Alton Brown's Favorite Fast Food Chain Can Only Be Found In One Half Of The US

Alton Brown might have had a complicated journey to culinary school, but home cooks can be glad he did eventually make it — and then combined it with his other passion, film, when he started up his show, "Good Eats." While he employs plenty of scientific processes and gadgets in his cooking, his fast food tastes run toward the conventional — In-N-Out Burger (beloved icon Julia Child was also a fan of the chain). In an interview with Esquire, he broke it down, saying, "The hamburger is definitive, greasy but oddly clean-tasting at the same time, and the sauce actually is 'special.'" 

But proving that certain tastes and smells can stir up nostalgia in almost everyone, he continued, "And the shake tastes the way shakes tasted back when I was a kid. It makes me tear up just thinkin' about it." His descriptions are vivid enough to make you want to head out to your nearest In-N-Out location immediately for a burger and shake. But if you live in the eastern half of the country, that's not happening (not anytime soon, that is).

Unlike McDonald's, whose plan might be world domination, In-N-Out Burger is a chain that is happy to remain, mostly, on the West Coast of the United States. The reason has to do with quality — namely the quality of the hamburger meat, which gets processed and turned into patties at one of three facilities — all in the western half of the country (and two of which are located in California). Because the chain would never compromise on the quality of its beef patties, viewing frozen burgers with horror, it will only open restaurants within a certain vicinity to its fresh meat (no wonder In-N-Out burgers are Gordon Ramsay's all-time favorites – and Anthony Bourdain's favorite restaurant in all of LA).

However, in 2023 In-N-Out announced its plans to expand more easterly than ever — into Tennessee. Yes, the plan is that by 2026 Tennesseeans will have the opportunity to taste what Alton Brown and other celebs enjoy so much about their burgers and shakes for themselves. The chain broke ground on a new office building in Franklin, TN, in September 2024, with plans to ship their burger patties up from the Texas facility.

This does open up hopes that In-N-Out might consider putting restaurants in a few other middle-country states. But if you live on the actual eastern side of the U.S., you'll have to do as Brown — who lives in Atlanta, GA — does: Wait until your travels take you within proximity of a location.