Dear Californians: Stop Hyping up In N Out
My hot take
As a child, my mouth would salivate every time my mother would drive past In N Out. It was always such a treat if my parents would find the inner peace to wait in pandemic level lines for us to indulge in a cheeseburger with grilled onions, animal-style fries, and a soda. It would take all the god-given willpower within me to not open up the bag to start chowing down on the fries before we got home (because let’s be honest, fries are meant to be eaten hot and fresh). When we’d finally unpack our cheesy bags and inhaled the savory goodness, I’d be left thinking to myself how this is the best burger in the world.
Until it wasn’t.
Californians hype up In N Out way too much
People come here (or AZ, and that other state) just to want to try In N Out. They hear the stories about how cheap and good it is. They see the Instagrams. They read up on the secret menu. Hell, Trader Joe’s has their best-kept secret sauce now on the shelves just for everyone else in the country to get a taste of what that “west coast burger chain” is all about.
And we are the biggest hype man.
It’s like it was part of our socialization growing up in California to put it on a pedestal next to Santa Monica Pier and our good weather. It’s about as California as California can get.
But we’ve gone too far. Yes it is good, but damn some of ya’ll make it sound like you can’t leave the state because In N Out isn’t there to give you a stomach ache. My sister is a prime example of how every time she flies back home she has to have In N Out as her first meal. No exceptions. Now I don’t know about you, but watching her eat a protein burger with animal-style fries at 11 am after a red-eye flight was not a sight I was expecting nor wanted.
We are the problem
I’m in my peak teenage years watching British vloggers and YouTubers come to Los Angeles for the first time and make videos about their In N Out experience. They have the audacity to say that it is “just okay.” Phrases like:
“Shake Shack is better.”
“This was way too hyped up.”
“Everyone always talks about how amazing this is.”
I was livid. They had the audacity to show up into my town and deface the shamelessly humble In N Out name.
And then that’s when I realized we are the problem.
Now it’s one thing if they were saying it was a shit burger, but its another if it didn’t meet their expectations because we’ve set the bar to a point where it is nearly priceless!
So I just need us, yes you, my fellow Californian (or wherever there’s an In N Out), to all simmer down.
I still stan for In N Out of course. It's a full package! The price, for one, is exceptional. Point-blank. The quality for said price also ramps up its ranking. Have you seen how big it is? It is actually substantial in comparison to our flat-footed Mickey D’s. Did I mention the price? If the only thing you’re really sacrificing here is the line you’d have to wait in for your hunger to reach hangry levels, then it’s worth it.
In the end, it really is worth all that it has to offer. But let’s just stop saying we’d die on this hill for In N Out being the G.O.A.T fast-food burger. At least to those out of state.
