Let me get this off my chest: I’ve never been to In n’Out Burger. I’ve read about them, I’ve heard a lot about them, I even have an In n’Out Burger beach towel, but I’ve never actually eaten a burger there. I feel the pressing need to make a trip out to Southern California or Las Vegas (the only place they have restaurants) in order to try them out, but without an expense account it will just have to wait. So why is In ‘Out burger relevant to this discussion of two local burger joints in Boston? In ‘Out burger did it first and has been doing it for a lot longer (and is a lot more famous).
These three stores are all in the same business – made to order, hand pressed, freshly ground meat hamburgers, fries and shakes. They are in the fast food business, but they aren’t really fast. Their food isn’t really cheap, but you can’t really mind too much, because it is so good.
Uburger, which just opened within the last month, in Kenmore Square, has the heart and soul of a fast food place - despite the fact that it is one of a kind, it looks and feels like a hip chain restaurant. The food is way better than McDonalds or Burger King – they don’t even belong in the same sentence really (so sorry) – but it still feels like it is doing the same kind of business. The burgers are very good – the fast food burger of your dreams really – freshly made with shredded lettuce and tomato. The French fries were amazing – thin, fresh cut, shoe-string fries that were crispy and just salty enough… three cheers for those fries. Very decent onion rings – in a side-by-side comparison I almost always prefer onion rings to fries so it really tells you something about their fries that I liked them better. Their limited menu includes hot dogs – a fabulously big grilled all beef dog – chicken sandwiches and salads (including, believe it or not, a field greens with pear, walnut and gorgonzola number). The place is very clean – if you eat there you won’t be walking around looking for a clean table – they are all wiped off and rubbish free. Next time I get tickets to a Red Sox game I’m smuggling my Uburger meal into Fenway. Lunch for two was $12 and the wait for our food was about 10 minutes.
Wild Willy’s, in Watertown Square for over a year now, is a place to go get a homemade burger that you don’t have to make yourself. The burgers are handmade and thick, grilled over an open flame, they always ask you how you want it cooked (you can tell Uburger, but they won’t ask), served on a buttered grilled bun with whole leaf lettuce and an ample slice of tomato. The burger is more distinctive here – different, not necessarily better. The fries at Wild Willy’s are a disappointment – also fresh cut from real potatoes on-site, but too thick to crisp up, they are kind of soggy and never very good. The onion rings are fabulous. They also have shakes and salads. No hot dogs here, but chicken tenders as well as delicious chicken sandwiches – very moist chicken breast with a lot of flavor. This place is more of a theme restaurant with western saddles at the counter for my kids to play on, a replica of an old Chuck Wagon in the center of the eating area, and western murals on the walls. There is also table service – of sorts. You order at the counter and bring a wooden numbered block to your table where it will be delivered after about a 10 minute wait. Lunch for two is about $15. Neither fast, nor cheap, Wild Willy’s is definitely a lunch destination.
After all that field research I can’t decide which is better. I like them both. They are much more difficult to compare than I anticipated going into this study. I guess the only thing I can do is eat at both of them a few more times… I’m sure a few more hamburgers will clear things up. A few more chicken sandwiches. A few more salads. I can see I have my work cut out for me.
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