That said, as a Texan, I'm going to ask you... In n Out vs Whataburger? I've only had the latter once, and barely remember it. What's your opinion, and why?
Oh I definitely prefer Whataburger but this is an unfair competition for InO because the Whataburger menu is just so much larger, with so many more options. They're really not competing in the same category.
On my Whataburger, I can get the usual lettuce and tomato plus bacon, raw or grilled onions, raw, grilled, or pickled jalapenos, New Mexican green chile, avocado, and any number of condiments including mustard, mayo, ketchup, spicy ketchup, BBQ sauce, sweet-hot-sauce. You can get that on a standard bun, a brioche bun, or Texas toast. If you like cheese you can add slices of American cheese, slices of Monterrey jack cheese, or shredded cheddar cheese. Or any combination of the three.
And if you don't want a burger you can get a plain chicken sandwich, a fried chicken sandwich, a chicken strip sandwich, all dressed with any of the options above.
During Lent you can get a fried fish sandwich.
And if you don't want sandwiches you can get just straight up chicken strips.
And if you want breakfast you can get that too, from 11 PM to 11 AM (they're open 24 hours). You can get pancakes, eggs, bacon, sausage patties, hash brown sticks, taquitos, biscuits and gravy, biscuit sandwiches with eggs and sausage patties or eggs and bacon, with either a standard biscuit of a jalapeno cheddar biscuit.
And because they short-order everything, you can get any combination of any of the above. For example, if you're there after 11 PM, you can get a jalapeno cheeseburger topped with eggs, bacon, hash brown sticks, and a sausage patty. I'm not saying you should do this, I'm not saying it's wise, but it can be done, and it has been done.
All that aside, just comparing the burgers themselves, my go-to order at Whataburger (at least when I was younger and had some semblance of a metabolism) is the double bacon cheeseburger with one slice of American cheese, one slice of Monterrey jack cheese, grilled onions, grilled jalapenos, and mustard.
And that beats anything and everything InO can do. I don't like Thousand Island dressing so I don't like anything "animal style" and last time I was there InO only has what they call "sport peppers" which I think are okay on a sub but absolutely do not want them on my burger.
The fries aren't great at either place, I guess Whateburger's hold out a little longer though.