Atomic Burger, Arco

You never know what you might run into in America.

On the way to the Craters of the Moon National Monument in Idaho lies a little, nondescript town called Arco, and the chief tourist attraction of Arco is a Nuclear Reactor, the EBR 1. (It also hosts the conning tower of a decommissioned nuclear sub in the local park).

What makes the EBR 1 special? It was the first Nuclear Power Plant to generate electricity in 1951. Hence it only seems right that we sampled the Atomic Burger at Pickle's Place, the local diner.

How was the burger?

It was pretty good. It was big. The pickles tasted great. The meat was well seasoned. It was definitely better than what you'd get in a regular fast food chain.

But would I drive all the way to Arco to have it again? I don't think so.

Taste - 3.5
Value - 2.5. It was over $8 for the Atomic Cheeseburger with chips and an extra $1.50 for onion rings. That's pretty pricey for a small town diner in the middle of nowhere.
Messiness - 3.0

In-N-Out Burger, Utah

Finally. After 4 visits to Salt Lake City the time had come. Today we got to eat at a local In-N-Out!

The first In-N-Out in Utah opened in Washington, near St George in 2008, and the first two In-N-Outs on the Wasatch Front opened late 2009. But this was the first time I got to eat one locally and it was great!

The last time I ate at In-N-Out I was a bit underwhelmed. It was on Sunset Boulevard in Hollywood. But we'd battled traffic for hours, it was 2:30pm and we were sitting in direct sunlight and I really wasn't in the mood. This time was different.

It was only a short drive away and we sat in absolute comfort and the Double-Double was all I remember it to be.

What makes it special?

It just works. There's no tricks. There's nothing fancy about it. It's just fresh, tasty and well-balanced. And that makes it the type of burger you can keep coming back to.

Was it as tasty as the Shake Shack burger? I don't think so, but by the same token it didn't feel anywhere near as greasy and it's literally half the price.

How about Five Guys? I think the Double Double has some real competition here, but I'll need one more visit before I make up my mind.

Whatever the case, In-N-Out has to be at the top of my list of favourite fast food joints and I bought the T-shirt to prove it!

Taste - 4.5
Value - 5.0
Messiness - 4.0
I'd be a regular if there was one in Sydney!

www.in-n-out.com

Wendy's, Fruita

I wasn't keen to go back to Wendy's after the enormous disappointment the Baconator turned out to be. But here we were in Fruita, on our way to the Colorado National Monument, and it was lunch. So what could I do?

What I did was order their run of the mill burger - Dave's Hot 'N Juicy 1/4lb. Cheeseburger. Who was Dave? I don't know. But as to the hamburger - it wasn't bad, but it wasn't great either.

It looked good. The ingredients were fresh. Fries were good and the Lemonade was great. But it just lacked something. It was kind of bland. Nothing really wrong with it, but nothing that would really get you back to have another one.

So I have to rate it -
Taste - 2.5
Value - 4.0. You get a lot of burger for your money.
Messiness - 4.5. Easy to eat.
Would I eat again? Not unless I had to.

www.wendys.com