For years, the fabled burger franchise In-N-Out teased the residents of Folsom with speculation that they wanted to build a franchise in our home city. We sat patiently, and for around 5 years, everyone waited with baited breath the sink their teeth in to a Double-Double. One of the mysteries of In-N-Out is their (not so) secret menu. There are a variety of items you can order that are not listed on the menu board. In-N-Out employees will admit to you that there is no such thing as “animal style”, but someone nicknamed it that and it became well known. We sat out on a secret mission to unlock the secret menu. Most of our loyal readers were not aware, but we were planning a mystery outing to In-N-Out via our Facebook fan page. We wrote a list of all the different things that have supposedly been ordered and figured to decide for our own. Our agents were given a code name, meal allowance and were told to order a particular menu item and report back!
B U R G E R D I V I S I O N | |
Animal Style The most well-known secret menu item is “Animal Style”. Order any burger animal style and they will fry up your onions and slap on some thousand island dressing. Plus they grill the burger with mustard. Agent Jacobs’ assessment: “This burger is not for the faint of heart – it’s large, messy but oh so good! I would highly recommend this burger to any true burger lover.” |
![]() |
3-by-Meat This is a triple burger. A triple monstrocity of meat, for those of you who don’t care to burden yourself with that unnecessary cheese. Agent Truppa: “It was everything we’ve come to know and love of this great burger establishment X 3!! What a great burger!! I have to admit, that I may not be able to eat fast food again for another 16 months after devouring the 3X beast, but what a fabulous way to over-indulge!!” |
![]() |
3 x 3 (3 burgers, 3 slices of cheese) This is a big burger for those with a big appetite. I should have done a little more homework in recruiting – I felt downright bad for giving this dainty woman a 3×3 to eat! She did a pretty good job of it, save for a few bites for her dog. Agent Shiraishi: “all the cheese stays in the wrapper and the meat is more than a regular size woman would want to eat, so it was good the cheese melts into the wrapper…but just the same the bites I took were great!” …she was a good sport. She probably paid for it that night. |
![]() |
Flying Dutchman The Flying Dutchman is the poor man’s burger: 2 patties, and 2 pieces of cheese, nothing else. Eat it with your own greasy hands, as a constant reminder that these burgers, while delicious, are probably not very good for you. Agent Hill was equal parts amused and disgusted with this order. He ordered another burger on the side – probably because he was gonna be damned if this equated to his lunch. Agent Hill’s full report out (worth the read) |
![]() |
Protein Style Protein Style is pretty much a burger, but with lettuce instead of a bun. If you are on the Atkins diet, this is what you want. Agent Truppa’s report out: “I think ordering double double protein style defeats the purpose of health factor, but it was yummy!!! I really enjoyed it and may even order it again! The lettuce was crispy and since lettuce retains water, it actually made the burger seem more juicy. It was nice that I didn’t have a soggy bun towards the end also. So all in all I really enjoyed it! That baby was eyeing that burger… next time Aggent Truppa will have to order two! |
![]() |
Wish Burger The wish burger is supposedly a veggie burger. No meat, just a few fat tomatoes instead. Agent Learoyd had to abort this mission after the rookie cashier gave him a quizzical look as to what a wish burger is. Either that, or they told him it was probably a veggie burger and Agent Learoyd decided to get a double double instead! (Wise choice) |
? |
2 x 4 A 2 x 4 is 2 patties, 4 slices of cheese. In-N-Out will make and “X by Y” type of burger you order. Some asshat polite gentleman even ordered a 20 x 20 once and ate it all (100 x 100 has been done a few times). Agent Story was perplexed by this monstrocity but ate it anyway. “That’s a lot of cheese” he told me. I told him we were only paying him $6 for the meal, and we’re not covering the angioplasty. |
![]() |
