Mooyah!

As an former San Diegan, I miss In-N-Out Burger. *sigh*

Here in Texas, I've tried Sonic and Steak 'n Shake, which are probably fine establishments in their own right (or not), but nothing has come close to In-N-Out to me. Especially on a low carb diet, (or any kind of diet, for that matter), the breaded and fried fare at Sonic or the larger-than-life menu illustrations of mega-deluxe milkshakes at Steak 'n Shake are just about deal-breakers that make those difficult places to dine wisely.

This week I tried something that almost --- but not quite --- comes close. Mooyah is a small local chain that seems directly modeled after In-N-Out. Same concept of a small menu of burgers, fries, shakes, and soft drinks; same emphasis on fresh beef and hand cut fries; even the same red and white color scheme.

On the plus side, Mooyah offers a bigger list of condiments to add for free to customize your sandwich. They offer a choice of American, cheddar, or swiss cheese, and also have whole wheat buns for the asking. The atmosphere when we were there seemed calmer and friendlier than In-N-Out, and the service was speedy.

What I went for was the very aptly-named Iceburger, which is the burger of your choice nicely done up in a generous wrapping of cool crisp iceburg lettuce leaves instead of a bun. In-N-Out offers this under the prosaic label of "Protein Style" on their 'secret' menu, but I think Mooyah may do a better job with the lettuce wrapper, and the name is more clever. (In my opinion, this may be the world's only legitimate use for iceburg lettuce.)

On the negative side, Mooyah costs more than I remember paying at In-N-Out. The thing that really aggravated me, though, is that they do not list or publish any nutrition info that I could find. They do not make it easy to know exactly how many calories, carbs, fat, sodium, sugar, points, or anything people on various diets or with certain health issues might want or need to track. That seems pretty backwards to me.

Plus, well, it's just not In-N-Out.

Nice enough, though --- I'll be back.