In-n-Out—Thousand Palms, Rancho Mirage, and (soon) Palm Springs
You don’t want to admit it’s true. I didn’t for the longest time either. Friends would drag me to In-n-Out, and I’d get the standard double-double with fries and I’d admit it was pretty decent. It wasn’t so much the off-putting Bible verses (I’m a fan of the versus, just not the vulgarity of plastering them chocolate shake cups); it was the revulsion for corporate fast-food. On principle, I avoided any outright endorsement.
Anthony Bourdain changed my mind. I can’t remember the show, but he’d just flown in LAX and his first stop was always the In-n-Out closest to the airport. There, a double-double before him, he extolled on the virtues of this perfectly executed burger: two grilled, not overly-fat patties, American cheese, a slice of tomato, a few crunchy leaves of iceberg lettuce, and the optional slice of raw onion. Its simplicity and balance, of course, is the key to its success. Maybe you’ve had better fries, maybe a creamier shake, but when you put it all together…superb.
Bourdain also goes on to talk about the periodic craze that grips New Yorkers when a rumor spreads that an In-N-Out is about to open somewhere in the Northeast between Mt. Kisco and Philly. It’s always just a rumor (though now that CEO Lynsi Snyder has confirmed a new eastern office in Franklin, Tennessee, it is not beyond the realm of possibility it once was), but it does to show that the California-based burger chain is well beyond just a regional obsession.
Closer to home, the Coachella can claim two outlets in Thousand Palms and Rancho Mirage (the Thousand Palms location has some notoriety as the 50th store opened by the chain), though they aren’t in the most convenient locations. However, it appears that the final bureaucrat hurdles have been cleared for the erection of an In-N-Out store in the Smoke Tree parking lot on East Palm Canyon where a derelict Bank of America now stands.
This was clearly done to finally wear down the last vestiges to my resistance. I gave up and give in. Yes, I love In-N-Out, particularly a double Animal Style, mustard-grilled double patty, sans bun, with grilled onions and peppers, and extra sauce. Arteries, who needs arteries?
The Heyday, Palm Springs
Launched with surprisingly little fanfare, this little bastion features an extraordinary example of the current zeitgeist in burgers….yes, the smash burger. Yes, when the craze for smash burgers flooded Tik-Tok, I was both intrigued and skeptical. The science and artistry is as sound as it is for any New York strip: a slightly crunchy exterior containing an interior of rich, medium rare goodness. I went so far as to experiment on the grill in my own kitchen and even found an antique all-metal clothes iron to use to smash down the meat. Maybe I just didn’t master the right technique. I got the crunch, but I also got medium-well interiors, which is not at all my jam. Still, I’ve kept an open—ish mind.
I was rewarded at The Heyday with their Smash Double, an awesome mix of crunch, tender patty and general melted cheese gooeyness. I’ve got to admit that what put me over the top with the 8 or 10 burgers I’ve sampled over the last couple weeks is the sauce. Thousand Island. Yeah, some people think it was invented for deep fried shrimp or other seafood, but they didn’t grow up in the age of Bob’s Big Boy where, in the words of Walter in The Big Liebowski, “it really tied the room together”.
The Burger Spot, Indio
Yes, for the second year in a row, The mysterious Burger Spot makes the list as one of the finest burgers in the Coachella Valley.
And, second, I’m not telling you the address or how to get there. Instagram. That’s all you need to know.
I got lucky. I know Claudia who is a regular and knows Mariah Ayon, the proprietor. Claudia put in a word for me with Mariah. Still, Mariah wasn’t convinced she wanted visitors. It was Friday evening. Her birthday. She wanted to close early and go out to dinner. She had a certain number of orders to fill and then she was closing.
“Besides,” she told me later. “I never let anyone in my house.”
Yes, that’s right, her house. Ayon’s home is in a neat neighborhood of small houses in Coachella. It’s busy on a Friday evening with people getting home from work and trucks backing into short driveways. Ayon’s house looks like any other except for a backlit, ten-foot square banner on the front porch that says, ‘The Burger Spot.’ There are also a few people standing patiently in line on the cement path leading to her front door. I got to the door and knocked. A young woman answered and I told her that Claudia had sent me. She tells me to wait. I waited a long time.
Finally, I was admitted.
I entered a small living room where the furniture has been pushed back to create space to the front door from the kitchen and dining area where a long folding table is set up as an assembly area. I was greeted by Mariah, a young, attractive woman who nevertheless has the harried look of someone keeping a dozen balls in the air. Between phone orders, she briefly told her story. Her original goal was law school and she worked a couple server jobs while doing undergraduate work (It’s the only previous food service experience she’s had), but then her life took a turn and she became a full-time nanny. “This started during Covid. Everything crashed down, so I just did it a little on side. But then it started getting bigger and bigger. I finally had to ask two friends to come in and help me. It just became a local hit.”
Ayon’s business is open Wednesday through Sunday for lunch and dinner. Lunch is usually 11:30 to 1 and dinner varies (times are posted weekly on Ayon’s Instagram page), but is generally 4:45 to 9. Ayon makes a set number of burgers and sliders per day and when they sell out (which they do, every day), then she closes. “All our clients are the same clients every week,” she says. “They know what they want and know when to come by and pick it up.”
