I don't think they go east of the Rockies, but the best fast food hamburger place in the West is In 'n Out. My fiance heard that you could get their burgers as lettuce wraps, but he didn't know what it was called. (to those not in the know, In 'n Out has a lot of unofficial, 'off-the-menu' items. My favorite is "animal-style", which is with onions grilled in mustard. ) So I went today and ordered a cheeseburger lettuce wrap, animal-style. Found out it's called a cheeseburger-animal / PROTEIN style. It was a HUGE mess, but so incredibly delicious, and totally "safe" (well, except maybe a couple of pickle chips)! (next time, knife and fork and order a double, because it was a little hard to find the patty in amongst all the lettuce, pickles, sauce, and onions.)

They asked if I wanted fries, and I laughed and said "no, that would kind of defeat the purpose."

Anyhow, everyone ought to check with their favorite burger place and see if you can get them lettuce-wrapped, instead of a bun.

Could just be us nutty, health-conscious Californians though.

Not just a West Coast thing. I'm currently working out in Virginia and there's a burger chain here called "Fuddruckers" that caters to the LC crowd. You can order any menu item "no bun" and they'll wrap it in lettuce. One of my lunchtime staples.

I LOVE In n Out burger
We have tham for dinner at least once a week. What a treat.

I love In-n-out too. Only problem is that I'm in Guam now. But I used to get the protein burger animal style, you're right it is a mess. I would always wonder, though, if animal style was ok for low carb.

The last time I was at in-and-out and asked for a protein style, animal style cheeseburger, the guy at the counter said it couldn't be made--I could have one or the other, but not both. Guess I'll have to try again!

Jude

Oh man, In&Out is my favorite fast food joint of all time.

Just the other day, I had a double double, fries, and large chocolate shake. It's the best burgers in town, in my view.

We ought to eat what we like every once in a while. I think we can eat the bun, fries, and shake once in a while and not be too adversely affected.

Just can't over indulge, that's all.

from the title of this post i really thought it would be about something else

but i am glad i read it because i may not have a in and out burger i do have a fudruckers....were these places all named by ex porn stars or something? lmao

jon

Well, that sounded so good I just made one for dinner tonite: skipped the LC bread and used a couple of large romaine leaves instead. I nuked them for a minute until they were soft and I could wrap my burger up tightly - mayo, tomatoes and all. The whole thing held together surprisingly well! Why didn't I ever think of that?


Grimalkin

You are bad!!!
Black

its not as messy if u get it "no-spread" which is w/out any sauces, no secret sauce, no ketchup or mustard. i guess u can add mustard but we arent really suppose to have their secret sauce or ketchup anyway right? anyhow, its less messy and it actually tastes sooooo goood when u get it with animal/protein because all you taste is the meat and cheese. whenver i order my bf says i'm one of those difficult customers lol. i dunno if thats how the employees feel. i wonder how many ppl actually order cheeseburger animal-no spread- protein style. anyways, YUM

In & Out Burger is great--too bad I live on the East Coast but I have been there when I visit the West--you can't keep me out of there, in fact!

They are unique among 'fast food' chains in that their potatoes arrive at each store in POTATO form--that's right, not frozen, already-cut french fries; their meat is never frozen; they don't use transfats and never have; their lettuce is cut by hand (the big leaves are peeled off and saved for us protein-style fans); the milkshakes are made with ICE CREAM, MILK and SYRUP (not some weird synthetic no-dairy polymer--notice how McD's calls them "shakes?" that's bcs it's illegal for them to imply that there is even one milk molecule in that plastic stuff).

No the owners are not porn fans --each wrapper/cup etc has a ref to a bible verse printed on it--have you ever noticed?

They also treat their employees really well--there is little turnover in staff--give them benefits etc.

There's a lot of info about them in Fast Food Nation, that great book that came out a few years ago.

Mmmm...makes eating a burger downright virtuous!

But I do think the sauce is carby...more's the pity...

Lucy

Fuddruckers ROCKS!!!

Ya'll are making me extremely hungry. Maybe it's fuddruckers for dinner tonight. However, I learned recently that there is going to be an In N Out Burger put into Southern Utah soon. From what it sounds like it might be worth the 4 hr drive. I've heard about them, passed them in Ca. but never ate at one. I'm looking forward to it now. IMO the messier the better.

I live here on the east coast(boston Ma) and we dont have a great place like in-n-out..but I think we might have a fudruckers, I remember seeing one somewhere, but then again, I do go south to Virginia, so maybe thats
where I saw it...anywho...those sound sooooo YUMMISH!!!!!!!!!!! I bet you could make 'em just as good at home, you think? lets have a cookoff!! cheryll

Even with all the fast food places going lettuce wrapped, In and Out is still the best! I just wish they would take plastic instead of only cash. I never carry cash - Just my lil old debit card.