Legends tell of a cheeseburger so decadent few dare speak its name. A cheeseburger so rare that even secret menu obsessives shy away from ordering it. It’s messy, it’s wild, it’s elusive — it’s the mighty sasquatch of fast food. We’re talking about the infamous ‘Monkey Style” cheeseburger from In-N-Out — and it uh, well, doesn’t exist.
Generally speaking, In-N-Out makes ordering from its secret menu relatively easy — it has a dedicated website to hidden menu items and all of the employees know the hacks by name. But it’s no secret that the “not-so-secret menu” doesn’t share all of the ways you can hack an In-N-Out meal. The site makes no mention of tomato wraps, Flying Dutchman, Root Beer Floats, or that you can add chopped chilis to anything, but these are all things you can order by name at In-N-Out, so if you’ve fallen for the “Monkey Style” myth before, we don’t blame you.
Ordering “Monkey Style” is sort of a rite of passage for people growing up in Southern California. Everyone who loves In-N-Out has heard of a “Monkey Style” burger, but we’ve never had one and we might have a friend or two who claim they’ve ordered the mysterious beast before, but like we said… it doesn’t exist. We’re not completely sure how this rumor started, but we know it originated on the internet.
The LA Times points to Foodbeast mastermind Elie Ayrouth as one of the first to document his attempt to order the burger (Ayrouth seems to have a habit of torturing In-N-Out employees by pushing them as far as they can be pushed), but In-N-Out has confirmed that it doesn’t and can’t make “Monkey Style” burgers.
So what the hell is “Monkey Style?”
It’s actually not that complicated: it’s simply an In-N-Out Double Cheeseburger with its Animal Style Fries (a bed of fries, sauce, grilled onions, and layers of melted cheese) stuffed inside. It’s not so much that In-N-Out isn’t capable of making it, they just don’t want to because it’s messy, they’d have to figure out how to portion the fries, and it wouldn’t fit in their burger wrapper. But that doesn’t mean you can’t make a Monkey Style burger yourself by ordering each element individually. So we went ahead and did that so that you don’t have to.
We’re here to answer the questions: is a Monkey Style burger as delicious as it sounds? Is it worth trying?
Let’s find out.
How To Build The In-N-Out Monkey Style Burger
So there are no hard rules about what the Monkey Style Burger is, considering it’s not real, so I took some creative liberties here. I ordered a Double Double with no onions and no sauce. The Animal Style Fries have us covered with the onions and sauce so I didn’t feel the need to double down because I want this burger to taste good and not taste too saucy or too oniony.
As for how to stack the ingredients, I simply removed the bottom bun, tomato, and lettuce, put the fries right under the meat, and put it all back together (but only half the lettuce because In-N-Out goes nuts with this ingredient). So from top to bottom, the burger goes: bun, cheese, meat, cheese, meat, grilled onions, sauce, cheese, fries, tomato, lettuce, bun.
Monkey Style Burger Taste Test
Tasting Notes and Thoughts:
Let’s start with the good. The Monkey Style Burger is packed with texture and flavor. It’s beefy, salty, and cheesy, with an earthy and buttery potato flavor, the right amount of gentle tang, and a slightly sweet and deep savory finish. The grilled onions do a lot of work here, they elevate the burger and in hindsight, I wouldn’t have minded doubling down on the grilled onions, so that’s something to consider if you’re considering ordering this.
The tomatoes add some bright juiciness to counteract the deeper and richer flavors and the lettuce serves as a palate cleanser, but I wish I hadn’t ditched half the lettuce when I put the burger together. I just don’t know how I physically would’ve been able to bite it had I not taken half the lettuce out. You live and you learn!
Here is what doesn’t work about this burger: the size. It’s just too big, too decadent, and too laborious to get through. After about three or four bites, I can’t see myself going any further. It’s also messy as hell. The burger was constantly slipping and sliding in my hands, and the sauce and fries were falling all over my hands. There were moments when I wished I had a fork and knife.
Who eats a burger with a fork and knife? That’s some psycho behavior.
Another thing I don’t love about this dish is that it’s impossible to get the entire order of Animal Style Fries in the burger, half of the fries I had to leave in the tray. That’s great if you want a side of fries with your French fry burger, but there is a certain redundancy in that. I’ve never been more tired of French fries in my life, and that’s something I never thought I’d experience.
The Bottom Line:
I’ll probably never order the Monkey Style burger again. Not because it’s not delicious, it is, but considering how messy and how much of a hassle it is, I rather just enjoy the two dishes (Animal Style Fries and a Double Double) separately.