"in and out" news and stories

Did you know that Wendy's makes breakfast? On his way to work last week, Serious Eats writer John M. Edwards saw a sign that read "Breakfast" in New York's Penn Station. He took this opportunity to order their Classic Breakfast Sandwich, Egg and Cheese Biscuits, Biscuits and Gravy and the Grande Burrito. Find out how they rated here.

Also on Serious Eats:

• In-N-Out Secret Menu Survival Guide
• 10 of Our Favorite Pancakes in America
• How to Grow an Edible Garden
• Copycat French's Yellow Mustard

Considering that In-N-Out has had a 38-year lead over its rival, it may seem like this burger popularity contest would be an open and shut case. However, if latest reports are to be believed, not only has Five Guys caught up to the older chain but it's poised to to pass it. To conduct some comparative eating of your own, you'll have to fly coast to coast since the chains reside at the opposite ends of the U.S. -- so TravelInsurance.org has created the side-by-side infographic below to entice you on a burger adventure.

It's a tragicomic lament that hovers like a cartoon thought-bubble over the heads of many fast-food burger eaters these days: Why, oh why, does the Big Mac in my hand look almost nothing like the one pictured in the McDonald's ad?

If any conclusion can be drawn from a new Consumer Reports survey, it may be that customers are getting fed up with chains that tantalize with mouth-watering pictures of plump, juicy burgers perfectly trimmed with all the fixings only to deliver a pallid simulacrum in reality -- sad, gray little patties topped with a loveless smear of ketchup and sandwiched between two tasteless buns.

Because when you look at who fared worst in the survey of more than 28,000 Consumer Reports subscribers on their fast-food burger preferences, they seem to have one thing in common (other than, apparently, terrible burgers): outsized advertising budgets.

Consumer Reports asked participants to rate the burgers at 18 different chains on a classic 1-to-10 scale. With a miserable average score of 6.3, Burger King and Jack in the Box both tied, vying for second-to-last place. (Maybe that's a sign that Jack in the Box needs to pick a "CEO"/spokesman that doesn't have an oversized ping-pong ball for a head.)

This is the best fast-food hamburger there is: a double-double from In-N-Out Burger, the popular California chain. Actually, with its two juicy, 100% pure beef patties, hand-leafed lettuce, tomatoes, secret spread and two slices of American cheese (not processed cheese) on a freshly baked and toasted bun, the double-double is better than a lot of non-fast food burgers, too.

I suggest that you compare the In-N-Out classic to GQ's list of the 20 hamburgers you must eat before you die. The list was compiled by Alan Richman, food critic and author of Fork it Over, who seems to be a reputable enough source, though I am still hard-put to take culinary advice from a men's style magazine. I have personally eaten at three of the 20 places on the list, though I can only say that I clearly recall two of them, and did not find the burgers to be of any higher quality than the double-double. I think GQ needs to add another spot to their list.