California, Nevada, Arizona, Texas and now… Colorado? That was the talk of the town when Denver City Councilman for District 8, Albus Brooks made a Facebook post about the possibility of the CA-based burger chain making its debut in the Mile High City. Brooks reportedly has ties to the current CFO of In-N-Out and has stated that bringing the fast-food chain to the city of Denver is part of his agenda for 2012.

Along for the ride of possible California chains rumored to be coming to Colorado include Trader Joe’s, the privately held chain of specialty grocery stores with approximately 365 locations. Half of those locations are in California, with the other half spanning across 30 states. How you feelin’ Denver?

(via The Huffington Post)

We’ve dreamt about it for years. All our friends and families who live outside California, Utah, Nevada or Texas are more hard-pressed to make a drive to a “local” In-N-Out Burger location than the rest of us. Which means they go without the iconic taste and experience of a Double-Double for years at a time, for some, living their lives without ever having to taste one.

That’s where Midtown Row steps in, a company that claims to send you two “classic” or “animal style” Double-Double burgers, frozen fresh and shipped via overnight, express mail.

The hitch is, they make no guarantees. The burgers ship from California with all the trimmings, and comes in proper refrigerated packaging via overnight mail, but then reheating and consuming is at the customer’s risk. It also will run you $50 + $6.00 flat shipping fee.

Will you be ordering up?

Texans rejoice (for the sixth time)! In-N-Out is planning to open its sixth Texas location in Arlington this Thursday.

The new location is the sixth in the nine planned locations that are to be opened in the Dallas-Fort Worth area. Each of the other five locations have seen quite a reception in the past year, as we’ve seen and this latest location is expected to draw just as many burger fiends from all over Texas. In-N-Out has even opened new distribution hub and meat processing facility in Dallas in order to manage their expansion into the Lone Star State.

(via OC Register)

[THX and Photo Credit to In-N-Out]

East Coast restaurant  Grab-N-Go Burger was slapped with a trademark infringement lawsuit last week after burger chain In-N-Out felt the independent burger stand was copying the from the brand’s signature look and menu ideas. The irvine-based In-N-Out is seeking damages, citing damages done to their brand integirty. Some consider In-N-Out’s potential Eastward expansion plans that could further incite the protection of their pure cult-favorite burger brand.

We asked the question back in July of this year when In-N-Out threatened an Idaho Burger Stand with a lawsuit, “Does In-N-Out have the right?”

The full lawsuit is available for viewing here, if you’re a lawyer and into that kinda thing.

Are they being too overprotective of their brand, to the point of being bully and out-of-line? According to an updated statement from the owner of Grab-N-Go Burger Gus Siperko, “We are really rather livid over this.” In fact, he continued to explain to our friends over at the OC Register that he had never even heard of In-N-Out.

We get the idea that Grab-N-Go won’t be changing things up without a fight. Yet, by the looks of rather negative early Yelp reviews of the location, maybe they should?

Boise, Idaho‘s Burger Express restaurant has been open for about a month and is already making national news — it’s being threatened by In-N-Out Burger lawyers. Owner Larry Squillace has put together a restaurant that follows a similar red, white and yellow color-scheme, similar block lettering in the logo, and a menu highlighting the same simplicity that In-N-Out Burger is famous for.

Local publication IdahoStatesman reports that people in the area have already made the comparisons, which have now only been further cemented by In-N-Out’s legal team.

In fact, the letter to Squillace went a little something like this:

There can be no debate that your restaurant is modeled after In-N-Out’s restaurants. Our information suggests that you have even copied In-N-Out’s food presentation — the burger partially wrapped with the side visible — to the customer.

The Burger Express owner has until August 5th to make the changes, before further action is taken. Squillace mentioned that it would take at least $37,000 to make the necessary changes the lawyers are asking of him.

While the look and branding share similarities with the already well-established In-N-Out, Burger Express’s menu also consists of three burger options, three fries, and cola — a model that Squillace attributes to the youth he spent working in his father’s restaurant.

Should Burger Express have to change its logo and succumb to In-N-Out’s demands? Or is In-N-Out claiming too much ownership over block lettering and overall brand dressing?

In the spirit of our new Test Kitchen channel, we wanted to make our first foray into the lab a special one. Geoff brought in some pastrami, and we decided that we’d head to our local In-N-Out and make some dreams come true.

Here’s our In-N-Out Double-Double Pastrami Burger.

