crispy. Everything else was perfect.

Interesting item: A guy sitting next to my wife and I seemed to enjoy In-N-Out even more than I do. He was putting fries and extra "secret sauce" on his burger and, I kid you not, was moaning when he took his first bite. Also, before he took his first bite he told his buddy "I'm gonna throw down with this burger".

Guest #59, your order is ready.

Bun was kinda stale on one side and the tomato had green seeds. The fries were perfectly cooked and for the most part perfectly seasoned, unfortunately I got that batch where you get a lot of the tiny slivers that are crunchy.

Honestly, the most interesting thing this visit is that it's the first time a person appeared in the picture of the food!

Guest #93, your order is ready.

Looks lopsided, just needed some lettuce organization. The first two bites were odd because the majority of the bites were just hamburger (should have taken a picture from the other side). Fries were cooked almost perfectly, but needed a generous amount of salt added. Diet Coke was same as always.

Item of note: This is more like a frustrating note. As I was standing waiting for a seat, a guy by me just kept hacking up a lung. Eventually he went and got a napkin and went outside, when he came back in there was a thankful lack of hacking. Especially considering he sat next to me for like 5 minutes afterwards.

I can't wait for the day somebody asks why I'm taking a picture of my meal.

Guest #21, your order is ready.

Almost the perfect In-N-Out meal. The only minor issues were w/ the fries. If they were cooked just a tad more and also salted more then this would have been In-N-Out heaven.

Interesting things - Not much. Time on the receipt was 12:34. Also, there was some kid who was sitting in one of the movable chairs right in the middle of where everyone walks. Teens are obnoxious these days.

On a side note, this was the picture where I really started getting the groove of things. Receipt with the food is much easier.

Tuesday, July 13, 2010

Guest #83, your order is ready.


Fries needed a bit of extra salt and were mostly fine but a few were too crunchy. No issues with the burger or soda. The tomato you see behind the burger is common because there is always 2 tomato slices on my burger so I get rid of one of them.

Strange/Interesting thing - As I was leaving I saw a man and a woman, probably in their 30s. The man was taking a picture of the In-N-Out sign before they went in. I guess going to In-N-Out is a big deal to some people ;)

Guest #71, your order is ready.


Fries were a bit "chewy" or "rubbery", which is unusual. The bun was a bit hard on one side, so I just ate that side first. And the ratio of carbonated water to syrup in the soda was a bit off.

As always though, enjoyable.

Guest #88, #29, #48, and #54, your orders are ready.





These were early on and had no description or picture of the meal itself. I figured I would just post this in a chunk to have less clutter.

Introduction...

Welcome to "In-N-Out: From 1 to 99". So what is this blog about? It's very simple. If you've ever been to an In-N-Out burger you will likely know that when ordering they give you a "Guest Number" on the receipt. This is the number they call out when your order is ready. Back on May 10th (2010) while my wife and I were at In-N-Out I made a passing remark about how I don't believe I have ever been #1 or #99.

Now to most people this is likely the case anyways. But I frequent In-N-Out on a weekly basis, with the last 2 months averaging a visit every 4.8 days. There have been times over the last 5 years or so that I could not do this (for instance, I was in MA for 9 months), but it's fairly consistent.

Going off of that it would seem likely that I would have had at least one of those two numbers. I've been to In-N-Out Burger hundreds of times. So I thought, out loud, "I wonder how long it would take me to get all of the numbers, 1 through 99". And thus my adventure started. Since that day until this post I have been to In-N-Out Burger 13 times. I have received 13 original numbers...oddly enough from 13 different cashiers. How long will it take me to get 1 through 99? Well at this rate it wouldn't take too long, but obviously at some point math will come into play and it will probably take years.

So, here is how it works. I go to In-N-Out, I get my meal (#2 no onions, which consists of a cheeseburger, fries and a drink, which I get Diet Coke), I take a picture after I've "prepared" it for eating, then I eat. This process has evolved from originally just taking a picture of the receipt and posting it to taking a picture of the meal as well, to describing the meal, to having an interesting note on any many visits as possible, and finally to rating the meal.

Yes, it's a process. Up until now this has only been available for my friends on Facebook. Not anymore though. Expect 13 new posts soon, which will also let you see how the posts evolved, and of course expect any new visits to be posted the same evening as the visit happened (of course, things do come up so this might not always happen).