Four Favorite Fast-Food Burgers

Ahab decided to tag the entire interweb tube system with his fave burgers meme, so since it's Friday and I'm feeling silly, here goes with my five favorites, in order.

1. Double Western Bacon Cheeseburger, Carl's Jr. Yes, there are better quality burgers around, but this combination of beef, cheese, bacon, BBQ sauce, and onion rings is my absolute favorite. No trip passing through Oregon or Spokane (Eastern Washington) is complete without stopping at the first Carl's Jr. I see to get one.

2. Double-Double, In-n-Out. Of course this is on the list, and second only to CJ's as my favorite burger. For the money, I think it's the best pure hamburger you can get at a fast food joint. On Washington to California road trips, I'll have been hitting Carl's Jr's since Portland, so I'm ready for pure burger goodness once I start seeing those In-n-Out arrows.

3. Kingburger, Fatburger. I basically consider Fatburger to be an In-n-Out imitator, with the chief differences being that you can get a fried egg, bacon, and chili on top of your Fatburger patty, and Fatburger has locations within 20 minutes of my house, compared to 20 hours to the nearest In-n-Out. It's a decent, if somewhat expensive burger. My recommendation is to get it with everything: bacon, fried egg, cheese, and chili. It's why quadruple-bypass surgery was invented.

4. Sirloin Cheese Burger, Jack In The Box. I can here Ahab's laughter across eight state lines on this one, but seriously, it's a good burger. Probably the best I've had from a national fast-food chain with branches in Western Washington. Unlike most fast burgers, this one actually has a well seasoned and flavorful patty, and they know enough to let the meat's flavor speak for itself rather than load it down with a lot of unnecessary extras. A piece of Swiss cheese, some grilled onions, a crunchy pickle spear (not the usual awful pickle chips) and some good tomatoes make for an excellent flavor.

Honorable Mentions. My fifth pick was going to be the Jalapeno Melt from Wendy's, but it appears they don't offer it anymore. Sad. It was a pretty average burger overall, but the jalapenos gave it a nice kick. Also officially discontinued, but available at some locations where it's popular enough, would be the Rodeo Cheeseburger from Burger King. Basically a poorer imitation of my Carl's Jr. favorite, the Rodeo Cheeseburger was a beef patty, BBQ sauce, and an onion ring. On the plus side, it's cheap, and available in more locations. Still, I can't peg it as an official #5 due to its random availability, and the fact that it's just a weak imitation of a superior product. Oh well.

Sorry, Ahab, I couldn't quite come up with a full top 5 list. Such is the nature of being a picky burger eater.