A few weeks ago , the first - ever Dallas Shake Shack open up with all the fanfare of a majestic enthronization . The lawn in front of the Crescent Hotel , where the first North Texas Shack is housed , is crisp gullible and manicured . Inside , there ’s 1930s shiplap as cladding , and a wakeful treillage that utilize reclaimed wood flat from rivers in the S . One Shack hamburger is hug by American cheese , nestling with a lump of piquant jalapeño - cheeseflower sausage from Deep Ellum barbeque favorite Pecan Lodge . Theburgers at Shake Shackare , as they ’ve always been , delicious . They ’re smart , polished , and surprisingly dependable sandwiches from a fast - food for thought company .
However , there is no bill of fare detail from Shake Shake ( or In - N - Out , or Five Guys ) , not one , that will supercede what I make out about Whataburger . No matter how many times the fast - nutrient diligence is reinvented or how many contrarian contention are made attempting to debunk the joy of eating Whataburger late at night , I will always feel a great moving ridge of warmth in my heart for Texas ’ cleverest fast - food chain . Whataburger is tied into the unostentatious , well-disposed , and good - natured feeling of what it mean to live in Texas .
Whataburger feels the same to me as a Willie Nelson birdcall ; as the taste of pond urine after a 100 - degree Dallas mean solar day , or an ice - dusty dip in Austin ’s Barton Springs . It ’s the official food of 2 am in Texas – long before you could get craftanythingat 2 am .
Flickr/Thomas Hawk
When I was a fry develop up in Plano , my parents would bring family Whataburger , always late , after they went out with friends . They ’d take back smattering of freshly envelop cheeseburgers and those grandiloquent , striped cartons of onion rings . You ’d know it was a good Friday night in our sign if my brother , my mamma , my papa , and I were all curling French fries into ketchup , slicing cheeseburger down the center , and eating case of fry onion mob together into the itty-bitty hour . Because Whataburger has always , always sample better under moonlight .
My mom could never finish her burger , so she ’d allow for one-half of one envelop in plastic wrap in the fridge . I ’d swoop up by the next day , like a Texas bat , and devour the remaining burger , douse the recession into a tub of ketchup . I used to eat Whataburger before – and after –football games .
One of the reasons why recent - night food can be so delicious is that it comes with an abandonment : You toss off the shackles of dependable mother wit and calorie - counting and give in to the impulse . A great late - night dish can solidify itself in your mind . In other countersign , late - Nox food for thought become a memory . The taste of Whataburger always ship a wave of memories rush through my body .
Whataburger
Who have it off how many unnecessary , unhealthful , aorta - clot meat patty have authorise through my bloodstream , long past the hour of night that I should have been eating ? Should I rue it ? Maybe I would if Whataburger ’s taquitos were n’t so fondly bonded in my headland with sneaking pre-21 beers with friends . peradventure I ’d repent it more if those late , holdover - cure conversations with my family were n’t so strong of a storage . I do n’t like how high-risk for me it was to eat Whataburger – when my ma called the menage to ask me what I wanted from driving - through at one in the morning , Ialwaysgot a beam of excitement .
It ’s one of the reason I write about cheeseburger now as a human grownup . I ’ve eat on some of the best beefburger in the country , from LA ’s ill-famed Office hamburger , with aristocratical cheeseflower and caramelized onion , to the stunning cheeseburger at the Breslin in New York . Yet I still thirst Whataburger Viscount St. Albans cheeseburgers with jalapeños . Every now and then , I still want to have a double cheeseburger pinch with a boatload of unripe chilies . annually , a stash of Whataburger ketchup ( spicy , please ) always find its way back into my house . Then , there ’s the jalapeño cheddar biscuit , which is doltishly delicious with a cut of American high mallow . I still like to smash the Whataburger burger buns down with my ribbon because that ’s something we used to do to burgers . No theme why .
It ’s severely not to have sex it because Whataburger has kept focused over the class . Most fast - food chemical chain are release challenge dishes , much threaten you to close - dystopian concoctions like a Hell in a cadre coop match . Whataburger is like the really great baseball game player who ’s play for a life-time and you ’d bet your life has never even study performance - enhancing drug . They ’re not replacing their buns with circular hot dog patties , or inserting a full pizza pie , somehow , into the heart of a heart patty , or bass fry a cheeseburger in a batter of Doritos ( though that does n’t fathom like the bad thing ) – they ’re keeping thing dim-witted and late - night delicious .
Whataburger
There ’s no item on the menu that see like it was created by a Marvel baddie to destroy us slowly through food for thought . There ’s no quadruple - baconated menu item name after an unstoppable cybernetic organism who will bar at nothing to kill you .
I know what you ’re thinking : What about In - N - Out ? Yes , Texas has In - N - Out Warren E. Burger now . We ’re home to the ultimate polygon of fast - food eating ( Whataburger + Shake Shack + In - N - Out + Del Taco ) . I know in Los Angeles for a few years , and I get it on me a honest dual - double cheeseburger , of grade , Animal Style . I love the lily-white Allium cepa disc , impudently issue , and a freshly griddled duple cheeseburger souse in that schoolchild - dilating sauce . I get the small fry well - done at In - N - Out , so they ’re crispy and so that they do n’t imbibe .
An In - N - Out burger is great , but it will never feel like Whataburger . It will never taste like bat exploding from the bridge in Austin , or salute with protagonist , deep , in Deep Ellum . It will never get a jalapeño and cheeseflower cheeseburger , sometimes with 1st Baron Verulam , with a racy ketchup tub for the kid .
Flickr/Channone Arif
I rise up in Texas , host myself in Los Angeles for a while , and this , what I ’ll call “ the Whataburger feeling , ” has been a constant for as long as I can remember .
Who in the hell can refuse the king of the beloved butter chicken biscuit ? Recently , a mastermind Reddit user let on something beautiful : By speaking a few mere words ( asking to swap your roll with a biscuit ) , you may customize your parliamentary law in a way that lands you a dearest butter chicken biscuit atany time of day . Well played , sir . This idea absolutely encapsulates the steady brilliance of our fast - food range of mountains : Whataburger is as laid - back and accessible as Texas ’ reputation . They ’re even funny , really funny on Twitter .
Do n’t mess with it . In fact , I hope nothing messes with Whataburger . I hope they do n’t feel the need to encrust anything with Doritos or replace their buns with oily fry chicken . Those are , as Patton Oswalt might call them , lugubriousness slews . I do n’t think I ’ve ever seen a scurvy soul eating Whataburger . It ’s always smiles and devouring and giant sodium carbonate bucket . I do n’t ever sense the McDonald’s - window - one sorrow ( which is when you quickly repent that you ’re get McDonald ’s between window one and window two ) driving through Whataburger . Whataburger is , somehow , more fun .
Courtesy of Whataburger
Where else can you get a small satisfying sticker that indicate you ’ve loaded your sandwich up with light-green chiles ? Where else can you substitute something with a beloved butter biscuit ?
No matter how many throw off Shack burgers melt my brain , or how many In - N - Out double - two-base hit taste like a slicing of California cheer , Whataburger will always bring me home , with a cookie on the side .
signal up herefor our daily Dallas email and be the first to get all the food / drink / fun DFW has to propose .
Whataburger
