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By Ed Murrieta


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Mar. 12, 2009 at 12:57pm

Tale of three burgers: Flip-N-Out, In-N-Out, Sonic

A first bite of a new Tacoma burger, plus a sip of Sonic's drinks

Posted by Ed Murrieta in Eating with Ed, First Bite, Restaurant Openings, Tacoma
Comments (11)

The first thing I did when I landed in Sacramento last week was revisit one of my favorite hamburger haunts: In-N-Out, the California-based drive-in chain that's yet to migrate to the Northwest. The timing was deliciously ironic as I chowed down on a Double-Double on the same day that a burger joint with a doppleganging name and logo opened in Tacoma.

flipnout
Flip-N-Out opened in the former 12th St. Diner (4008 S 12th St., Tacoma) last week.

Flip-N-Out, which took over the space that used to be 12th Street Diner, is no In-N-Out, despite the fact that both burger joints share the same syllabic cadence, the same hyphenated capital N conjuctive and a similar red-N-white color-schemed logo. Heck, I can't even say that Flip-N-Out is anything close to Five Guys, the Virginia-based restaurants with a suspiciously similar menu of burgers, fries, hot dogs and shakes. What I can say, though, is that I did not do any backflips after my first bite of Flip-N-Out this week.

Not that I'm comparing Flip-N-Out to In-N-Out -- that would be like comparing Tacoma to Paris. But when you mirror any part of In-N-Out, you'd better deliver the best ground beef sandwiches possible, especially when you're making claims of hand-ground, hand-formed quality.

(For the record: In-N-Out burgers are heaven on grilled buns: juicy, savory beef patties, topped with lettuce and tomatoes, wrapped neatly in paper. I ordered mine Animal Style -- with mustard and grilled onion -- off In-N-Out's not-so-secret secret menu.)

innout
In-N-Out's Double-Double, Animal Style.

My first bite of Flip-N-Out -- a single cheeseburger with the works: mayo, mustard, ketchup, lettuce, tomato, onions, pickles, mushrooms, on a sesame bun -- tasted more like a greasy grill than a beefy burger. I appreciated the hand-formed third-pound patty, but the meat itself looked and felt over-worked -- loamy and crumbly in a soft, fatty-textured way. The burger was a sizable mouthful, but loaded with all the standard fixings, it was a messy handful. (You can for any of the fixings to be left off, but I got them all just to have a baseline bite.)

I liked the thin-and-crispy fries, but I did not like the thin milkshake (chocolate and vanilla are the only choices). The shake was so thin I thought it was a smoothie.

Flip-N-Out burgers (singles, doubles, with cheese, without) are $3.39-$5.89. Hot dogs (including cheese and bacon dogs) are $2.49-$4.09. I thought my meal was a bit pricy -- nearly $11 for a single cheeseburger, fries and a shake.

Speaking of burgers that didn't impress me, I had my first taste of Sonic Drive-In's burgers when I was in California last week. (I'd flown to the Golden State to visit family, not to check out burgers, although my timing good since Sonic plans to open its first Puget Sound drive-in in Puyallup in April.) The meat was bland (in taste and color). The buns were cold. The fixins were messy -- lettuce torn willy-nilly, onions un-uniformly chopped.

Two things did impress me: Sonic's chili-cheese tater tots and Sonic's drinks. In fact, I've got a suspicion that the drinks -- limeaids, fruit slushies and Sonic's Ocean water sodas (the latter kicked up with coconut extract that give the drinks exotic effervescence) may be the reason to cruise into Sonic, especially during afternoon half-priced happy hours.

sonic1
Sonic burger with chili-cheese tater tots.

Comments (11)

Ed... I too had my first Sonic last week. I was on a business trip to Tampa and saw a Sonic and having never had one I went.

I liked the car hop feel, even when driving thru. The meal took a while, which to me meant that my order was going to be cooked to order.

I got a double cheese burger, plain tots, a cherry lime-aid and popcorn chicken (I was not that hungry but I wanted to see what they did with the chicken).

I ordered the cherry lime-aid because everyone on blogs say that it is a must.

The burger was good, and hot. Nice and juicy.

The tots were cold.

The popcorn chicken was a joke. There was a full cup of "chicken". It was cold and it was 95% coating and 5% chicken. There was really only about 4 pieces of chicken worth eating.