Double Double W/Chopped Chilis Did you know you can order your burger with chopped chilis on it? This is the ticket for heartburn express. Agent Ruggles will do anything for free food, even if that means having to by some Tums on the way home. I hope she ate it and not that baby… could you imagine what the diaper would look like??? |
![]() |
Veggie Burger A Veggie Burger is just a burger without the meat. Agent Hy was a double agent! We had a few no-shows at the event so he proudly sacrificed himself for the team and ordered another item, the trooper that he is. This agent is a true soldier. Agent Hy’s assessment: “The taste was decent and it’s the same as any another fast foods veggies burgers.” |
![]() |
Grilled Cheese The grilled cheese is a burger with lots of cheese and no meat. This burger is popular with picky kids that don’t like burgers. Agent Burrell was happy to eat the grilled cheese, but not very happy to be referred to as an Angry Smurf. He’s more of a mellow, easy-goin’ smurf. |
![]() |
Monkey Style / Gorilla Style “Gorilla Style” is rumored to exist but the cashiers did not know what this is. They will gladly make anything you ask for though. For the record, “monkey style” (also referred to as “gorilla style”) is a burger with animal fries in the middle of it. If you ask my kids however, they will tell you that’s a banana with a peel on it (as opposed to sliced in to pieces). Agent Taylor had to abort this mission! Perhaps he was too embarrassed to order a burger “monkey style”. |
? |
|
|
F R I E S D I V I S I O N | |
Fries, No Salt French Fries, sans salt. Agent Callahan’s assessment: “for this fry lover, all I can say is “BLEK!” The truth be told….I ate five fries with the no salt, and then I gave in and promptly added a few sprinkles of the white stuff just to liven things up in the taste arena. I’m not a salt-a-holic by any means, but I missed my flavor, ya know?” Couldn’t have said it any better myself. French fries need salt! |
![]() |
Fries “Light” Order up these fries “light” and they will come to you a little on the uncooked side. Agent Hy enjoyed these fries. “The fries light are intend for under cook and I love it. It’s soft like coming out from a microwave. There weren’t a lot of oil in the fries which are good a thing” |
![]() |
Animal Fries Animal Fries are a bit of an atrocity of you ask me. Take a perfectly good basket of fries and muck it up with animal spread. Don’t let the In-N-Out employees fool you in to thinking this truly is a “secret menu” item. Order it to go in the drive thru and they’ll serve it up in an “animal fries” box. Way to bow down to the Man. |
![]() |
Fries Well Done Order your fries “well done” and they will leave them in the cooker just a bit longer. you mileage may vary, as they sometimes taste just like regular fries. I once ordered them and they kind of taste like Pik-Nik. Agent Felts was well prepared for this mission and documented her journey. The verdict? “A little crunchier and equally delicious”! |
![]() |
Cheese Fries French fries, with cheese on it. This freeloader took my $6 and failed to report out. Ungrateful bastard! |
![]() |
S H A K E S D I V I S I O N |
|
Neopolitan Shake Agent Callahan Code Name: Slater You can get any kind of shake, as long as it has vanilla, chocolate, or strawberry in it. This has all three, for those of you who feel chocolate is too rich, vanilla is too boring, and strawberry is too pink. Agent Callahan: ” I really enjoyed this shake – you could taste all 3 flavors at different times, moving the straw around the cup. It was a great combination. I will definitely order this one again!” |
![]() |
Root Beer Float Agent Gladding Code Name: Koko B Ware I pulled up the rear in this mission, as we had a few people who decided that the weren’t tough enough to complete a mission of eating free In-N-Out. That’s the breaks. So… I drink your milkshake! A root beer float is just what it sounds like: root beer and vanilla shake in it. It was pretty tasty, and I’d get it again! |
![]() |
Webmaster’s note: many of you were wondering how the heck I came up with these code names. They were rather random and really depended on what was on TV on the time or rattling around in my brain. In retrospect, some of the names were rather odd. Denim? In-N-Out is now located at 225 Placerville Road, Folsom. |