Creamery on 9th

From a prior post, Utah Valley’s Daily Herald newspaper weighed in on their hamburger picks of Utah Valley.  One of the burger makers with great reviews is BYU’s Creamery on 9th.  I had not had the pleasure, so I decided to give it a try.   As you can see, the creamery is part grocery store, part ice cream parlor and part diner.  The line for the grill is the same line as the ice cream service.  They only have one cash register for both.  Because it was New Years Eve, evidently a number of staff were on holiday break, so they were a little short handed.  They have a nice diner type bar, although I thought the stools were uncomfortably close to the counter, so we opted for a table instead.  We went with the cheeseburger combo which came with Fries and a drink.  (They only serve decaffeinated soft drinks.) The Creamery actually offers Spicy, Pepper or Plain french fries.  We tried the Pepper and Spicy, and they were both good.  I think the spicy were better.  A mild version of curly fries.   The hamburger is scooped onto the grill and flattened with spatula’s.  It’s cooked fresh and not frozen.  The hamburgers are served on a very fresh and soft homemade bun with condiments on the side.  It may have been a function of being short staffed, but my hamburger was over-cooked.  (To the point of crispy.) I’m sure it would have been much better with a little less time on the flat grill.  The cheese appeared a bright yellow and tasted very good.  The burger is served with slices of fresh purple onion, lettuce, pickles and tomato.

BYU Cheeseburger Combo

If you want mustard, ketchup or sauce for your burger you have to help yourself from the bulk dispensers. I thought the overall experience was positive barring the overcooked hamburger patty, but we’ll chalk that up to human error, and give them the benefit of the doubt that it was a “rare” abnormality.  BYU Creamery gets points for fresh, but I find it difficult to believe that it represents the best of Utah Valley.

We finished the trip with some very good ice cream.  The Rocky Road was delicious, Lavell’s Vanilla (Named after BYU Football coach legend Lavell Edwards), Coconut Joy and Strawberry were absolutely extraordinary.  (I recommend dining on your dinner first and then getting back in the single line for an ice cream chaser.)  You can find their website here:   http://dining.byu.edu/creamery//

Scaddy's

Scaddys located at 1846 S 300 W in Salt Lake City makes a pretty good cheeseburger.  I opted for the Scaddy Burger Combo which sounded like a good measure of their basic cheeseburger.  The combo was $6.89, and comes with a fries and a medium drink.  Their signature burger is the Wayne burger, but the description calls it “Big”.  Evidently you also have the option of getting sauteed onions.   Scaddy’s is unique in that they offer fresh cooked and individually prepared breakfast, lunch and dinner.  According to the website, Scaddys is locally owned by Wayne Scadlock and his family.  As for the Scaddyburger, it was good.  It came with Patty, onions, tomato, lettuce and a type of special sauce which closely resembled fry-sauce.  I particularly thought the bun was fresh, full and unique.  It wasn’t the run of the mill bun.  The hamburger patty was cooked just right.  The cheese slice was not skimpy and was added to the burger at the right time in order to be slightly melted when served.  All the condiments were fresh.

Scaddy's Combo

One small criticism of the burger is that I thought the pepper was a little strong.  I would suggest a lighter touch on the black pepper.  The french fries were not peeled. You could see potato skin on some fries.  They were served hot, but they seemed a little soft for my preference.  The manager cruised the dining tables to check in with customers to make sure everything was up to their expectations which I thought was a nice touch.  If your really hungry, You should stop by for a Wayne Burger, if you’re just in the mood for a nice burger and fry combo, you can’t go wrong with the Scaddyburger Combo.

In N Out (Draper)

In N Out Burger…  What exactly is it about In N Out Burger that makes them so iconic?  This is only the second time I have eaten at In N Out and the place was absolutely packed.  The first time I ate at In N Out was in Hollywood CA.  It was just as busy.  A constant line of hungry customers wanting to take part in the In N Out phenomenon.  They don’t offer a lot of variety.  Hamburger, Cheeseburger and Double Cheeseburger.  That’s it.  Shakes and drinks and fries.  They seem to have found their very specific niche, and have worked hard to perfect what works very well for them.   On this visit I ordered combo number 2.  Cheeseburger, fries and medium drink.  I was a little surprised by the price.  It was only $4.94 for the entire meal.  Kudos to the good people at In N Out for keeping the combo under $5 bucks.

Combo Number 2

My assessment of the hamburger was that it tasted very good.  I noticed that the onion ( optional), tomato and lettuce were all particularly fresh.  The lettuce was crisp, the tomato was ripe, but not mushy, and the onion was cut to a thickness that was not too thick or too thin.  The hamburger had what appeared to be a special type of sauce which had a unique flavor, although the color and texture was a lot like fry sauce.  One criticism that I do have of the hamburger is that the hamburger patty was very thin.  Too thin for my preferences, but no doubt there are a lot of people that obviously like a thinner patty.  Having said that, upon my next visit I will have to go with a Double Double which is a double cheeseburger.

Quality you can taste.

As I was observing those around me, the double cheeseburger appeared to be very popular.  The french fries were cut thin, but I noticed that they didn’t seem greasy and they didn’t get soft and mushy as they cooled off.  I recall that in California, the store cut their potato’s in house, and as a result, they were obviously very fresh.  I believe all of their locations do the same, but the kitchen was so crowded, I couldn’t see the person cutting the potato’s.   They obviously did not goo through the freezing process, which makes me wonder if that may have something to do with their unique flavor and texture.   They had ketchup for the fries, but no fry sauce.

I struck up conversation with the gentleman next to me at the bar, and he indicated he had been to the location in Las Vegas, and it was very busy also.  I commented that the burger tasted very fresh and he remarked that “It goes out the door so fast, it doesn’t have time to go stale.”  Which I think may have a lot of truth to it.  I then noticed the big neon sign that states “Quality you can taste”.  Frankly I agree.  I agree that the freshness and quality were excellent.

In N Out Cheeseburger and Fries

The interesting thing about In N Out are their loyal customers.  In N Out has a legion of loyal customers that  that are fanatical about their food, brand and culture.  They sleep out for grand openings, the wait in very long lines, and they are very vocal about their preference for In N Out Burgers.  As a matter of fact, a young nephew of mine’s mother was out of town and he wrote on his facebook page that he had eaten at In-N-Out 4 times in a single week.  Now that’s fanatical!

Lastly, I think there is some kind of unique association in people’s minds to California.  In N Out is a California company and there are a lot of Californians that I suppose have a sort of comfort food association with their brand.  In addition, I think there are a lot of Utah natives that have traveled to California for one reason or another and have experienced In N Out in California and want to bring a little piece of California to Utah.   I could be way off.  Maybe I’m projecting my experience on everyone else.  In my defense, I would point to their cups that have a ring of palm trees around the top of the cup.  Not a lot of Palm trees in Utah.

If you haven’t already, you will want to hit an In-N-Out Burger and judge for yourself.  I quite like the food and the whole In-N-Out burger experience.  They seem to have staked a claim on freshness and quality that would be hard to dispute.

To locate the closest IN N OUT near you, check out there website.  http://www.in-n-out.com