Now the cherry lime-aid. I don't get it. Why do people have such fond memories of these. Did something change? It was weak and neither cherry or lime tasting. I brought it back to the room and added lots tequila to it.
1 | Left by MonkeyBob | Mar. 12, 2009 at 2:51pm


I had a LOUSY experience with Sonic in another state. I'll spare the details but they're sufficient enough to have me saying "screw Sonic end of story."
2 | Left by A.M. | Mar. 12, 2009 at 8:52pm


Is this the group from jazzbones that took over 12th st, or someone else?

Anyway, this was opportunity missed for me. I was just a little too late, and meeting my supposed partner/pal's criteria in every way wasn't good enough. (A clever ruse to keep me toiling away in the dungeon). By the time he made up his mind (it was actually made up before I ever wasted the owner's time), the lease had been signed, and I didn't have a chance to go it alone, which I would have seriously considered. (Thus my "no partners, EVER" rule). I considered what the owner of 12th st diner had done as it was to be a very adequate, needing only some fine tuning and the addition of some convienient breakfast fare. He was 100% without food business experience, and did a nice job. In every way it reminded me of the small, independent burger stands around town when I was a kid.

Properly executed, it's the perfect recession proof food business.

Missing that opportunity ultimatly cast a very bright light on a very bad situation I was in at the time, resulting in my exit from the food business, or at least he predicament I was in at the time, so all was not lost.

But regards Flip-N-Out:
It shows that evne simple fare can be hard to get right. The fast food chains spend millions on thier menus, getting formulas and recipe's and proceedures just so.

Independents need to fight back with superior ingredient, freshness, and skill. Don't be careless and you can survive.

I know that an operator can suceed in that space. I want Flip-N-Out to prove it.

TRY HARDER.
3 | Left by Steve Ramsey | Mar. 13, 2009 at 9:35am


Always the bridesmaid.

Sloppy posting Rivit.
4 | Left by Leah | Mar. 16, 2009 at 9:33pm


Ruh Roh.
Things to do, places to go.
5 | Left by Steve Ramsey | Mar. 17, 2009 at 11:49am


Other comments have been made about this location and previous owners. The best was the Franks Family, Aka Franks Drive In. Had a decent menu, etc. I went to 12th Street Diner to try the food and wouldn't go back, after seeing the guy taking orders handling money, etc, then handling the milk shake cups with his thumb/forefinger inside the cup and taking the straw out of the wrapping and putting in the milkshake for the customer.

I will try Flip N Out but will wait for about a month more.

I agree the prices seem a little high, $11 bucks? hmmm, give me Olive Garden for lunch for $6.95

6 | Left by Michael M | Mar. 19, 2009 at 2:08am


It will be interesting to see if Sonic is good or not. Everyone I talk to who have been to Sonic say it's great! Heard the same about Carls Jr. too. That place was packed when it opened. I've been there 3 times and after the 3rd time I said "no more", the meat was cold, cooked in advance. Watched an employee behind the counter flipping plastic caps for the cups back towards the cooking area. Must have had nothing to do. Now you drive by there and it's not busy at all.
7 | Left by Michael M | Mar. 19, 2009 at 2:11am


The best Sonic's are in Oklahoma. That is where they are from.
Ed glad to see that you had your In and Out when visiting family. But you should have gone to Nation wide meats and or Squeeze Inn.Oh well next time.
8 | Left by Adri | Mar. 19, 2009 at 9:43pm


Ed says:

Adri: I did enjoy a burger at Nationwide Freezer Meats. Frank's French steak burgers live on, along with his jumbo-cut fries and Dixie cups of ketchup! I didn't write about Nationwide because I did not want to tease South Sound Eats readers about a burger that far away. But if you're ever in Sacramento, Nationwide's French steak burgers rock...
9 | Mar. 19, 2009 at 9:51pm


Never been a huge fan of In-n-out, Sonic, Burgerville, or Carls JR. There is a Five Guys that opened up in Renton (The Landing, Next to the new Rock Woodfired Pizza) that im anxious to try. IMO, The Little Holland is still king of Tacoma...not sure where they will be going.
10 | Left by Domonick | May. 3, 2009 at 1:03pm


Perhaps it's time to check out Out N About Burgers off of Meridian and 144th in South Hill, Puyallup?
11 | Left by passerby | Nov. 19, 2009 at 12:24am


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