The "Secret" Menu of In-N-Out Burger

[Jason Perlow]

http://www.tiburon-belvedere.com/cgi/home.....cgi?c=In_N_Out

[jhlurie]

Want: "Neapolitan" Shake = strawberry, vanilla and chocolate blended together.

Never want to even ever hear about again: "4-by-4" = four meat patties and four slices of cheese. Yuck.

[Rachel Perlow]

Is that what Faith meant (on Buffy the Vampire Slayer) when she said she was 5-by-5???

[ballast_regime]

I usually ate a double double animal style with my fries light. In-N-Out deciding to expand to neighboring states (in my case, Arizona) was the greatest part of living in Phoenix. I wish they would get their act together and expand to Kansas, even though I only plan on being here only another year.

Much peace,

Ian Lowe

ballast/regime

[Fat Guy]

Also discussed here.

[elyse]

Yummy In-N-Out burger.

[Andrew Fenton]

Is that what Faith meant (on Buffy the Vampire Slayer) when she said she was 5-by-5???

Nah, it's an old-tyme radio operators' phrase. From WordWizard.com:

FIVE BY FIVE: Comes from military radio operators [was in use by time of Korean War (1950-53) and appeared in print in 1954 – see below and] who used the phrase to tell the person they were talking to how well they were being heard. There was a five point scale in two categories, strength of signal and clarity of transmission. A strong, clear signal was coming in ‘five by five,’ lesser signals would be judged with lesser numbers. An similar but less quantitative expression was ‘coming in loud and clear.’ Radio operators, pilots, the military, and others picked up the phrase and used it to characterize generally good circumstances. So when someone says everything is ‘five by five,’ things must be going well and they are doing fine.

“The Canadian's main complaint was the American habit of asking repeatedly how the transmission was being received. The Canadian reply was the standard "I hear you loud and clear" . Americans, however, wanted an actual rating on the volume and clarity of their transmissions. The standard ‘loud and clear’ to an American had to be a ‘five by five’ or a ‘three by three’ depending on the reception. No one knew the exact reason for this habit.†<‘Thunder in the Morning Calm – Royal Canadian Navy in Korea 1950-1955’ by Edwards (1992)> <1954: “All right, testing, one-two-three-four, one-two-three-four.†“Five by five, Mr. Halloran!†from ‘Blackboard Jungle’ by E. Hunter page 33>

Don't ask me why a teenage vampire slayer would be using obsolete slang like that. At least she didn't bust out with "Twenty-three skidoo!" or something...

[tommy]

Don't ask me why a teenage vampire slayer would be using obsolete slang like that.

dude, the vampire slayers in my high school were all geeks and nerds. into D&D and shit like that.

[sashorter]

dude, the vampire slayers in my high school were all geeks and nerds. into D&D and shit like that

Tommy, your profile says you were born in 1956. D&D came out in 1975. Were you a, shall we say, "slow" student?

--

Scott

[elyse]

Don't ask me why a teenage vampire slayer would be using obsolete slang like that.

dude, the vampire slayers in my high school were all geeks and nerds. into D&D and shit like that.

I just thought you were really young for a second. We didn't have vampire slayers in high school. D&D, I think we had.

[tommy]

Tommy, your profile says you were born in 1956.  D&D came out in 1975.  Were you a, shall we say, "slow" student? 

i lied. i just wanted to include my birthday so someone says "happy birthday" to me on thursday.

but trust me on the vampire slayer bit.

[KNorthrup]

Okay I just want to say we had no vampire slayers. Although that assassination game came up a few times. D&D... um, hurm. No comment.

There were In-N-Out Burgers in Portland when I moved here (10 years ago) but they all cleared out immediately afterwards and I never got to try one. The transplanted Californians I know are very very fond of them so I've always wondered what I missed.

[Priscilla]

Yes, yes, the so-called Secret Menu was previously addressed in that link Steven Shaw provided up there ... however I would dispute the often-repeated-but-incorrect "fried in mustard," I mean, really. Impossible. More sauce, yes indeedy. Dill pickle slices, check. Grilled onions.

But fried-in-mustard? Fried, in mustard? "Fried in mustard"? Myth, I say.

Watch the grill guy, if you can take your eyes off his giant safety pin ... how could there be mustard on there without adulterating all over the place.

Also I reiterate: How Secret can a Secret Menu be when the nice young thing behind the cash register has a dedicated button for said so-called Secret Menu options?

[MatthewB]

Does this have anything to do with the "old in-out" from A Clockwork Orange?

[Priscilla]

Naw, although years ago one used to see In-n-Out Burger bumper stickers which had been modified into naughty folk art by excising the B and the final r ... the company, a Christian outfit with actual Bible quotes on its paper goods, shut that right down.

[mcdowell]

I ate at an In-n-Out just two days ago, my third time in three years.

Rather, I ate in my jeep in the parking lot of the In-n-Out.

The burgers & fries are good, and cheap, no question. Unfortunately, the chaos and noise level make it absolutely impossible to enjoy the food inside.

Are they all that crazy? Or is it a location thing?

[Jon Tseng]

Can anyone confirm if this secret menu stuff is real, or just an urban myth? has anyone ordered off it?

you yanks are soooo lucky with burger chains! all we have is mcds, bk and wimpey!

[jhlurie]

Can anyone confirm if this secret menu stuff is real, or just an urban myth? has anyone ordered off it?

you yanks are soooo lucky with burger chains! all we have is mcds, bk and wimpey!

Uh-oh. He's calling people in California "yanks". The "shite" will start to fly...

In truth, most regions of the U.S. comparable in size to the U.K. don't have any more than 3 or 4 major burger chains, I'd bet. They are just scattered all across a huge country--its not like we can all get to all of them.

[tommy]

"yanks" jon?

edit: errr, what jon said. the other jon i mean.

forget it.

Edited July 22, 2003 by tommy (log)

[hollywood]

Can anyone confirm if this secret menu stuff is real, or just an urban myth? has anyone ordered off it?

This is completely real. People order animal style burgers all the time. Ditto well done fries. Kids order 4x4s often.

[Priscilla]

Yep, as Hollywood said, absolutely for real. There is usually some combination of animal style and regular in any group order, any group I'm with anyways.

I do insist on Secret Menu extra-well-done fries, although others are not so doctrinaire.

Edited July 22, 2003 by Priscilla (log)

[Jason Perlow]

3 by meat animal style baby, with well done fries and a Neapolitan.

[hollywood]

Just don't ask about the Bible citations on the packaging. It's boring.

[MatthewB]

Just don't ask about the Bible citations on the packaging.  It's boring.

I like the Clockwork Orange theory better.

The Bible verses are just a cover-up.

[KNorthrup]

Just don't ask about the Bible citations on the packaging.  It's boring.

I like the Clockwork Orange theory better.

Not-universally-known-trivia : The argot was just Russian. The one time my minor came in handy.