For those unfamiliar with In-N-Out‘s Double-Double (Animal Style), it features multiple mustard-cooked beef patties, multiples slices of cheese, lettuce, onion, tomatoes, pickles, spread and grilled onions. Delicious as-is, but it was always our dream to add a secondary source of protein on the patty…

…knowing In-N-Out‘s extreme dedication to simplicity and quality, we figure we’ll most likely never see the addition of bacon or pastrami to their menu. With that in mind, we decided to take it upon ourselves to add some beautiful cuts of meat:

Yes, the perfect balance of flavors and construction so adamantly followed by In-N-Out team members has been disrupted with the addition of pastrami. Does it matter? Every last bite was delicious, no one here’s complaining:

Here’s Geoff posing with his brainchild:

In-N-Out Texas has become a buzz phrase the past couples weeks on the blogosphere. With news that cult-favorite In-N-Out Burger chain would be expanding its locations into several Texas cities and the launch of first of these locations this past week, emotions were at an all time high for fanatics.

Known for its loyalists, staunch regime and quality-control, In-N-Out‘s experience is stereotypically well replicated among all its locations. With Texas in its sights, the brand hopes to experience similar hype in their new territories. Some may get emotional. According to a DallasNews.com report, some may shed a few tears.

About 0:59 into this video report from the Dallas Morning News [seen below], a young lady at the Frisco, TX In-N-Out grand opening loses her composure and lets her tears flow when she’s asked to talk about the new opening and the newfound In-N-Out proximity to where she lives. Having apparently once lived in California with several  easily accessible In-N-Out locations, she was overwhelmed with emotion stemming from her new convenient 5-minute drive to the new Frisco location.

Sitting outside the location, chomping on a burger, she continued, “I kept saying all night, pinch me, it doesn’t feel real,” pausing between bites, eyeballs swelling and an emphatic point towards the crowded building she mustered: “It felt real in there! It’s nostalgia, it brought be back to…living in California.“

Stay tuned to FOODBEAST for more In-N-Out Texas area news as it gets released!

The first two of at least eight known In-N-Out locations in Texas have received some relatively definite grand opening time tables. According to quotes made available on the OC Register website from chain executive Carl Van Fleet, the grand openings for the Frisco and Allen, TX locations are planned for the same day next week.

No specific date was given, but the specific week time frame is more conclusive than our first glimpses of information when the In-N-Out Texas expansion was confirmed back in March of this year. The Allen, TX location has begun accepting applications for employment via the restaurant’s grand opening website.

For those in Texas, here’s the list of publicly of In-N-Out locations under construction throughout the state thus far:

• Allen, TX 190 E. Stacy Rd., 75002

• Dallas, TX 7940 N. Central Exwy., 75206

• Frisco, TX 2800 Preston Rd., 75034

The Dallas/Fort Worth market is soon to be graced by the critically acclaimed In-N-Out Burger, a huge step out of a stringent box the West-Coast brand has put itself in. The first of these locations are set to open within a couple months, with at least eight total In-N-Out locations planned for the state of Texas.

This expansion into Texas comes at the hand of a recent acquisition of a temporary warehouse in Dallas in order to support their initial growth in the region. For those familiar with In-N-Out’s well documented steadfastness and careful private growth strategy, this move into Texas is a huge baby step for the cult fast food brand.

According to reports from the OC Register, the 60,000-square foot facility they picked up will act as the home to their beef processing plant and warehouse similar to their Baldwin Park facility. According to several reports, ‘Coming Soon’ signs have begun appearing throughout Texas.

Texas is a huge market for fast food, specifically the burger demographic. Big news Texans, big news.

For years, In-N-Out Burger loyalists have flocked to the brand’s now not-so-secret menu. With such a simple menu offering, people are bound to customize. Everything from Animal Style burgers, Extra Crispy Fries and Neapolitan Shakes, the possibilities are endless. With so many options on the horizon, we figured we’d make it easy for the many hordes of In-N-Out fans with this ginormous infographic menu. This is by no means an end-all be-all, but we think it does a good job summarizing all those items we’ve been making over the years. If you can think of any more, feel free to share them with us! Without further ado, here are the items that aren’t listed on In-N-Out’s official menu, but we order them anyways:

Photos were taken by FOODBEAST’s own Taylor Corner, with information gathered from various user submissions and In-N-Out’s website.