A hamburger phenomenon, In-n-Out Burger has come to Tucson and even after one month, the lines are still long.

In-n-Out opened on April 24 and some people slept in the car to be first in line. Those who didn’t waited for hours and some even ran out of gas. A month later lines are still long.

In-n-Out practically has a cult following. Still family owned and operated, it started in 1948 and promotes from within. Stores are found throughout California, Nevada, and Arizona. While In-n-Out has been in Phoenix for a number of years, this was their first foray into Tucson. According to a recent article in the Arizona Daily Star, the Tucson opening was their biggest ever.

What makes In-n-Out Burger special?

First of all their menu is simple — burgers, cheeseburgers, fries, milkshakes, and sodas. Period. No salads, fish sandwiches, tacos, or movie memorabilia toys. The beef is never frozen. Potatoes are peeled and cut fresh daily as needed and cooked in vegetable oil. Milkshakes don’t have any filler. Lettuce is hand leafed daily. And onions will be grilled upon request.  Buns don’t have preservatives either and are made the old-fashioned way. Best of all, there’s no heat lamp in sight.

In-n-Out always wins awards and when the book, Fast Food Nation, came out, In-n-Out was one of the few burger joints that actually got praised for quality.

In-n-Out also has a secret menu (more cache than secret sauce). If you’re watching carbs, have a burger between lettuce instead of a bun. You can even take vegetarian friends along who can order the veggie burger which is a bun with all the other fixings and no meat.

I had an urge for a burger so ran down there at 10:25 a.m. They open at 10:30 a.m. and I thought maybe I could beat the crowds. There were 15 cars in line so I parked. Fortunately, only a few people were ahead of me but the place was packed and I got number 89. They were calling number 76 so the wait wasn’t that long. Surely, they must’ve opened earlier than their posted time of 10:30 a.m.

I forgot about the secret menu and ordered a hamburger with grilled onions ($1.90) and fries ($1.19) to go. Although I like cheeseburgers, I don’t like American cheese. Everyone was friendly — staff and customers. People were talking to each other about this being their first time or they had to see what the fuss was about.

I came home and enjoyed my own happy meal. I must say that the fries were not as good as I like them — well done and crispy. Should I decide to order fries again, the secret menu allows me to order them “fries - well-done.” I watched them salting a lot of fries but mine tasted salt-less until I added my own smoked sea salt which helped somewhat.

But the hamburger is what made the experience — grilled well done (all come well done), a good old fashioned bun, crisp piece of lettuce, ripe tomato slice, sauce, and of course–a few finely chopped grilled onions. Very satisfying… 

What do you think of In-n-Out? Does your location or region have a famous burger joint?