There is only one way to order: The Burger Spot Instagram site. You peruse the small menu such as the ‘Hit the Spot Burger Box’ ($10.00) or the popular special platters such as ‘6 sliders and buffalo fries all around’ ($45.00), then send a message in your order. If you’re lucky enough to edge out one of the regulars, you get the address, and arrive 25 minutes later. Park in the street and text that you’ve arrived. If your order is ready, you can go to the door. One of Ayon’s friends will take your cash and return with your order.
Ayon says the key to her popularity is that she flavors her food to fix her largely Mexican clientale. The buffalo fries (cut steak style) are topped with grated cheese, her own chipolte and ranch sauce, and parsley. It’s like French fries meets nachos. The ‘Hit the Spot’ is a huge angus patty flavored with piquant spices between a kasier roll that requires both hands. It comes w With melted American cheese, pickled red onions, tomato, spicy mayo. I had avocado slices added to mine. It was unctuous and spicey, though not to where it singed my hair. The great mix of flavors and the perfectly cooked meat made it one of the greatest burgers I’ve ever had. How do I know? It was gone in 60 seconds and there was nothing left but spicey mayo on my fingertips.
George's Bar and Grill, Cathedral City
You like ketchup? You like it on your burger? Tell you what: Go to George’s Bar and Grill on Ramon in Cathedral City, sit at the counter, and order a double cheeseburger. When it arrives, ask for the ketchup. As you lift the top bun to pour some ketchup on, you might find yourself escorted to the door. At best, you will be yelled at by the staff.
“We have a ‘No ketch.p on the burgers’ policy,” says Stacy, a waitress of long standing. “Because we want you to taste the meat. You can put ketchup on your fries, but don’t get it anywhere near the burger.”
George’s was founded in 1969 by a former boxer named George at a different location. There is a photo of George in a boxing stance at the present location. George looks tough. If he told me not to touch the ketchup, I’d listen.
Actually, the full name of the establishment is George’s Bar & Grill—World Famous Burgers and Insults. By all accounts, George and his son, Ed (who took over the establishment after George passed away in 1999) were professional curmudgeons with hearts of dry gristle. They could dish it out—both superlative burgers and chili and flinty wisecracks. Sadly, Ed passed away in 2022 and it looked like the Cat City institution was going away forever.
Thanks to local contractor Gary Chaney, George’s doors have reopened. Chaney, a tall, affable with seasoned builder written all over him, happened by the grill just as Nick was grilling us up our burger order. “I was at Ed’s funeral and was talking to his stepsons,” he recalled. “They weren’t interested in continuing the business. This has always been a lunch place for working people and I hated the idea of it closing. I thought to myself, ‘Well, why don’t I give it a try?’”
A lot of people are glad he did. Add me to the list. Nick delivered our burger straight from the grill and the size of it was a little intimidating. The meat was well-seasoned and full of flavor. And they’re right about the ketchup. This burger was so juicy that ketchup would disguise the high quality of the beef. The balance of gooey American cheese, juicy burger, and the crisp, coolness of the lettuce, tomato and onion is classic. Burgers like this are the standard by which all others should be judged. It’s deceptively simple and impossible to duplicate at home. This is why you go out for a good burger.
Chaney delivers a small bowl of chili to the table. Back in George and Ed’s days, the chili was as famous as the burgers…but the recipe was secret. Chaney says it took many hours, but they were finally able to approximate the original. It’s meaty and spicey, the perfect chili to ladle over a hot dog or single cheeseburger.
Though the insults are no longer flying fast and furious, George’s burger lives up to its well-earned reputation.
Dillons, Desert Hot Springs
“There was a time this road was full of bars and roadhouses,” says Jameson Walker, the owner of Dillons Burgers and Beers in Desert Hot Springs. Dillons has been around since 1948, a veritable antique by California standards. “Back in the day when all the people who worked in Palm Springs lived up here, there was a lively scene up here. Because it’s far away from the towns, the music got pretty loud.”
Getting to Dillons is relatively straightforward. You simply go up Indian Canyon to Dillon and take a right. Then you begin to cruise the road with its boarded-up shacks, construction lots, and thrift stores and wonder if it exists. We almost missed it despite Siri imploring us to stop and turn right into the parking lot.
Dillons is a classic roadhouse. With its nondescript, dusty exterior, it’s a pleasant surprise to step into the dark, cool interior. There’s a bar to the right (locals were sitting shoulder to shoulder at the 11am opening time to knock back an eye opener) and back in the left corner is a little stage for the band. The walls around it are festooned with posters for local and even nationally known rock bands. With a nice expanse of dance floor in front of the stage, this looks like just the place to lose a Friday night.
I’m tempted to ask Jameson if he’ll serve me up the simple Dillons ¼ lb cheeseburger. I’ve been told it’s a classic of its kind, a burger that’ll soak up your first two beers, but still leave room for the next two. Instead, I ask Jameson what most of the regulars order.
“The Everything Cheeseburger,” he says without hesitation. “You won’t be sorry.
When it arrived at my table ten minutes, I was only sorry that I didn’t have a second stomach. The Everything has two ¼ lb patties covered in cheese, two thick, massive strips of bacon, avocado, tomato, onion, and lettuce. Luckily, in the course of researching burgers for this article (you’d be surprised who didn’t make the cut), I have become an expert at unhinging my lower jaw in order to chomp deep into the heart of the burger. The first bite is key. In the first bite, all the various flavors are distinct (On the other hand, the further you get into a good burger, the more the ingredients begin to get mashed and meld…which is equally delectable). With the Everything Cheeseburger, the well-done patties, melted cheese, ripe beefsteak tomato, and firm avocado slices all had their say…and what they said was damn good.
