What A Burger!

Okay, I'm still exploring the New Mexico area and learning about the foods in the area. Alamogordo is inordinately proud of it's chain restaurants and everyone keeps giving me funny looks when I ask about restaurants. They keep recommending Chili's and Applebees. No offence intended but I can eat their food at home if I want (and I don't.) I'm not knocking chains, I just want something different than what I can see in my own hometown.

Which leads me to my fast food adventure in Roswell, NM. (I'm making a video about my alien hunt, look for it soon at www.fnnygrl.blogspot.com) I was hungry and saw a couple of restaurants that looked okay but then I spotted what looked like a fast food restaurant called Whataburger. Well I was hungry and it looked good so I pulled in.

Whataburger is a family owned chain started in Odessa, Texas. (Hmm, yet another food from Texas that I like...moving to Austin is getting more and more appealing!)They now stretch across the south going as far west as Arizona. (Hint, hint to the Whataburger family...Las Vegas, NV is a great expansion location!) They remind me of a Texas style In-N-Out.

I knew it must be a popular place because it was crowded. You order at the counter and then wait for your food at a table where a nice person will bring it to you. It was so crowded on this particular Saturday afternoon that I didn't want to tie up a table for just me so I decided to use the drive thru and take my food to a nearby park. I also thought the drive thru would be quicker but when I pulled up I was informed by the nice young lady that it would be a ten to fifteen minute wait there too. Oh well.


Since it was all new to me, I went with the Double Meat Whataburger (add cheese), medium fries and small chocolate shake. I know, it's a lot of food but I'm a big girl and I was really hungry. But not that hungry. The Whataburger is HUGE. The menu says it's a five inch bun but I would swear that it's larger than that. And they don't skimp on the toppings. Three slices of tomato, lots of pickles, (again, the menu says four but mine had more than that)lettuce, diced onions and something they call their 'famous mustard'. I don't know what it's famous for, it tasted like regular mustard to me. I love stuff on my burger so I was in high heaven. The fries were thin, crispy and hot and were served in a square box, like the kind popcorn used to come in. The chocolate shake was thick and just right, not too chocolaty. They didn't have Heinz ketchup (which is a venial sin in my book) but I did like that it was in a square container instead of a packet which made it much easier to dip my fries.

Next time I'd probably get the Junior Whataburger because it's not quite as humongous. I'd also like to try breakfast since it's the first time I've seen biscuits and gravy on a fast food menu. The quality of ingredients was terrific and while the burger was a bit greasy, that wasn't necessarily a bad thing in my eyes and was probably due to the double meat, double cheese factor. (They also have a triple meat, triple cheese option and I would like to meet the person who can eat that!)

When I got back to Alamogordo, Bill said he was glad to hear there was one in New Mexico since his girlfriend Rhonda was from Texas and had introduced him to the chain. Roswell is over two hours away but there are also locations in Las Cruces which is only a little over an hour from the base. I think another run before I leave New Mexico is in order. Yummmm.